A game of Battleship
that settles on-chain.
Rebuild Battleship for Solana. Every move written to the chain, every win paid out in SOL in under a second.
SolBTL started as an experiment. Most Web3 games ask you to understand the blockchain before you can play. Wrap the on-chain mechanics inside a game people already know how to play, and that problem mostly goes away.
Battleship was the obvious pick. The rules are five sentences. Every move and result gets written to the chain, so the game is provably fair, but you don’t have to read a block explorer to trust it.
It shipped as the first game on the Dubs platform. Matches settle on Solana in under a second. Winners get paid out on-chain.
Eight things the game has to do.
- 01
Turn-based combat
Grids from 5×5 up to 10×10. Six ship types. Three placement modes.
- 02
On-chain payouts
Every game gets written to Solana. Winner gets paid out on-chain, without a middleman.
- 03
Social
Friend list, player search, challenges, and a leaderboard with five ranks.
- 04
Provably fair
Both moves and results sit on Solana. Anyone can verify a match after the fact.
- 05
Three modes
Wagered matches, free matches, and a practice mode against a bot.
- 06
Made for mobile
React Native and Expo. Gesture-based placement, haptic feedback, ambient audio.
- 07
Customisable
Six ship colour schemes, three placement modes, adjustable haptics and audio, dark and light themes.
- 08
Ranks
Climb from Cadet to Admiral as you win matches.
Placement, in motion.
Five steps, tap to tap.
- 01
Create or join
Pick a grid size. Optionally set a SOL wager through Dubs.
- 02
Place ships
Draw, tap, or a mix of both.
- 03
Play
Take turns firing at coordinates. Hits, misses, and sinks update in real time.
- 04
Win
Sink the other fleet. The game resolves on Solana.
- 05
Get paid
Winner gets the SOL, on-chain, in seconds.
From Cadet to Admiral.
| Cadet | 0–4 wins |
| Lieutenant | 5–9 wins |
| Commander | 10–24 wins |
| Captain | 25–49 wins |
| Admiral | 50+ wins |
What powers it.
- React Native
- Cross-platform mobile client
- Expo
- Build tooling & OTA updates
- TypeScript
- End-to-end type safety
- Solana Web3.js
- Wallet & on-chain settlement
- Socket.IO
- Real-time game state sync
- Dubs SDK
- Wagers & prize resolution
- React Navigation
- Tab / stack routing
- Reanimated
- Gesture-driven animation
Architecture — what we chose, and why.
- 01
Real-time layer
WebSockets via Socket.IO. Room-based updates for placement, moves, and end-of-game. Auto-reconnect, backoff, and background pings to survive the phone going into a locked state.
- 02
Payouts on Solana
A wagered game creates an on-chain instance through the Dubs SDK. When the game ends, the contract settles and pays out the winner. There is a retry on failure so nothing gets stuck in transit.
- 03
Feel
Gesture Handler and Reanimated. Drag to place ships, haptic feedback on hits and misses, ambient audio. Deep-ocean palette, high-contrast pieces so nothing gets lost in a quick game.
- 04
State
One BattleshipContext runs the whole lifecycle: create, lobby, place, play, resolve. It coordinates REST for persistence and the WebSocket for live updates. Optimistic on the UI side.