Stratego
Stratego ( ) is a strategy board game for two players on a board of 10×10 squares. Each player controls 40 pieces representing individual officer and soldier ranks in an army. The pieces have Napoleonic insignia. The objective of the game is to find and capture the opponent's "Flag", or to capture so many enemy pieces that the opponent cannot make any further moves. "Stratego" has simple enough rules for young children to play but a depth of strategy that is also appealing to adults. The game is a slightly modified copy of an early 20th century French game  named "" (""The Attack""). It has been in production in Europe since World War II and the United States since 1961. There are now two- and four-player versions, versions with 10, 30 or 40 pieces per player, and boards with smaller sizes (number of spaces). There are also variant pieces and different . The International Stratego Federation, the game's governing body, sponsors an annual Stratego World Championship. Name and trademark. "Stratego" is from the French or Greek "strategos" (var. "strategus") for leader of an ancient (especially Greek) army: first general. The name "Stratego" was first registered in 1942 in the  Netherlands. The United States trademark was filed in 1958 and registered in 1960 to Jacques Johan Mogendorff and is presently owned by Jumbo Games as successors to Hausemann and Hotte, headquartered in the Netherlands. It has been licensed to manufacturers such as Milton Bradley, Hasbro and others, as well as retailers such as Barnes & Noble, Target stores, etc. 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. Players alternate moving; red moves first. The right to move first does not significantly affect game play (unlike chess). Each player moves one piece per turn. A  player must move a piece in his turn; there is no "pass" (as in the game of Go). Two zones in the middle of the board, each 2×2, cannot be entered by either player's pieces at any time. They are shown as lakes on the battlefield and serve as choke points to make frontal assaults less direct. The game can be won by capturing the opponent's "Flag" or all of his moveable pieces. It is possible to have ranked pieces that are not moveable because they are trapped behind "bomb"s. In unusual cases, it is possible to  draw, for example, when both players' flags are protected by bombs and each player has one remaining piece which is not a miner. The average game has 381 moves. The number of legal positions is 10. The number of possible games is 10. "Stratego" has many more moves and substantially greater complexity than other familiar games such as chess and backgammon; however, unlike those games where a single bad move at any point may result in loss of the game, most moves in "Stratego" are inconsequential as players think in "games not moves" (Boer, 2007). 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, he "strikes" by touching an opposing piece with his piece or moves his 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 of incomplete information. In addition to calculated sequences of moves, this gives rise to aspects of battle psychology such as concealment, bluffing, lying in wait and guessing. Pieces. 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 () 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: 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 Napoleonic uniforms. In papers of her estate, Ms. Edan states that she developed the game in the 1880s. "L'attaque" was later produced in England by game maker H.P. Gibson and Sons, who bought the rights to the game  in 1925, at least until the 1970s, initially retaining the French name before changing it. Stratego (classic). "Stratego" was created by Dutchman 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 to Smeets and Schippers, a Dutch company, in 1946. Hausemann and Hotte acquired a license in 1958 for European distribution, and in 1959 for global distribution. After Mogendorff's death in 1961, Hausemann and Hotte purchased the trademark from his heirs, and sublicensed it  to Milton Bradley (which was acquired by Hasbro in 1984) in 1961 for United States distribution. It is introduced to the people of the United States as, "the American version of the game now popular on the Continent." In 2009, Hausemann and Hotte was succeeded by Koninklijke Jumbo B.V. in the Netherlands. The modern game of "Stratego", with its Napoleonic imagery, was originally manufactured in the Netherlands. Pieces were originally made of printed cardboard and inserted in metal clip stands. After World War II, painted wood pieces became standard. Starting in the early 1960s all versions switched to plastic pieces . The change from wood to plastic was made for economical reasons, as was the case with many products during that period, but with Stratego the change also served a structural function: Unlike the wooden pieces, the plastic pieces were designed with a small base. The wooden pieces had none, often resulting in pieces tipping over. This was disastrous for that player, since it often immediately revealed the piece's rank, as well as unleashing a literal domino effect by having a falling piece knock over other pieces. European versions introduced cylindrical castle-shaped pieces that proved to be popular. American  editions later introduced new rectangular pieces with a more stable base and colorful stickers, not images directly imprinted on the plastic. European versions of the game give the "Marshal" the highest number (10), while the initial American versions give the "Marshal" the lowest number (1) to show the highest value (i.e. it is the #1 or most powerful tile). More recent American versions of the game, which adopted the European system, caused considerable complaint among American players who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s. This may have been a factor in the release of a Nostalgic edition, in a  wooden box, reproducing the Classic edition of the early 1970s. Modern 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 "1812 Overture". In the late 1990s, the Jumbo Company released several  European variants, including a three- and four-player version, and a new "Cannon" piece (which jumps two squares to capture any piece, but loses to any attack against it). It also included some alternate rules such as "Barrage" (a quicker two-player game with fewer pieces) and "Reserves" (reinforcements in the three- and four-player games). The four-player version appeared in America in 1997. Starting in the 2000s, Hasbro, under its Milton Bradley label, released a series of popular media-themed Stratego editions. Besides themed variants with substantially different rules, current production includes three slightly different editions: sets with  classic (1961) piece numbering (highest rank=1), sets with European piece numbering (highest rank=10), and sets that allow substitution of one or two variant pieces such as "Cannons", usually in place of scouts. Sets produced since 1970 or so have uniformly adopted the rule that scouts can move and strike in the same turn. Digital "Stratego" and AI versions. Accolade first introduced a Microsoft DOS-based "Stratego" AI in 1990, but it was not even so good as a rank beginner human player, lacking any apparent strategic conception and making many tactical blunders. Modern AI versions exist and compete in various  tournaments including the Computer Stratego World Championship, but are currently no better than an intermediate level human player. A digital Stratego CD-ROM was introduced by Hasbro Interactive in 1998 for Windows 95/98. It included all the games of Ultimate Stratego as well as classic Stratego, and was designed to be used over an LAN, modem-to-modem, or over the internet. Related and derivative games. "Stratego" and its predecessor "L'Attaque" have spawned several derivative games, notably two 20th century 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). A capture the flag game called "Stratego" and loosely based on the board game is played at summer camps. In this game, two teams of thirty to sixty players are assigned ranks by distribution of coloured objects such as pinnies or glowsticks, the colours representing rank, not team. Players can tag and capture lower-ranked  opponents, with the exception that the lowest rank captures the highest. Players who do not know their teammates may not be able to tell which team other players are on, creating incomplete information and opportunities for bluffing. 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. The game remains in production, with new versions continuing to appear every few years. These are a few of the notable ones. The first U.S. edition (1961) Milton Bradley  set, and a special edition 1963 set called "Stratego Fine", had wooden pieces. The 1961 wood pieces had a design that looked like vines scaling a castle wall on the back. But later 1961 productions featured plastic pieces (not true first editions). All other regular editions had plastic pieces. A few special editions as noted below had wooden or metal pieces. 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) by Spin Master comes in both a book-style box and a cookie-tin-like metal box, with original artwork, pieces and gameplay. It includes optional "Cannons" (2 per player) playing pieces. Nostalgia Game Series Edition: Released 2002. Traditional stamped plastic pieces, although the metallic paint is dull and less reflective than some older versions, and the pieces are not engraved as some  previous editions were. Wooden box, traditional board and piece numbering. Library Edition: Hasbro's Library Series puts what appears to be the classic Stratego of the Nostalgia Edition into a compact, book-like design. The wooden box approximates the size of a book and is made to fit in a bookcase in one's library. In this version, the scout may not move and strike in the same turn. Michael Graves Design Stratego by Milton Bradley introduced in 2002 and sold exclusively through Target Stores. It features a finished wood box, wooden pedestal board, and closed black and white roughly  wedge-shaped plastic pieces. Limited production, no longer available. Stratego Onyx: Introduced in 2008, Stratego Onyx was sold exclusively by Barnes & Noble. It includes foil-stamped wooden game pieces and a raised gameboard with a decorative wooden frame. One-time production, no longer available. Franklin Mint Civil War Collector's Edition: In the mid-1990s, Franklin Mint created a luxury version of Stratego with a Civil War theme and gold- and silver-plated pieces. Due to a last-minute licensing problem, the set was never officially released and offered for sale. The only remaining copies are those sent to the company 's retail stores for display. Variant 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: Jumbo B.V. / Spin Master version of "Stratego", common in North American department stores. The game has a futuristic science fiction theme. Played on a smaller 8×10 board, with  30 pieces per player. Features unique "Spotter" playing pieces. Stratego Waterloo: For the bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo in June 2015, the Dutch publishing group Jumbo published "Stratego Waterloo". Instead of using ranks, the different historical units that had actually fought at the battle were added as "Pawns" (Old Guard, 95th Rifles...) – each with their own strengths and weaknesses. The "Pawns" are divided into light infantry, line infantry, light cavalry, heavy cavalry, artillery, commanders and commanders-in-chief (Wellington and Napoleon). Instead of capturing the "Flag", the players must get two of their pawns on the lines of communication  of their opponent. Stratego Conquest: 1996, two- to four-handed game played on world map; alternate pieces cannons and cavalry Stratego Fortress: A 3D version of "Stratego" featuring a 3-level fortress and mystical themed pieces and maneuvers Fire and Ice Stratego: The Hasbro version called Fire and Ice Stratego has different pieces and rules of movement. The game features a smaller 8×10 board and each player has 30 magical and mythological themed pieces with special powers. Promotional. Hertog Jan, a Dutch brand of beer, released "Stratego Tournament", a promotional version of "Stratego" with variant rules. It includes substantially fewer  pieces, including only one Bomb and no Miners. Since each side has only about 18 pieces, the pieces are far more mobile. The scout in this version is allowed to move three squares in any combination of directions (including L-shapes) and there is a new piece called the "Archer", which is defeated by anything, but can defeat any piece other than the "Bomb" by shooting it from a two-square distance, in direct orthogonal, or straight, directions only. If one player is unable to move any more of his or her pieces, the game results in a tie because  neither player's "Flag" was captured. Themed. These variants are produced by the company with pop-culture-themed pieces. Produced by Avalon Hill: 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: Tournaments. World Championships Other tournaments