Your Airfield
Enemy Airfield
Difficulty:
Plane Body
Plane Head
Hit
Miss
Rules of Planes
Setup
- The game uses a 10x10 grid for each player.
- Each player places 3 planes. A plane occupies 10 cells: 1 head and 9 body cells.
- Planes may face up, right, down, or left.
- Planes cannot overlap and must remain fully inside the board.
Battle
- Players take turns firing one shot at a time.
- A body hit damages that plane but does not destroy it.
- A head hit destroys that entire plane immediately.
- The first player to destroy all 3 enemy heads wins.
History of the Game
Planes (also known as Airplanes) became popular as a pencil-and-paper strategy game in Eastern Europe and later online. It combines hidden placement like naval guessing games with a distinctive plane-shaped target and tactical headhunting.
Its appeal comes from quick setup, high tension, and deduction. Players infer orientation and head positions from partial hits, then decide when to search broadly or finish a suspected plane.
Winning Strategy
- Spread your planes: avoid clustering; nearby shapes reveal each other faster.
- Use hit geometry: one body hit reveals potential head directions immediately.
- Switch tempo: when no clues exist, probe evenly; once clues appear, finish quickly.
- Track misses: misses are as valuable as hits in narrowing possible plane anchors.
- Protect obvious heads: during placement, avoid predictable central head patterns.