Scripture Mastery Games: Battleship 2

This is my second attempt to use Battleship as a scripture mastery game. The first attempt wasn't that great, but we survived. The second attempt was also not so good, but at least I have figured out the best way to do it now. I made a few mistakes this time, and now I think I have the kinks worked out. This is based on the children's game of Battleship. If you aren't familiar with it, you can play it online by clicking here.

Here is how I adapted it for seminary
1. GAME BOARDS
Make two game boards that are double sided. You can divide a large poster in half for each game board. Draw a grid that is 5x5. Label the top boxes A-E. Label the side boxes 1-5. See the example below. Write one of the scripture mastery clues in each box, without duplicating. Make sure that both team game boards are identical.













2. PLAYING PIECES
I just did an internet search and found some ship clip art that I printed out to use as game pieces. I mounted them on construction paper to give them some structure. Some are longer than others, so they can take up more than one square. Here are some images I used.






























3. OTHER NEEDED ITEMS
a. magnets (our church library had some I used), or marking pen
b. blue low stick masking tape

4. HOW TO PLAY
--Use a classroom that has a curtain divider so that the two teams can't see each other's game boards. Use the clips at the top of the chalkboards to post the game boards.
--Divide the class in to two teams
--Have each team use the tape to arrange their ships on the left side of their game board. Once they place them, they cannot move them.
--Give a scripture mastery clue to see which team goes first
--The first team to play will choose a scripture mastery reference. You can decide whether they do this as a team, or take turns individually. They must then give the key word of that scripture mastery. If they are correct, they then deploy their bomb and the other team places a magnet on the square that was called.
--Then they tell the other team if they got a "hit" on one of their ships, or if it was a "miss". If they got a "hit", the team that guessed can write an "X" on the coordinating square of the right side of the game board. If it is a "miss", then can write an "O". If you choose to use magnets instead, you can use one color for hit and one for miss.
--If the team got a "hit", they may continue to take turns until they get a "miss". Then it is the other teams' turn.

5. LIFELINES
--I drew three "life preservers" on the board that are used as life lines. If the team doesn't know any of the key words, they can choose to use a lifeline. They can then look up the scripture reference and find the key word.
--If a team is out of lifelines, they can choose to have a scripture chase with the other team. The first team to find the scripture earns another lifeline for their team.
The first team to shoot all of the other teams' ships is the winner.

You could adapt this game depending on what you want the students to learn. For example, instead of having them give the key word, you could have them give the rhyming clue. Or instead of writing the references in the boxes, you could write the key words and have them turn to the reference in their scriptures. If you try this, and find another tip, please come back and leave a comment! :)