In this blog, I’m going to inform you of the best IM sport you never realized your school had… IM Battleship. 

Now what most people picture when I tell them I played IM battleship, is two people sitting across a table from each other putting white and red pegs in a grid saying things like,

 “D4”

 “Miss, G6”

 “Aww you sunk it!”

But let me tell you, the IM battleship at Penn State is a little more intense than that. You show up at the Natatorium pool, wearing matching bathing suits with your other two teammates, board your canoe, and arm yourself with 2 Home Depot, 5 gallon buckets. That’s right, your goal is to sink an actual ship. This event is not for people who are afraid of the water. 

I was fortunate enough to be on one of eight teams who signed up for the sport on IM leagues before all the spots were filled. The only way to guarantee yourself a spot in such a popular event like this is to make sure you sign up before IM sends out a mass email to the whole student body saying something like, “One week left to sign up for IM battleship.” 

This 3 hour long event starts out with round robin play – yes it’s for seeding, but the seeding really doesn’t mean anything. You will get at least two rounds in the round robin play to get used to scooping buckets of water and throwing them at the other boats. And don’t forget 5 gallons of water weighs over 40 pounds so hitting the gym in the weeks leading up to the event is not required, but may be helpful. 

After round robin play the field is divided into two groups of 4, and the last two ships that remain above the water get to move on to the semi-finals. 

Our team, Canoe Stay Afloat?, made it past the first round and into the semi-finals. In the semifinals we faced a team made up of Geology major grad students wearing tye-dye crop tops who we affectionately nicknamed “rocks”, a team of ROTC Navy students wearing swim goggles and matching swim shirts whom we referred to as “goggles”, and the final team “Noah’s Ark” was made up of 3 of our friends. 

Our team made it to the final round where it was just us against Noah’s ark, but when there are only two ships left, the rules change. All the teams who got out before are armed with buckets and get to throw water at the final two canoes in the pool. This is a real twist, and drastically changes the game from, trying to sink other ships, to playing a game of staying as close to the center of the pool as possible. Even in the center of the pool, rocks could easily get some of their buckets into the boat. 

Unfortunately at the end of the round, we sank in second place. But, weeks after the event, we were going viral on studentlifepsu. I had friends who go to other schools texting me about how they saw me playing battleship, and how they wish their school had it.

IM battleship is the most fun IM sport I can imagine ever being a part of, and if you ever see it as an option on IM I would drop whatever you’re doing to book a spot. You do not want to miss this awesome experience.