Kotak Mahindra | Machine Coding | SDE2/3 | Backend Developer | With Solution
February 8, 2026 · 11 reads
Summary
I participated in a machine coding interview round for a SDE2/3 Backend Developer role at Kotak Mahindra, where I was challenged to design and implement a Battleship game.
Full Experience
The interview involved a single machine coding problem where I had to build a complete Battleship game system based on detailed specifications, and then provide a working solution.
Interview Questions (1)
1.
Battleship Game Design & Implementation
System Design·Hard
Question: BattleShip Game
Design and implement a battleship game to be played between two players until one comes out as the winner.
Requirements:
- The game will be played in a square area of the sea with NxN grids which will be called a battlefield. “N” should be taken as input in your code.
- The battlefield will be divided in half between both the players. So in a NxN battlefield, NxN/2 grids will belong to PlayerA and the other NxN/2 grids will belong to playerB
- The size and location of each ship will be taken as input. Each ship will be assumed to be of Square shape. Both the players should be assigned equal fleet.
- The location of each ship in the NxN grids has to be taken as input (X, Y). X and Y should be integers. For eg. if a ship “SH1” is at (2, 2) and has the size of 4, its corners will be at (0, 0), (0, 4), (4, 0) and (4,4)
- Ships will remain stationary. No two ships should overlap with each other. However they can touch boundaries with each other.
- Each player will fire one missile towards the enemy field during his turn using the “random coordinate fire” strategy, which means the missile will hit at a random coordinate of the opponent’s field. It might hit or miss the opponent ship. In either case the turn is then transferred to the other player.
- In case of a hit, the opponent’s ship is destroyed.
- In case of a miss, nothing happens.
- No two missiles should ever be fired at the same coordinates throughout the course of the game.
- When all the ships of a particular player has been destroyed, he loses the game.