Game of the Generals

The Game of the Generals, also called GG or GOG or simply The Generals, is an educational war game invented in the Philippines by Sofronio H. Pasola Jr. in 1970. Its Filipino name is "Salpakan." It can be played in twenty to thirty minutes. It is designed for two players, each controlling an army, and a neutral arbiter (sometimes called a referee or an adjutant) to decide the results of "challenges" between opposing playing pieces that have their identities hidden from the opponent.
The game simulates armies at war trying to overpower, misinform, outflank, outmaneuver and destroy each other. It optimizes using logic, memory, and spatial skills. It simulates the "fog of war" because the identities of the opposing pieces are hidden from each player and can only be guessed at by their location, movements, or from the results of challenges. The game allows only one side's plan to succeed, although a player may change plans during the game. There are two different ways of winning the game (see below). Certain strategies and tactics, however, allow both sides the chance of securing a better idea of the other's plan as the game progresses. Players can also speak or gesture to their opponents during matches, to create a false impression about the identity of their pieces or their overall strategy.
Sofronio H. Pasola, Jr. invented this game with the inspiration of his son Ronnie Pasola.
The Pasolas first tried the Game of the Generals on a chessboard. Even then, the pieces had no particular arrangement. There were no spies in the experimental game; but after Ronnie Pasola remembered the James Bond movies and Mata Hari, he added the Spies. The Pasolas also decided to make the pieces hidden, after remembering card games.
The Game of the Generals' was released publicly on 28 February 1973. After the game was released, it angered some Filipino chess players who thought that Pasola was trying to denigrate chess.
The game's objective is to eliminate or capture the opponent's flag or to maneuver one's flag to the far edge of the board, subject to the following conditions.
If challenges, the flag is eliminated by any opposing piece, including the opposing and challenging flag. If a player's flag is eliminated by a challenge, that player loses the game. The flag that challenges the opponent's flag wins the challenge and thus wins the game.
When the flag successfully reaches the opponent's back rank, it has to survive one more turn without being challenged before it can declare a victory. If a flag reaches the opposing back rank and there is no adjacent opposing piece that can challenge it, the flag wins the game immediately. If a flag reaches the opposing back rank directly adjacent to an opposing piece, and that piece does not challenge the flag immediately on the opponent's next turn, then that flag wins the game. Any player may reveal their flag at any time and for any reason, although most often a player reveals their flag after it has already secured victory at the opposing back rank.
Most games end in a victory for one of the players. However, any player may propose a draw at any time; the opponent can either decline, so play continues, or agree, and thus the game ends in a tie.
At the end of a match, whether as a draw or as a victory for one player, it is courteous to allow the opposing player a view of the surviving pieces before they are taken off the board.
The player's set of pieces represents 21 soldiers (combatants) with a hierarchy of ranks and functions. A higher-ranking piece (usually the officers) will eliminate any lower-ranking piece, with the exception of the two Spies; the Spies eliminate all pieces except the 6 Privates.
Apart from the flag (the Philippine Flag) and the Spy (a pair of prying eyes), the rank insignia of the pieces used in the game are those used in the Philippine Army.
The playing pieces are identical-sized plastic or metal flat rectangles bent or molded at a 90-degree- or 80-degree angles. The rank insignia are printed on the rear side to keep them hidden from the opposing player; the game requires that the front side of the pieces should have no distinguishing marks that will help identify the pieces.
In plastic sets, the colors commonly used in the pieces are black and white. There are also sets composed of wooden boards and aluminum pieces. Those pieces have rank insignia that are printed either red or blue. In metal sets, the board's color is commonly brown and the pieces are aluminum colored. Some of the cheaper game sets consist of just a rolled up sheet printed with squares instead of a rigid board, as well as plastic pieces with ranks printed on cardboard.
Note: If both soldiers are of equal rank, both are eliminated (colloquially termed as a "split").
The game is played on a rectangular board with 72 plain squares arranged in 8 ranks and 9 files. To start the game, each player's 21 pieces are placed in various locations within the nearest 3 rows to each player's home side. These are the 27 closest squares, leaving 6 squares open. For example, the Black player in the illustrated example has deployed 21 pieces in Ranks 6, 7, and 8, leaving the squares A8, B8, C8, G8, H8, and I8 open. The White player has also deployed 21 pieces in the nearest 3 Ranks (1, 2, and 3), leaving A2, B3, C3, G2, H3, and I3 open.
A player can consider the half of the board nearest them to be "friendly territory" while the other side's half is the "enemy territory," though this is not an actual rule in the game. The two middle rows (fourth rank from each player's edge of the board) are initially empty at the start of the game and represent "no man's land" or "unconquered territory" that the contending pieces can occupy or leave vacant, depending on each player's strategy.
Although not specifically marked, each player's side of the board can be grouped into three amorphous battle zones, generally consisting of nine squares each: these zones are the "left flank," the "center," and the "right flank," but the boundaries are variable or may be considered psychological.
Unlike chess or its variants, there is no predetermined initial layout for placing the pieces, allowing each player to place the pieces in different squares to their preference or according to his initial strategy. The allocation of spaces (6 vacant squares) is important for the tactical movement of the individual pieces in the first three ranks, because a piece that has friendly pieces in front, behind, and on each side is effectively immobilized until a space opens up on these adjacent squares. Some players like to place the spaces (unoccupied squares) at the rear row, the front row, to one side of the board, or interspersed between the pieces, but that initial placement can be a form of deception to try to mislead the opposing player.
There is also no predetermined order of play. The players can decide who goes first; afterward, they take their turns alternately. Each player can move only one piece per turn.
All pieces have the same move: one square forward, backward, or sideways, as long as it is not blocked by the board's edge or by another friendly piece. A piece cannot move into a square already occupied by a friendly piece. A piece cannot move diagonally nor move two or more squares away from its original position.
If a piece moves adjacent to (in front of, behind, or to the side of, but not diagonally from) an opposing piece, the piece that was stationary can be moved to *challenge* the opposing piece by entering and occupying the adjacent enemy-occupied square. For the result of the challenge, a neutral arbiter examines both pieces and removes the lower-ranking piece without showing the winning player the identity of that eliminated losing piece. If the two opposing pieces are of equal rank, both pieces are eliminated and the square they were on becomes unoccupied.
Each piece can challenge an opposing piece directly adjacent in front, behind, or to either side of it (identical, in effect, to the way it moves). Thus, a piece does not directly threaten an opposing piece that is situated diagonally to it. However, a piece known or thought to be more assertive can restrict the movement of a weaker opposing piece that is situated diagonally to it by threatening to eliminate it if it moves to a square adjacent to that of the stronger piece.
A player initiates a challenge by placing their piece on the adjacent square where an opposing piece is located.
The arbiter then examines the ranks of the opposing pieces, removes the lower-ranked piece off the board, and returns it to the owner regardless of who initiated the challenge. The eliminated pieces are not revealed to the opposing player until the game ends. The arbiter must not reveal the ranks of the pieces to the opposition, nor can he give any verbal or non-verbal clues about the rest of the board layout.
The game can be played without an arbiter. In this case, when a challenge is made, both players must state the rank of their piece after which the lower-ranked piece is eliminated. The presence of the arbiter, though not compulsory, is significant to ensure secrecy until the game is over. Official games are conducted with an arbiter.
Regardless of which piece initiated the challenge, their ranks determine which piece is to be eliminated and removed from the board.
If a Flag reaches the opposite edge or farthest rank of the board, the opponent has one turn left although it is not announced. After the turn, the player who advanced his flag waits for the next player to make his move and afterwards, he reveals the Flag. If the Flag was not challenged, the player with the advanced Flag wins the game. If the Flag was challenged, the player with that Flag loses the game.
The playing pieces can be classified according to the following tactical functions and roles:
Note: The roles of the Sweepers and Probers can be interchanged in various ways, depending on the player's preference.
An experienced Generals player will have tried out and practiced a number of basic strategies. Each strategy starts out with a particular distribution of strong or weaker pieces in the front line or rear areas, as well as in the left flank, center, or right flank. The most common strategies usually depend on clustering or distributing powerful pieces in different areas of the board. In the list below, the first four can be considered "basic" while the last four are relatively "advanced," depending on the player's experience level or creativity.
An experienced player may want to mix two or more of the above-listed strategies and tactics at different locations on the board. For example, he can amass a powerful task force on one flank to conduct a Blitzkrieg offense while setting up a Stronghold in the center or the other flank to try to destroy a possible enemy attack that has Rampaging Bulls or Probers.
A game can have multiple strategies depending on the outcome of the initial challenges. Loss of high-ranking pieces, especially of the Killers, usually stops an offensive action and forces a player to change plans or to go on the defensive. A player needs to muster and redistribute his remaining higher-ranking pieces to avoid the enemy's Killer pieces while continuing to eliminate the mid- and low-ranking pieces. Once numerical balance or superiority is achieved, or if he can outflank the defenders, a player should be able to shift back to offensive Flag-rushing or Flag-hunting operations.
Deception and psychological warfare can be a major component of the game. Players must memorize the position and probable identity of known enemy pieces because losing track of a possible Killer piece or Private can lead to loss of important pieces. Sometimes a Spy has to be sacrificed against a known enemy Spy in order to clear the way for your Sweepers to eliminate the remaining enemy pieces. Try to keep one or more reserve forces available for various contingencies and to provide multiple tactical options or changes in overall strategy. Maneuvering pieces and allocating empty squares in a crowded area is also important to bring your appropriate pieces against low-level enemy pieces, avoid losses from identified high-powered enemy pieces, or to eliminate the enemy Flag.
There are many variations to make the game more exciting or difficult. Many variations involve simple modifications like showing the flag or simply playing with only 11 pieces. These modifications are often combined to make the game more challenging.
Krig is one of the online variants. Rules are very similar except:
In 1980, Ideal released The Generals Electronic Strategy Game. The rules and piece ranks are the same as above, except that the "Spies" are "Agents", and an electronic arbiter determines which piece wins in a confrontation; neither player sees his opponent's pieces. The plastic pieces have selected notches on their bases, which depress certain indentations in the electronic arbiter's twin slots. The lights flash and a short musical phrase plays before a light labeled "battle winner" is illuminated. The losing piece is removed from the board, while the winning piece is placed back on the board. If the flag is placed in the arbiter, it plays "Taps" after the initial musical phrase.
Unlike the original version of the game, if a player's Flag reaches the back row in The Generals Electronic Strategy Game, that player wins, even if an opposing piece occupies an adjacent square on the back row.
Through the years as electronic devices and programming languages evolved, many Filipino computer science students and programmers have created and released their own software versions of the game for use on different devices and platforms. The game's rules and mechanics lend themselves well to replacing the human arbiter with an electronic or software version, both to decide the results of challenges, and to indicate if one player has already won the game.
To cite an example, a software app downloadable on the Google Play Store for Android smartphones (with touchscreens) called Game of the Generals Mobile was released on November 19, 2020, by Mawkins Entertainment. It was last updated on July 10, 2022, and is designed for Android version 5.0 and later versions. It has a download size of 47.51 MB and currently has 50,000+ downloads with a user-provided rating of 4.5 out of 5.0. This software package allows online and offline play, allows replays of matches and custom matches, allows play with an AI (artificial intelligence), allows one-on-one play with any player who has the same software, ranks the various players on leaderboards, and allows them to manage their reputations when they start winning matches.
In 1988, three college senior students from the Philippines, Paul Q. Gozon, Paterno A. Lim, and Hector C. Santos, authored a groundbreaking thesis using Turbo Pascal. Their work focused on creating a computerized version of the game, aiming to emulate human intelligence in decision-making processes. This thesis has since served as an inspiration for future generations of students and researchers, highlighting the potential of technology to simulate complex cognitive tasks.
Generals bears many similarities with Stratego, including a hierarchy/ranking of pieces, invisible enemy piece values, arbitrary initial placement within a player's "home" area, and the use of spies to eliminate high-ranking pieces.
However, unlike Stratego, Generals does not have any bombs, nor miners to defuse them. The Generals spies act as reusable mines, as they will remove almost all pieces when attacked yet are not themselves removed from the board. Generals also does not have scouts, which may cross several spaces across the board in one move. All of the pieces in Generals can move, while both the flag and the bombs in Stratego are stationary. Also, each player has two Spies in Generals, while each only has one Spy in Stratego. In general, Stratego has more pieces than Generals and games accordingly last longer.
In addition, unlike Stratego, which features two "lakes" in the middle of the board, all 72 of the squares on the Generals board are accessible. There are six empty spaces during the initial placement of pieces in the three ranks closest to the player for Generals, while the same three ranks are completely filled in Stratego.
Finally, Generals inherently requires a third-party arbiter to maintain the game's uncertainty all the way to the endgame. Stratego requires that both players' pieces be revealed during a challenge to determine which is removed.