Suggest tags using this Google form. This (anonymous) form allows us to see how popular any particular tag is, which may be one of several considerations while compiling the 2026 tagset. The form allows you to submit up to 5 tags at once. If you want to suggest more tags, fill out the form again! You may suggest as many tags as you like, including tags already suggested by others, but please only do so once for each tag.

View submitted tag suggestions here, in the same spreadsheet as tag claims.

If you want to support tags already on the suggestions list, please use the existing wording so they are counted properly (ex. if "POV Outsider" was suggested twice and "Outsider POV" was suggested three times, we may not see that the concept was suggested five times total).

Tag claims are still open! If you were on Team Pear or Team Strawberry, or if you were on Team Grape or Team Lemon and completed two treats by the end of the anon period, or if you completed a rare tag bingo card by the end of the anon period, you earned a tag claim. These claims stack! Claim your tags here.

Tag suggestions and tag claims both close on December 1, 2025 at 11:59 PM EST (December 2 at 4:59 AM UTC).

Your X-ray machine rolls up to you. Peeking out from under its lemony helmet is a big yellow button that says “PRESS ME!” Naturally, you press the very inviting button.

Back at the Shoulder Dragon Cafe, Gary looks up from where he is drawing a schematic on extra-large napkins when the fairy spark-communicators and similar devices glimmer and ring. He’s already rushing out the door even before the professors, running behind him, can give him the good news.

The rest of you follow to find yourselves on another well-dug garden. The dragon, spark-sprite, and bearded man are talking excitedly to a woman decked in yellow shibari rope – apparently the last of their archaeological colleagues. The X-ray machines trundle over as well… and attached to them are wagons full of more components! You notice the scent of grapes mixing with the lemon in the air.

With some help and some annoying interference from the professors, the pterodactyl fairies put the machine components together, creating another enormous mechanical brachiosaurus. They sprinkle him with fairy dust and flutter back as he begins to move, first slowly, then lifting his head in sudden alarm. "Gary!" he shouts in a rusty voice. "Gary, where are you?"

Thunderous footsteps shake the ground, and Gary skids to a stop next to the newly awakened dinosaur. "Here I am, my love!" he cries.

"Baby!"

"Sweetheart!"

You sniffle happily as their necks entwine to form an enormous heart.

"Ta-ta, time bubble!" the Lemon Pucker’s visiting Professor says as she wipes a tear from her eye. "But that means we have to work quickly. Once the game day is done, the game will reset, and you'll have to play all these levels over again."

The sun is setting over the cafe. You try not to panic. The last thing you want is another day of digging.

"Come back to the Shoulder Dragon Cafe," the Professor says, her warmth reassuring. "With Gary and Harvey's help, I'm sure we’ll be able to send you home."

TEAM LEMON HAS COMPLETED BOARD 3!

ALL TEAMS HAVE COMPLETED ALL BOARDS!

The Lemon Continuation collection will be revealed in 24 hours, on August 9, 2025 at 2:00 AM Eastern Time! To prevent works from being stuck unrevealed, both the Lemon and Lemon Continuation collections will temporarily close to new works for 24 hours.

The Shoulder Dragon Cafe is packed with everyone you’ve met over the course of your digging expeditions, from professors and cafe managers to congregations of assorted fairies, and some familiar faces from the lunch and dinner crowds. The cafe has even recruited the octopi as eight-limbed shoulder dragon scritchers, deftly preventing most shoulder dragon-inflicted incidents.

At the center of it all sits a giant booth sized for dragons, though at the moment its occupant is the newly awakened brachiosaurus. Despite his metallic composition, he eagerly crunches through the leftover vegetables from your first dig while the professors explain everything that has happened since his (speculated) era and his reawakening.

Around his feet whirl and beep three X-ray machines. The newest arrival’s fashionable hat features a yellow Glorbo gloriously riding in its teacup. (Though, now that you think about it, there should be a fourth – and the faint lemony scent ought to be stronger.)

“I’m glad the little ones were useful in reawakening me! Though, when my husband and I decided to retire, we didn’t expect a Dirt Empire, of all things, to rise and fall atop our old laboratory,” Gary the Brachiosaurus says as he pets the X-rays and blows rings of steam for the pterodactyl fairies to flutter through. He eyes the mechanical components you’ve brought in (and cleaned) from the gardens. “By the way, have you seen him? His name is Harvey, and is a mechanical brachiosaurus, like me. He would be in possession of the rest of our invention’s parts.”

Some of you explain the additional mechanical components you dug up at the Enchanted Vine, and his face literally lights up. His tail swishes happily. “Oh, joyous day! Once we find the rest of him, we’ll be reunited, and he’ll be utterly ecstatic if he wakes up to our fully repaired machine!”

What is their invention for, anyway? You mean to ask, but the professors have already claimed Gary for more questions, and between increasingly esoteric answers you pick up on time portals and alternate dimensions and mechanical life as Gary leans over to tap some instructions into the X-ray machines. The X-rays and pterodactyl fairies zip out the doors of the cafe on whatever task they’ve been given.

Well, you’ll find out soon enough. In the meantime, you’ve done a good thing, creating so much and helping so many people along the way, and deserve a bit of time to relax. It’s time to enjoy the spoils of your hard-earned work!

Main Collection

Grape Collection | Lemon Collection | Pear Collection | Strawberry Collection

Congratulations to first place Team Pear, second place Team Strawberry, and joint third place Team Grape and Team Lemon!

We’d also like to thank all the players for another fantastic round of Battleship, whether you posted works, beta’d works, strategized, spreadsheeted, or cheered others on. The event wouldn’t be possible without your efforts!

Each member of Team Pear and Team Strawberry will get to pick one tag to be on next year's boards. Any member of Team Grape and Team Lemon who posts two or more treats to their team collections between the end of the game and the end of anon period will also be able to pick a tag.

In addition, any player can claim a tag by playing Rare Tag Bingo! Create a copy of that spreadsheet and select at least 25 tags that were claimed 25 or fewer times during the game. Then, create a bingo card (no free space) here or with another bingo card generator. Post works claiming these tags (and fulfilling prompts) into your team’s collection, and once you complete a line of five tag squares, submit your completed bingo card by either posting it in the #rare-tag-bingo channel or emailing it to battleshipexchange@gmail.com. (Optionally, cheer others on in the channel, or share your own progress!). This tag claim stacks on top of placement and treat tag claims. The deadline for earning a tag claim is the end of the anon period, but treats are always welcome.

But first, congratulations on a Battleship well done! Feast upon the over 3000 works created since the start of Battleship! We encourage you to be generous with your kudos and comments!

Creator reveals will be in two weeks: August 13 at 11:00 am EDT (3:00 pm UTC).

Over at the Fraise Lounge, you are utterly covered in dirt, but you watch in excited satisfaction as the pterodactyl fairies place each of your uncovered machine components on the blueprint. Now Professor Zzt can assemble the machine, and you’ll finally be able to go home. This has been such a progression from seafaring.

Professor Zzt, however, is nowhere near the blueprint. Instead you find him at the edge of the garden, chatting to a little spark in his tiny hands with a concerned, then newly intrigued expression on his face. He flutters over to the blueprint and starts to prod at the components, taking some notes in sparkling, floating writing. A couple of you sneak closer, hoping to overhear something, and as you start to pick out increasingly loud cheering…

Wait a second, those voices aren’t just coming from the spark. Neither are those footsteps. You turn towards the cafe just as a giant dragon swoops through the garden’s gate. “You found it! You really found it!” he’s shouting. And trailing behind him are some of your companions! You even spot another X-ray machine among the crowd. It’s.. wearing a wiggling pear? Your own X-ray machine (and Barry Turtleberry on top) rolls up to reunite with its counterpart.

There were indeed two machines in the cafe garden! Professors Fuzang and Zzt contact their other colleagues in the area (how does a giant dragon use a tiny spark-communicator, you wonder?), and soon the garden is filled with archaeology professors, the rest of your separated companions, and even café managers, who are apparently also interested (and willing to let their quest-assigned adventurers leave their duties).

Everyone watches, enraptured, as the professors and (mostly) pterodactyl fairies assemble one of them into a giant mechanical brachiosaurus. At first, nothing happens, but then the pterodactyl fairies breathe their fairy dust into vents along its long neck. The brachiosaurus glows for a moment, and then a giant cloud of steam huffs out its nostrils.

“Hmm… Just five more centuries, please…” the mechanical dinosaur grumbles and rolls over.

One of the machines has been rebuilt! You still have another one to go, but the professors are busy debating the implications of their findings, and the pterodactyl fairies are occupied with helping energize the groggy brachiosaurus and helping him take his first few steps in however many eras.

And on the other hand… You look around at everyone’s dirt-covered clothes, and the giant mounds of dirt in the increasingly crowded garden.

“...Why don’t we head back to the Shoulder Dragon Cafe?” you suggest.

TEAM STRAWBERRY COMES IN SECOND PLACE!

Members of Team Pear and Team Strawberry will get one tag claim each for next year’s board, and pears will feature in next year’s lore! Teams Grape and Lemon, in joint third place, can also earn a tag claim by posting two treats by the end of the two week anon period. There may be an additional opportunity to earn tag claims through treats – stay tuned!

But, hmm… Something is happening with Team Lemon…

As you’re heading over to the Shoulder Dragon Cafe, you hear frantic beeping and whirring somewhere below you – looks like your X-ray machine has recovered from its rest! On top of it is a giant red button that says “PRESS ME!” Obviously, you do.

The world around you freezes. Your companions in the distance are stuck mid-pose, Professor Fuzang is suspended in the air, even the wobbly metallic brachiosaurus wobbles no more.

“If you’re hearing this, one of us has awakened, but the other is still buried deep underground,” speaks a message emitting from the X-ray machine. “If it wouldn’t be a bother, could you excavate both of us? Ah, and please forgive the time bubble – I’m sure you have plenty of your own responsibilities, and we wouldn’t want to keep you from them with our demands. This will give you all the time you need.”

Team Lemon now has access to the Team Lemon Continuation Collection! Treats from Team Lemon optionally posted to this collection in addition to their usual team collection will remain hidden beyond the main reveals time, until either Team Lemon completes Board 3 or the work is removed from the Continuation Collection by the creator.

All treats may continue to claim tags and boss points as usual, in accordance with any post-game arrangements with their team. If your team has yet to complete all Bosses and Boards, you have the optional challenge of completing them.

This officially concludes the main Battleship 2025 game! You have 48 hours from the end of the game to edit your works, which will be revealed on July 30, 2025 11:00 AM Eastern Time. Please remove placeholders and otherwise make sure your works are ready to go live!

Due to an AO3 bug, works posted shortly before collection reveals may get caught in an unrevealed state. To prevent this, the team and main collections will be temporarily closing at 11:00 AM EDT on July 29th, 24 hours before reveals.

“And there!” Fuzang says as the pterodactyl fairies place the final machine component on the blueprint’s outline. “I can write so many papers on this!” It is, for the moment, an inert item – not to mention, more a vaguely shaped set of pieces than an assembled machine – but this does not reduce your joy one bit: you dug it all up!

Pearry the X-ray machine bleeps happily, satiated by the glorious dirt left behind by the Dirt Empire. Now that its mission is complete, it’s certainly earned the time to rest and recharge.

“What do you think this thing is for?” one of you asks Fuzang as he starts to assemble the components, flicking over hinges and pulling around wires and screwing pieces together.

“Well, I think we can safely discard ‘ritual purposes,’ given how intricate yet non-decorative it is,” he explains. Then, as he is turning two pieces over, examining where they should join, he pauses. “Interesting. From the look of their materials, I suspect these components are for two machines, and not only one like we’ve theorized. Fascinating!”

You all take a well-deserved rest while Fuzang splits the components into two sets and attempts to build two machines… but all in vain, as no combination seems to work.

You hear Pearry still rolling about – busy enjoying its role as Heir of Dirt, you suppose – and beyond that, the shouts of your separated companions (and whirring of their X-ray machines) at their respective cafes. You're pretty sure that you've dug up all the relics and components present here at the Pear Wiggler, but maybe your friends have also found something? You do have a tendency to end up doing the exact same things, no matter how far you start from each other.

When you bring this up to Fuzang, he perks up. “I did hear some of my colleagues from other universities are also trying to get dig permits in this region. Hmm, the Congress on Early Ancient Civilizations is coming up in a month or so. I'll ask at the end of my plenary talk!” He wiggles with excitement, pear hat wobbling in counterpoint. “Oh, thank you, this is going to let us understand the material conditions of the Dirt Empire so much better! This is amazing! It's the best day of my life!”

The café has closed, the Manager has gone home and won't disturb you, and the octopus is nowhere to be seen. Given past experience, your friends should come through soon enough – at least, much faster than Fuzang's scientific conference – so you won't be here that long. As you wait, some of you help a very excited Fuzang document the day’s excavation process, while others sit down and tell stories (the taco plant features prominently).

From what you can tell, Fuzang split the pile of component parts in half. Perhaps some of your companions will find the other half of both structures…

TEAM PEAR WINS FIRST PLACE!

But the game isn’t over yet! One more team needs to dig up all their machine components to finish rebuilding the machines buried beneath the café gardens.

All work caps are lifted! Once a second team digs up all their machine components, the game will end, and then there will be a 48-hour editing period before works are revealed. Please remove placeholders and otherwise make sure your works are ready to go live!

Teams in joint third place will be able to continue playing, even after the collections reveal – stay tuned for further details.

"Hello?" you call, fumbling toward where you think the door is. "Stray? Dwayne?"

"Right here!" the octopus booms cheerfully. You can just see his huge red head in the light filtering through the kitchen window. "Your songs were so rockin' that I just had to build a fog machine for proper atmosphere!"

You suppose that's a positive review.

You make your way outside, where the fog is just as thick. "Careful," comes Runner's voice as winding tendrils form a fence to guide you. "Don't step in the golems."

Avoiding the mud, you nearly stumble over the wheelbarrow. "Oh, hello!" calls Professor Zzt, his sparks winking and glimmering faintly. "You found some wonderful things! These scrolls make it clear that French fry plants came to this continent hundreds of years earlier than previously supposed!"

"That's great," you wheeze. "Do you know how to send us home?"

"Home? What do you mean?"

"We're not supposed to be in this game," you explain. "Some kind of goblin machinery dropped us into it. We want to get back out."

"Goblins! Fascinating!" The tiny professor alights on your hand. Fortunately the occasional spark that lands on your skin only stings a little. "Tell me more."

So you tell him all of it, how you went from simple seafaring to serious adventuring, first as opponents and then as companions and friends.

Zzt listens intently. He pulls an ancient scroll from the wheelbarrow, licks the end of a French fry, and starts writing, muttering to himself. When you finish your tale, he frowns down at his notes. Then he peers at the scroll itself and brightens. "That's it!" he cries. "Look!"

"I can't see it," you tell him.

"It's a diagram for just the sort of machine that might do the trick!" A shower of sparks falls as he flutters his wings in excitement. "It might even be buried here!"

You really should have seen that coming. But with this fog, Dwayne and all his cousins could be stampeding towards you and you wouldn't see them coming.

Anyway, if this machine can send you home, you're much more excited to go looking for it. There's a noisy clatter and someone shouts that they found the shovels. "Pass me one!" you call. "Let's get digging!"

Strawberry Board 3 Grid and List of Goals

Strawberry Collection | Prompt Collection (AO3) | Prompt Collection (Automagic App)

The first team to uncover every machine component will win the 2025 round of Battleship Exchange! The remaining teams will continue competing until one claims second place.

You walk back into The Enchanted Grape, only to step and slip on some…mud. Well, there is plenty of dirt around, so this shouldn’t be surprising. Taking a closer look you see they look like huge footsteps and, following them, that they’re dropping from the golems, who seem a bit damp and lethargic from all the shoulder dragon steam.

“Here,” the manager says, handing you and your teammates a broom. “Help clean this up, and then –”

She’s cut off by the kitchen door swinging open, and you catch a glimpse of what’s going on inside. A tentacle. Visions of the octopus who picked you up and threw you at the cafe fly through your mind and you brace yourself against the wall, sure you’re about to go up in the air again, but instead the cooks come running back out.

“Okay, forget the brooms,” the manager says, taking yours back into her own hands. “How about you distract this new hire?”

New… hire…?

Grape Boss 2 progress tracker

Grape Collection | Prompt Collection (AO3) | Prompt Collection (Automagic App)

( Boss 2 Rules )

It also looks like a fog bank has rolled in. A strangely delicious-smelling fog bank, to be fair. You ask your manager if there’s anything to be concerned about, but he just looks up from stacking gold coins to point out front. The golems are all standing at a respectful distance around the dragon, occasionally carrying a vegetable forward to drop into the hotpot boiling on the magic flame the lemon-yellow dragon is breathing out. “Hotpot for dinner rush,” he says by way of explanation. “We’ll need more ingredients, actually, think you could help with that? But wait,” he says, stopping himself. “Professor wanted to meet you.”

“You rang?” a voice says in delight, and you look up as a dramatic figure emerges from one of the private reading nooks. The tall woman is wearing a black shirt and pants ornamented with yellow shibari rope knotted into an intricate harness. “Ah yes,” she says, smiling at you and then pulling a notebook from where it had been tucked into the rope. “The cafe helpers. I had some questions. You don’t mind helping me out a bit, do you?”

Your manager has gone back to counting, and you do admittedly want to know what this woman has in mind. Absolutely you’ll help. The professor flashes you a brilliant smile and leads you through the fog back to the garden. “So, the dirt.” She prods the garden plot with the toe of a pointed yellow shoe. “It’s not everything that comes to life when a dragon gets involved, and the golems are still hanging around even ages later. Do you mind digging up this ground a little bit more? If even the dirt here has special properties, I’m so interested to know what else we can find!”

The knots on the harness she’s wearing seem to have no clear beginning or end, and when you glimpse the notes she’s taking in her notebook, it’s in no language you recognize. If she thinks this is mysterious and interesting, she probably knows what she’s talking about. And at least it isn’t singing; you think your voice still hasn’t recovered. You pick up the shovel, squinting at the ground through the fog. Let’s see what’s in here.

Lemon Board 2 Grid and List of Goals

Lemon Collection | Prompt Collection (AO3) | Prompt Collection (Automagic App)

"You could," a melodious voice agrees. You look up to see a spark-sprite hovering next to you. "True culinary delight comes from creativity, and only sentient beings can be creative. The golems, poor things, have dirt for brains. They can chop vegetables and not much else."

That seems a little insensitive, and you wince, but a passing golem doesn't look bothered at all. It takes your empty bowl and gives you a glass of water, which you gratefully chug. Being a bard is thirsty work.

"But as the golems could not be creative," the sprite continues, "they could not provide entertainment. For that, only you and your fellows would do. And you did it so well!" he adds warmly. Literally warmly — a few sparks fall from his wings for emphasis. "Word spread and I had to come hear you for myself. I was not disappointed, I must say! And as I am a professor of the arcane and mundane arts, I know whereof I speak."

"Thanks," you say, feeling a little better. It's nice to have your art appreciated, even if the professor thinks it's mundane. You made some good tips, too. If only that game currency meant anything in the real world. But who knows when you'll see the real world again...

Your melancholy musings are interrupted by the sprite producing a peculiar mechanical device that's nearly as big as he is. Magical or electrical energy crackles along its wires and prongs. It reminds you of the goblin devices that sent you into the game in the first place. "Hey," you say, sitting up. "Do you know —"

"That the golems are drenched in ancient magic?" the sprite exclaims. "I do! Tell me, do you know anything about the soil they're made of?"

You neither know nor care. You just want to go home. "Uh, not really. Professor —“

“Then further research is needed!" He puts the device away (how? where?) and gestures to you. "Come! You're no longer needed for the lunch rush, so I need you to dig around in the ground the golems came from and see if you find any ancient items of interest. If you can further my research, I shall be most grateful."

You don't want to dig more, but you like the idea of the professor owing you a favor. Maybe then he can help you get home.

There's just one problem: when you go outside, it's foggy and you can't see very well. You cough, waving your hands around to clear the air. It smells like vegetables and dragon spit.

"Sorry!" Stray calls, sticking their head out the back door. "The dragons got a little enthusiastic making steam to sanitize the dishes. Oh, hello, Zzt. Did you enjoy the salad?"

"Terrible," he says briskly. "But the fine entertainment was worth it. Why didn't you tell me your vegetable patch was full of magical residue?"

Stray huffs. "Why should I tell you anything when you're so rude?" They go back into the cafe, slamming the door.

Professor Zzt shrugs and turns back to you. "Nothing to be gotten from them. But I'm sure you'll turn up everything I need."

A new tracking board appears. It seems you have no choice but to accept this quest.

Strawberry Board 2 Grid and List of Goals

Strawberry Collection | Prompt Collection (AO3) | Prompt Collection (Automagic App)

“And you’re just in time to help with the lunch rush!” Mr. Snikkit enthuses, putting a pair of yellow sunglasses on. The front door slams open and a crowd shoves into the place – crystal sprites and tiny dragons jostling for position in the air, a dryad shoving tree boughs out of her face and already asking for a lemon-matcha latte, a lava mermaid in a heat-protective suit wheeling between the hordes of seated dwarves.

You’re about to rush to prep the vegetables, but Mr. Snikkit yells out one last order before he takes a position at the front counter. “Dirt goes to the dragon!”

Dirt goes to the – what? You look up just in time to see a yellow dragon the size of the cafe touch down in front of the building, coiling its tail around itself as it loafs like a cat. It looks expectantly in your direction, eyes whirling yellow-green, and well, you don’t have better plans. A wheelbarrow’s worth of dirt is dumped in front of the dragon, and you jump out of the way as it breathes out pure magic. An arm rises out of the dirt, and then another, as golems come to life and lumber in to support your manager during the lunch rush.

You see Mr. Snikkit welcome the golems, handing out aprons and notepads, and then point you emphatically in the direction of the musical instruments in the front window. “Listen to the Tart Tones while you wait” says a sign over the window, the text ornamented with a smiling lemon and musical notes. A golem shuffles up and hands you another sign, this one reading “Tips Appreciated”.

It looks like your position in the lunch rush has been assigned. Time to get out there and see how many songs you remember (and how many more you can improvise). How is this crowd going to take some Led Zeppelin, do you think?

Lemon Boss 1 progress tracker

Lemon Collection | Prompt Collection (AO3) | Prompt Collection (Automagic App)

( Boss 1 Rules )