Pentagram has created Dazzleship Battleships, a modern take on a vintage game for the adult market. Released by Laurence King Publishing, the game brings avant-garde aesthetics to physical gaming.
Dazzleship Battleships is a repurpose of Battleships - a classic travel game that is synonymous with children’s exercise books and plastic ships - as a World War One naval battle.
During First World War, the allied naval forces used ‘dazzle camouflage’ made up of complex geometrical patterns to confuse their enemies. Patterns of starkly colour stripes and curves were combined with distorted perspective created optical illusions that make it difficult to judge a ship’s outline, speed and direction.
Pentagram has weaved ‘dazzle camouflage’ throughout the game, from its box featuring a woodcut cover by Andrew Davidson, to its two playbooks set on redrawn nautical maps and its accompanying booklet explaining the history of dazzle and its relationship to avant-garde art.
Dazzleship Battleships is now available to purchase on laurenceking.com.
