Name and trademark
''Stratego'' is from the French or Greek ''The contents of the game
This description is of the original and classic games; many variant shapes and colors of pieces and boards have been produced in the decades since. The game box contents are a set of 40 gold-embossed red playing pieces, a set of silver-embossed blue playing pieces, and a folding rectangular cardboard playing board imprinted with a 10×10 grid of spaces. The early sets featured painted wood pieces, later sets colored plastic. The pieces are small and roughly rectangular, tall and wide, and unweighted. More modern versions first introduced in Europe have cylindrical castle-shaped pieces. Some versions have a cardboard privacy screen to assist setup. A few versions have wooden boxes or boards.Setup
Typically, color is chosen by lot: one player uses red pieces, and the other uses blue pieces. Before the start of the game, players arrange their 40 pieces in a 4×10 configuration at either end of the board. The ranks are printed on one side only and placed so that the players cannot identify the opponent's pieces. Players may not place pieces in the lakes or the 12 squares in the center of the board. Such pre-play distinguishes the fundamental strategy of particular players, and influences the outcome of the game.Gameplay
Rules of movement
All movable pieces, with the exception of the ''Scout'', may move only one step to any adjacent space vertically or horizontally (but not diagonally). A piece may not move onto a space occupied by a like-color piece. ''Bomb'' and ''Flag'' pieces are not moveable. The ''Scout'' may move any number of spaces in a straight line (such as the rook in chess). In the older versions of ''Stratego'' the ''Scout'' could not move and strike in the same turn; in newer versions this was allowed. Even before that, sanctioned play usually amended the original ''Scout'' movement to allow moving and striking in the same turn because it facilitates gameplay. No piece can move back and forth between the same two spaces for more than three consecutive turns (two square rule), nor can a piece endlessly chase a piece it has no hope of capturing (more square rule). When a player wants to attack, they "strike" by touching an opposing piece with their piece or moves their piece onto the square it occupies. Both players then reveal their piece's rank; the weaker piece (see exceptions below) is removed from the board. If the engaging pieces are of equal rank, both are removed. A piece may not move onto a square already occupied unless it attacks. Two pieces have special attack powers. One special piece is the ''Bomb'' which only ''Miners'' can defuse. It immediately eliminates any other piece striking it, without itself being destroyed. Each player also has one ''Spy'', which succeeds only if it attacks the ''Marshal'' or the ''Flag''. If the ''Spy'' attacks any other piece, or is attacked by any piece (including the ''Marshal''), the ''Spy'' is defeated. The original rules contained a provision that following a strike, the winning piece immediately occupies the space vacated by the losing piece.Recording the game
Competitive play does not include recording the game, unlike chess. The game is fast-paced, no standard notation exists, and players keep their setups secret, so recording games is impractical. However, digital interfaces such as web-based gaming interfaces may have a facility for recording, replaying and downloading the game. Those interfaces use an algebraic-style notation that numbers the rows ('ranks') 1 to 10 from bottom to top and the columns ('files') A to J from left to right. Alternately, a few interfaces designate the files as A to K, omitting 'I'. Moves are recorded as source square followed by destination square separated by a "-" (move) or "x" (strike). Revealed pieces on strikes precede the square designation, and may be by either rank name or rank number for brevity, for example "major B2xcaptain B3". The bottom half of the board is by default considered to be the 'red' side, and the top half the 'blue' side.Strategy
Unlike chess, ''Stratego'' is a game ofPieces
Classic pieces
There are seven immobile pieces – six ''Bombs'' and one ''Flag'' – and 33 mobile pieces per player. They can move to the adjacent square in horizontal or vertical direction, with exception of the ''Scout'', which moves any distance. From highest rank to lowest the pieces are: : The higher ranked piece always captures the lower, except when stated otherwise. Some versions (primarily those released since 2000) make 10 (the ''Marshal'') the highest rank with the ''Spy'' ranked 1, while others (versions prior to 2000, as well as the Nostalgia version released in 2002) have the ''Marshal'' piece ranked at 1 and the ''Spy'' designated S. The European version depicts pieces with the lower number to be higher ranked, whereas the American version depicts pieces with the higher number to be higher ranked.Variant pieces
Variant versions of the game have a few different pieces with different rules of movement, such as the ''Cannon'', ''Archer'' (possibly a different name for the ''Cannon''), ''Spotter'', ''Infiltrator'', ''Corporal'' and ''Cavalry Captain''. In one version, mobile pieces are allowed to "carry" the ''Flag''. In some variants such as ''Stratego Waterloo'' and ''Fire and Ice Stratego'', all or most of the pieces have substantially different moves.History
Japanese Military Chess
Japanese Military Chess ( :jp:軍人将棋, ''Gunjin Shogi'') has been sold and played since as early as 1895, although it is unknown by whom and when it was invented. Dr. Chiristian Junghans reported this game in ''Monatshefte'' magazine in Germany in 1905. It seems, only after reading his article, Julie Berg took out a patent on a war game in London and Paris in 1907. Similarly, Hermance Edan took a patent for ''L'attaque'' game in 1909 and sold them in 1910. The main differences between Japanese Military Chess and Stratego are: * Japanese Military Chess needs a referee to resolve the battles of the pieces. * The Flag is placed only on the headquarters and a player who successfully occupied the headquarters of the opponent shall win the game. * There are no Scout pieces * Engineer (analog of miner) can remove mines and tanks.French L'Attaque
In nearly its present form ''Stratego'' appeared in France from La Samaritaine in 1910, and then in Britain before World War I, as a game called ''L'attaque''. Historian and game collector Thierry Depaulis writes:It was in fact designed by a lady, Mademoiselle Hermance Edan, who filed a patent for a ''"jeu de bataille avec pièces mobiles sur damier"'' (a battle game with mobile pieces on a gameboard) on 1908-11-26. The patent was released by the French Patent Office in 1909 (patent #396.795). Hermance Edan had given no name to her game but a French manufacturer named Au Jeu Retrouvé was selling the game as ''L'Attaque'' as early as 1910.Depaulis further notes that the 1910 version was played with 36 pieces per player on a 9×10 board and the armies were divided into red and blue colors. The rules of ''L'attaque'' were basically the same as for the game we know as ''Stratego''. It featured standing cardboard rectangular pieces, color printed with soldiers who wore contemporary (to 1900) uniforms, not
The early H. P. Gibson & Sons games
* Dover Patrol – a naval warfare game on a board of 12×8 squares devised by Harry A. Gibson in 1911, but very similar to L'Attaque (and hence Stratego) *Stratego (classic)
''Stratego'' was created by Dutchman Jacques Johan Mogendorff sometime before 1942. The name was registered as a trademark in 1942 by the Dutch company Van Perlstein & Roeper Bosch N.V. (which also produced the first edition of '' Monopoly''). After WW2, Mogendorff licensed Stratego toModern Stratego variations
''Electronic Stratego'' was introduced by Milton Bradley in 1982. It has features that make many aspects of the game strikingly different from those of classic ''Stratego''. Each type of playing piece in ''Electronic Stratego'' has a unique series of bumps on its bottom that are read by the game's battery-operated touch-sensitive "board". When attacking another piece a player hits their Strike button, presses their piece and then the targeted piece: the game either rewards a successful attack or punishes a failed strike with an appropriate bit of music. In this way the players never know for certain the rank of the piece that wins the attack, only whether the attack wins, fails, or ties (similar to the role of the referee in the Chinese game of '' Luzhanqi''). Instead of choosing to move a piece, a player can opt to "probe" an opposing piece by hitting the Probe button and pressing down on the enemy piece: the game then beeps out a rough approximation of the strength of that piece. There are no ''Bomb'' pieces: ''Bombs'' are set using pegs placed on a touch-sensitive "peg board" that is closed from view prior to the start of the game. Hence, it is possible for a player to have their piece occupying a square with a bomb on it. If an opposing piece lands on the seemingly empty square, the game plays the sound of an explosion and that piece is removed from play. As in classic ''Stratego'', only a ''Miner'' can remove a ''Bomb'' from play. A player who successfully captures the opposing ''Flag'' is rewarded with a triumphant bit of music from the ''Stratego AI
In July 2022, DeepMind announced the development of DeepNash, a model-freeRelated and derivative games
''Stratego'' and its predecessor ''L'Attaque'' have spawned several derivative games, notably two 20th century China, Chinese games, "Game of the fighting animals" (''Dou Shou Qi'') also known as Jungle or "Animal Chess", and Land Battle Chess ( Lu Zhan Qi). The game Jungle also has pieces (but of animals rather than soldiers) with different ranks and pieces with higher rank capture the pieces with lower rank. The board, with two lakes in the middle, is also remarkably similar to that in ''Stratego''. The major differences between the two games is that in Jungle, the pieces are not hidden from the opponent, and the setup is fixed. According to historian R.C. Bell, this game is 20th century, and cannot have been a predecessor of ''L'Attaque'' or ''Stratego''. A modern, more elaborate, Chinese game known as Land Battle Chess ( Lu Zhan Qi) or Army Chess (Lu Zhan Jun Qi) is a descendant of Jungle, and a cousin of Stratego: It is played on a 5×13 board with two un-occupiable spaces in the middle, and each player has 25 playing pieces. The setup is not fixed, both players keep their pieces hidden from their opponent, and the objective is to capture the enemy's flag. Lu Zhan Jun Qi's basic gameplay is similar, though differences include "missile" pieces and a xiangqi-style board layout with the addition of railroads and defensive "camps". A third person is also typically used as a referee to decide battles between pieces without revealing their identities. An expanded version of the Land Battle Chess game also exists, adding naval and aircraft pieces and is known as Sea-Land-Air Battle Chess (Hai Lu Kong Zhan Qi). * '' Tri-tactics'', by Gibson & Sons introduced in the 1950s combining ''L'Attaque'', ''Dover Patrol'' and ''Aviation''. The pieces represented fighting units (e.g. "division", "battalion", "brigade") rather than individual soldiers. The board consisted of land, ocean, rivers and lakes. * Game of the Generals, a Philippine variety of Stratego introduced in 1973 played on a modified (8×9) chessboard *Publications
Unlike the vast literature for chess, checkers and backgammon, as of 2019, there is a single book, ''Stratego: From Beginner To Winner'', written by Richard Ratcliffe and published by Steel City Press.Versions
Classic versions
These have 10×10 boards, 40 pieces per side with classic pieces and rules of movement. Official Modern Version: Also known as Stratego Original. Redesigned pieces and game art. The pieces now use stickers attached to new "castle-like" plastic pieces. The stickers must be applied by the player after purchase. Rank numbering is reversed in European style (higher numbers equals higher rank). Comes with an optional alternate piece, the ''Infiltrator''. Stratego 50th Anniversary (1997) byVariant Versions
These have substantially different configurations and rules. Ultimate Stratego: No longer in production, this version can still be found at some online stores and specialty gaming stores. This version is a variant of traditional ''Stratego'' and can accommodate up to 4 players simultaneously. The ''Ultimate Stratego'' board game contained four different Stratego versions: "Ultimate Lightning", "Alliance Campaign", "Alliance Lightning" and "Ultimate Campaign". Science Fiction Version:Promotional
Themed
These variants are produced by the company with pop-culture-themed pieces. Produced by Avalon Hill: * '' Stratego: Legends'' (1999) Produced by USAopoly:Competition
There are now many ''Stratego'' competitions held throughout the world. The game is particularly popular in the Netherlands, Germany, Greece, and Belgium, where regular world and national championships are organized. The international ''Stratego'' scene has, more recently, been dominated by players from the Netherlands. Stratego World Championships have been held since 1997 and continue to be held yearly around August; the latest was 2019. ''Stratego'' competitions are now held in all four versions of the game: ;Classic Stratego:Competitions in the original game include the "Classic Stratego World Championships", the "Classic Stratego Olympiad" and several National Championships from various different countries. ;Ultimate Lightning Stratego: In this version of the game, each side has only 20 pieces. A few pieces have variant moves and there are a few rules differences. Games take only a fraction of the time needed for Classic Stratego. Competitions in this version include the "Ultimate Lightning World Championships" and the "Ultimate Lightning European Championships". ;Duel Stratego:The version is played with 10 pieces per side on an 8×10 board. Competitions in this version now include the "Stratego Duel World Championships," which were held for the first time in August 2009 (Sheffield, England). ;Stratego Barrage:To force decisions in knock-out stages in tournaments, in 1992 Stratego Barrage was developed by Marc Perriëns and Roel Eefting. In this "Quick-Stratego" a setup can be made in one minute and played in 5 minutes. The eight pieces with which Barrage is played are the Flag, the Marshall, the General, 1 Bomb, 1 Miner, 2 Scouts and the Spy. Since 1992 Dutch Championships and since 2000 World Championships in Barrage have been organised. Cambodian Champion is Sor Samedy, Dutch Champion (2014) is Ruben van de Built, World Champion (2013) is Tim Slagboom.Tournaments
World Championships ---- Other tournaments ---- * ''1991 First Dutch Championship''. In 1991 the first Dutch Stratego Championship was being organized by Johan van der Wielen, Roel Eefting and Marc Perriëns. Over 100 players participated in this event in Nijmegen. Wim Snelleman was the winner. Several Dutch Championships would follow. * ''1997 First Cambodian Championship''. In 1997 Cambodia had the scoop to be the first Asian country in which its national Classic Stratego Championship was being organized. Organizer Roel Eefting defeated runner-up Max van Wel. * ''1998 Second Cambodian Championship''. In 1998 Roel Eefting surprisingly lost his title to fellow Dutchman Marc Nickel (Derks), who ironically was invited by him on a journey together through Cambodia. * ''2007 World Team Cup''. The World Team cup is played annually at the World Championships. It is a four player event with teams competing for their country. Holland defeated Germany in the 2007 World Team Cup. * ''2007 Stratego Olympiad''. The 2007 Stratego Olympiad was held as part of the list of events within the Mind Sports Olympics. The 2007 event was held near London, England on 25 and 26 August 2007. Roel Eefting won both the event and the World Title on Barrage (Quick-Stratego which is played with 8 pieces). * ''2007 Stratego World Team Championship''. The Stratego World Team Championship is held as part of the events at the Mind Sports Olympics. This event is a three player event with teams competing for their country. Great Britain defeated Holland in the 2007 World Team Championships. * ''2007 Computer Stratego World Championship''. StrategoUSAStrategoUSA, formerly at http://www.strategoUSA.org, is a defunct organization conducted the first open tournament ever held for Stratego AI programs during December 2007. Programs played Classic Stratego rules in a round robin format. The tournament was a demonstration of state-of-the-art Stratego AI, with the hope it would spur new research into Stratego AI methodology. The winning program was Probe, which finished with a record of 17–0–3 (W–L–D). * ''2008 Computer Stratego World Championship''. The 2008 tournament was held during December with six programs participating. Once again, StrategoUSA hosted the tournament online. Probe repeated as the champion, with a record of 22–3–0 (W–L–D). * ''2009 Computer Stratego World Championship''. The 2009 tournament was held in December. Once again, StrategoUSA hosted the tournament online. The winner was Master of the Flag II, with a record of 30–3–2 (W–L–D). * ''2010 Stratego World Championship''. The 2010 tournament was held in August, in Maastricht, Netherlands, Pim Neimejer (Netherlands) won the World Championship (overall score). Lady Kathryn Whitehorn (England) won the Women's Stratego World Championship. In team play, The Netherlands National Team won Gold (first), Germany Silver (second), and England Bronze (third). * ''2010 Computer Stratego World Championship''. The 2010 tournament was held in December. Once again, StrategoUSA hosted the tournament online. The winner was Probe, with a record of 24–3–3 (W–L–D). * ''2016 - today Patras Battles''. Since 2016 almost every year inOther media
* August 2021: Iron Maiden (British heavy metal band) released the single "Stratego" for their upcoming album ''See also
* List of abstract strategy gamesReferences
Further reading
* Stratego Piece by Piece: History, Strategy, Tactics and Deployment, 1999, Prof. Michael Ziegler, Manor College, PA (private printing and distribution, not generally available)External links