Rec sports hosted one of their most unique special events on Friday, April 7. The event, Battleship, requires participants to get into a canoe floating inside the Mitchell Hall pool while attempting to sink other canoes and remain the last ones afloat.

The game is similar to the original version created on paper during World War I that was then turned into a plastic board game by Milton Bradley in 1967. This version still requires players to sink all other ships, but there’s no longer any guessing involved.

Each canoe is given a bucket and other miscellaneous tools to try and sink the others in the water. Teams must paddle around and try to attack opponents by either filling their canoe with water or tipping them over. This can be difficult as they navigate around the pool, often frantically paddling with their hands, while storming off others attempting to do the same to them.

With five or six canoes beginning each round some teams choose to gang up on a specific canoe to get them out of the competition early. Collusion was a solid plan and most teams that were forced to fend off multiple attacking canoes ended up in the water shortly after.

The event featured a tournament format that saw the last remaining canoes advance to the next round where they began the process again. Each heat of the tournament moved quickly to accommodate for the large amount of teams present.

Battleship is an event with originality for players since everyone involved likely didn’t have previous experience with it until college. Senior student, Kevin Simanek stated, “I like it because it’s something none of us have done before which makes it an even playing field. Nobody is really good at it.” With the event held infrequently, each time students participate it can feel like a completely new experience.

Another student, Michael Hawes, was competing in his third battleship. Hawes remarked, “It’s a ton of fun because each time you go you’re in desperation mode to not get sunk, especially since you don’t get to do this every week.” Hawes also mentioned how anyone could participate, since it didn’t necessarily require high levels of skill to win. “Anyone can play, it’s a fun event for everyone which is awesome.”