Stratego
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Stratego'' ( ) is a
strategy Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the " ...
board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a co ...
for two players on a board of 10×10 squares. Each player controls 40 pieces representing individual officer and soldier ranks in an
army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
. The pieces have
Napoleonic Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...
insignia An insignia () is a sign or mark distinguishing a group, grade, rank, or function. It can be a symbol of personal power or that of an official group or governing body. On its own, an insignia is a sign of a specific or general authority and is ...
. 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 French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
game named ' ("''The Attack''"). It has been in production in
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
since
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
and the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
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 Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
''
strategos ''Strategos'', plural ''strategoi'', Latinized ''strategus'', ( el, στρατηγός, pl. στρατηγοί; Doric Greek: στραταγός, ''stratagos''; meaning "army leader") is used in Greek to mean military general. In the Helleni ...
'' (var. ''strategus'') for leader of an ancient (especially Greek) army: first general. The name ''Stratego'' was first registered in 1942 in the
Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
. The
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from ot ...
was filed in 1958 and registered in 1960 to Jacques Johan Mogendorff and is presently owned by
Jumbo Games Jumbo Games is a Dutch founded jigsaw puzzle and games company which was established in 1853 and is owned by M&R de Monchy N.V. Jumbo Games produce and manufacture all of their jigsaw puzzles and cardboard based games in their own factory that is b ...
as successors to Hausemann and Hotte, headquartered in the Netherlands. It has been licensed to manufacturers such as Milton Bradley,
Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of K ...
and others, as well as retailers such as
Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller. It is a Fortune 1000 company and the bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. As of July 7, 2020, the company operates 614 retail stores across all 50 ...
,
Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, fi ...
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 their turn; there is no "pass". 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 point In military strategy, a choke point (or chokepoint) is a geographical feature on land such as a valley, defile or bridge, or maritime passage through a critical waterway such as a strait, which an armed force is forced to pass through in order ...
s to make frontal assaults less direct. The game can be won by capturing the opponent's ''Flag'' or all of their 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 10115. The number of possible games is 10535. ''Stratego'' has many more moves and substantially greater complexity than other familiar games such as
chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...
and
backgammon Backgammon is a two-player board game played with counters and dice on tables boards. It is the most widespread Western member of the large family of tables games, whose ancestors date back nearly 5,000 years to the regions of Mesopotamia and Pe ...
; 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, 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 Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...
, ''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 ( :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 World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, 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 Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...
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.


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) * Aviation (game) – an air battle variation designed by Harry Gibson in 1925, with a variant called Battle of Britain sold in the 1970s * Tri-Tactics – a game combining land, sea and air warfare on a 12×12 board, with 56 pieces per person, dating from 1932, evolved from the above games.


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 A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...
''). 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 Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of K ...
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 Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by ...
." 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 Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin ...
pieces became standard.Waggoner, Susan. ''Under the Tree: the Toys and Treats That Made Christmas Special, 1930–1970.'' Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2007. Starting in the early 1960s all versions switched to
plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adapta ...
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 A domino effect or chain reaction is the cumulative effect generated when a particular event triggers a chain of similar events. This term is best known as a mechanical effect and is used as an analogy to a falling row of dominoes. It typically ...
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 ''The Year 1812, Solemn Overture'', Op. 49, popularly known as the ''1812 Overture'', is a concert overture in E major written in 1880 by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to commemorate the successful Russian defense against Napoleon I ...
''. 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.


Stratego AI

In July 2022, DeepMind announced the development of DeepNash, a model-free
multi-agent reinforcement learning ] Multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) is a sub-field of reinforcement learning. It focuses on studying the behavior of multiple learning agents that coexist in a shared environment. Each agent is motivated by its own rewards, and does acti ...
system capable of playing Stratego at the level of a human expert.


Related 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 A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''ja ...
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 ''Xiangqi'' (; ), also called Chinese chess or elephant chess, is a strategy board game for two players. It is the most popular board game in China. ''Xiangqi'' is in the same family of games as '' shogi'', '' janggi'', Western chess, '' ...
-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 *
battle for the temple A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...
, an Israeli game by Isratoys company A
capture the flag Capture the flag (CTF) is a traditional outdoor sport where two or more teams each have a flag (or other markers) and the objective is to capture the other team's flag, located at the team's "base", and bring it safely back to their own base. ...
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 Backgammon is a two-player board game played with counters and dice on tables boards. It is the most widespread Western member of the large family of tables games, whose ancestors date back nearly 5,000 years to the regions of Mesopotamia and Pe ...
, 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 Spin Master is a Canadian multinational toy and entertainment company that markets consumer products for children. Its brands include ''Bakugan'', Gund, Etch A Sketch, Meccano/ Erector, Air Hogs, '' PAW Patrol'', Aquadoodle, Tech Deck, ...
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 Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller. It is a Fortune 1000 company and the bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. As of July 7, 2020, the company operates 614 retail stores across all 50 ...
. 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 A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...
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. Jumbo (about December 25, 1860 – September 15, 1885), also known as Jumbo the Elephant and Jumbo the Circus Elephant, was a 19th-century male African bush elephant born in Sudan. Jumbo was exported to Jardin des Plantes, a zoo in Paris, and t ...
/ 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 __NOTOC__ A bicentennial or bicentenary is the two-hundredth anniversary of a part, or the celebrations thereof. It may refer to: Europe *French Revolution bicentennial, commemorating the 200th anniversary of 14 July 1789 uprising, celebrated i ...
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 Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by ...
and
Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...
). Instead of capturing the ''Flag'', the players must get two of their pawns on the lines of communication of their opponent. From highest rank to lowest the pieces are: : The higher ranked piece always captures the lower 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 Hertog Jan () is a brewery in the Netherlands. Originally Hertog Jan was a brand only, owned by distributor De Kikvorsch in Deest. Under this brand several types of beer were released, of which the top-fermenting beers were all made at the Arce ...
, 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 In mathematics, orthogonality is the generalization of the geometric notion of '' perpendicularity''. By extension, orthogonality is also used to refer to the separation of specific features of a system. The term also has specialized meanings in ...
, 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 Avalon Hill Games Inc. is a game company that publishes wargames and strategic board games. It has also published miniature wargaming rules, role-playing games and sports simulations. It is a subsidiary of Hasbro, and operates under the company' ...
: * '' 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 Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
, Greece, and
Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...
, 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 in
Patras ) , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 = , demographics1_info2 = , timezone1 = EET , utc_offset1 = +2 ...
the local team Patras Stratego Team organizes this international tournament inviting the best players from all over the world.


Other media

* August 2021:
Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harr ...
(British heavy metal band) released the single "Stratego" for their upcoming album '' Senjutsu''.


See also

* List of abstract strategy games


References


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


Royal Jumbo (Stratego trademark owner) Stratego marketing website

Official rules of Stratego
by Hasbro (U.S. licensee)
Probe
an online Stratego automaton (3 time Computer Stratego World Champion)
International Computer Gaming Association
whose '' ICGA Journal'' publishes occasional current research on computer Stratego {{Hasbro Board games introduced in 1961 Abstract strategy games Board wargames Milton Bradley Company games Children's board games Dutch inventions Games like Stratego eo:Stratego Dutch board games