 | |
 Two games ofStratego in session | |
| Publishers | Jumbo Games |
|---|---|
| Years active | 1946–present |
| Genres | Board game Strategy game War game |
| Players | 2 |
| Setup time | 1 to 5 minutes |
| Playing time | 10 minutes to 1.5 hours |
| Chance | None |
| Age range | 8+ |
| Skills | Strategy,tactics,memory, bluff |
Stratego (/strəˈtiːɡoʊ/strə-TEE-goh) is achess-likestrategyboard game for two players on a board of 10×10 squares. Each player controls 40 pieces representing individualofficer and soldier ranks in anarmy. The pieces haveNapoleonicinsignia. The objective of the game is to either find and capture the opponent'sFlag or to capture all movable enemy pieces so 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 centuryFrench game namedL'Attaque ("The Attack"), and has been in production inEurope sinceWorld War II and theUnited 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 differentrulesets.
The International Stratego Federation, the game's governing body, sponsors an annualStratego World Championship.
Stratego is from the French orGreekstrategos (var.strategus) for leader of an ancient (especially Greek) army:[1] first general.[2]
The nameStratego was first registered in 1942 in theNetherlands. TheUnited Statestrademark was filed in 1958 and registered in 1960 to Jacques Johan Mogendorff and is presently owned byJumbo Games as successors to Hausemann and Hotte, headquartered in the Netherlands. It has been licensed to manufacturers such asMilton Bradley,Hasbro and others, as well as retailers such asBarnes & Noble,Target stores, etc.
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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 folding15+1⁄2 in × 18+1⁄2 in (39 cm × 47 cm) 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, 1 in (25 mm) tall and3⁄4 in (19 mm) wide, and unweighted.[3] 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.
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.
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; one cannot skip a turn.
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 aschoke points to make frontal assaults less direct.
The game can be won by capturing the opponent'sFlag or all of their moveable pieces. It is possible to have ranked pieces that are not moveable because they are trapped behindbombs. 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.[4]Stratego has many more moves and possible board states than other familiar games such aschess andbackgammon; however, unlike those games where a single bad move at any point may result in loss of the game, most moves inStratego are inconsequential as players think in "games not moves".[5]
All movable pieces, with the exception of theScout, may move only one step to any adjacent space vertically or horizontally (but not diagonally).[6]: Movement:2 A piece may not move onto a space occupied by a like-color piece.[6]: Movement:4, 5 Bomb andFlag pieces are not moveable.[6]: Movement:7 TheScout may move any number of spaces in a straight line (such as therook in chess).[6]: Movement:8 In the older versions ofStratego theScout could not move and strike in the same turn;[6]: Movement:8 [7] in newer versions this was allowed.[8] Even before that, sanctioned play usually amended the originalScout 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).[6]: Movement:10 Nor can a piece endlessly chase an opposing piece it has no hope of attacking (more square rule).
When a player wants to attack, they "strike" by touching an opposing piece with their piece or by moving it onto the square the opposing piece occupies. Both players then reveal their piece's rank; the weaker piece (see exceptions below) is removed from the board.[6]: Attack:5 If the engaging pieces are of equal rank, both are removed.[6]: Attack:7 A piece may not move onto a square already occupied unless it attacks. The original rules also contained a provision that following a strike, the winning piece immediately occupies the space vacated by the losing piece.[a][6]: Attack:6
Two pieces have special attack powers. One special piece is theBomb which onlyMiners can defuse. It immediately eliminates any other piece striking it without being destroyed itself.[6]: Attack:10 Each player also has oneSpy, which succeeds only if it attacks theMarshal or theFlag. If theSpy attacks any other piece, or is attacked by any piece (including theMarshal), theSpy is defeated.[6]: Attack:9
Competitive play does not include recording the game, unlike chess. The game is fast-paced, no standard notation exists, and players keep their initial setups secret, so recordingover-the-board 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.[citation needed]
Unlikechess,Stratego is a game ofimperfect information. In addition to calculated sequences of moves, this gives rise to aspects ofbattle psychology such as concealment, bluffing, lying in wait and guessing.
There are also strategic and tactical elements in the initial setup of the pieces. Stylistic preferences ("aggressive" vs "defensive") also enter into setup.
There are seven immobile pieces – sixBombs and oneFlag – and 33 mobile pieces per player. They can move to the adjacent square in horizontal or vertical direction, with exception of theScout, which moves any distance. From highest rank to lowest the pieces are:
| US / EU Rank | "Classic" US Rank | Piece | Count per player | Special properties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B | B | Bomb | 6 | Immovable; any piece attacking a Bomb is removed from the game, unless the attacking piece was a Miner |
| 10 | 1 | Marshal | 1 | Most powerful piece, but vulnerable to capture by an attacking Spy |
| 9 | 2 | General | 1 | |
| 8 | 3 | Colonel | 2 | |
| 7 | 4 | Major | 3 | |
| 6 | 5 | Captain | 4 | |
| 5 | 6 | Lieutenant | 4 | |
| 4 | 7 | Sergeant | 4 | |
| 3 | 8 | Miner | 5 | Can defuse (i. e. capture) Bombs |
| 2 | 9 | Scout | 8 | Can move any distance in a horizontal or vertical straight line without leaping over pieces or lakes; originally unable to move and attack in the same turn,[7] later changed to allow movement and attack.[8] |
| 1 | S | Spy | 1 | Weakest piece, captured by any other attacking piece, but an attacking Spy can capture the Marshal |
| F | F | Flag | 1 | Immovable; capturing the opponent's Flag wins the game |
The higher ranked piece always captures the lower, except when stated otherwise. When a piece attacks another piece with equal rank, both are removed.[7][8]
In the original versions published in the United States, the ranks were numbered with the most powerfulMarshal piece ranked at1, then numbers ascending as power fell untilScout was 9, and theSpy was not numbered but designatedS.[7] In 2000, this was inverted, with theMarshal ranked as10, descending to 2 for theScout, and theSpy ranked with number1.[8] "Classic" versions have been released since then with the lower number strongest, as in prior versions of the game.[7]
Variant versions of the game have a few different pieces with different rules of movement, such as theCannon,Archer (possibly a different name for theCannon),Spotter,Infiltrator,Corporal andCavalry Captain. In one version, mobile pieces are allowed to "carry" theFlag. In some variants such asStratego Waterloo andFire and Ice Stratego, all or most of the pieces have substantially different moves.
Japanese Military Chess (Gunjin Shogi) has been sold and played since as early as 1895, although it is not known by whom and when it was invented.[9]: 129–130 Dr. Christian Junghans reported this game inMonatshefte 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.[10] Similarly,Hermance Edan took a patent forL'attaque game in 1909[11] and sold them in 1910.[9]: 154–158
The main differences betweenGunjin Shogi andStratego are:
There are at least three different versions ofGunjin Shogi, distinguished by the number of pieces controlled by each player as well as the size of the board. The 23- and 31-piece versions are similar, influenced by the technology of World War I, and the 25-piece version is a more recent development, incorporating technologies developed during World War II.[12]
| Rank | Piece | Qty |
|---|---|---|
| B | mine | 4 |
| 1 | général chef d'armée | 1 |
| 2 | général chef de brigade | 1 |
| 3 | colonel | 2 |
| 4 | commandant | 2 |
| 5 | capitain | 4 |
| 6 | lieutenant | 4 |
| 7 | sergent | 4 |
| 8 | sapeur | 4 |
| 9 | éclaireur | 8 |
| S | espion | 1 |
| F | le drapeau | 1 |
In nearly its present formStratego appeared in France fromLa Samaritaine in 1910, and then in Britain beforeWorld War I, as a game calledL'Attaque.[13][14] Historian and game collectorThierry Depaulis writes:[15]
It was in fact designed by a lady, MademoiselleHermance 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 theFrench 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 asL'Attaque as early as 1910.
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The French patent has 36 pieces for each player and also has a slightly different board layout, but it introduced the same hierarchical rules of attack and movement followed by modern versions of the game.[11] Depaulis further notes the 1910 version had two armies, divided into red and blue colors. The rules ofL'attaque were basically the same as for the game we know asStratego. It featured standing cardboard rectangular pieces, color printed with soldiers who wore contemporary (to 1900) uniforms, notNapoleonic uniforms. In papers of her estate, Ms. Edan states that she developed the game in the 1880s.[15]
The publishing rights forL'Attaque were acquired for the United Kingdom by game makerH.P. Gibson and Sons in 1925,[16] retaining the French name through at least the 1970s.[17][18] Gibsons also produced several modified forms of the game, at least one of which predates the acquisition of the rights:
In 2019, Gibsons released a 100th anniversary edition ofL'Attaque. This edition included both the original and modern rules.[20]
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Stratego was created byDutchmanJacques Johan Mogendorff sometime before 1942. The name was registered as a trademark in 1942 by the Dutch companyVan Perlstein & Roeper Bosch N.V. (which also produced the first edition ofMonopoly). After WW2, Mogendorff licensed Stratego toSmeets 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 toMilton Bradley (which was acquired byHasbro 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 onthe Continent."[21] In 2009, Hausemann and Hotte was succeeded by Koninklijke Jumbo B.V. in the Netherlands.
The modern game ofStratego, 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, paintedwood pieces became standard.[22] Starting in the early 1960s all versions switched toplastic 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 aliteral 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 used the numbering system ofL'Attaque, giving the Marshal the lowest number (1) to show the highest value (i.e. it is the number 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 aNostalgia edition, in a wooden box, reproducing theclassic edition of the early 1970s.
Electronic Stratego was introduced by Milton Bradley in 1982. To promote the release, the company hired two actors to playRonald Reagan andLeonid Brezhnev, who played a match at theNew York Public Library Main Branch.[23]
It has features that make many aspects of the game strikingly different from those of classicStratego. The board is 8 wide by 10 squares deep, instead of 10×10. The blocked "lake" areas are therefore 1×2 instead of 2×2. Each side has 24 pieces, instead of 40, deployed in the three rows closest to the player; instead of six bomb pieces,Electronic Stratego uses hidden bomb pegs.[24]
Each type of playing piece inElectronic Stratego has a unique series of bumps on its bottom that are read by the game's battery-operated touch-sensitive "board".[24]: 7 When attacking another piece, the attacking player hits theirStrike 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.[24]: 22–25 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 ofLuzhanqi).[25] Instead of choosing to move a piece, a player can opt to "probe" an opposing piece by hitting theProbe button and pressing down on the enemy piece: the game then beeps out a rough approximation of the strength of that piece.[24]: 26–27
There are noBomb 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.[24]: 16–19 Hence, it is possible for a player to have their piece occupying a square with a bomb on it.[25] 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 classicStratego, only aMiner can remove aBomb from play.
TheScout is allowed to move diagonally, in addition to its usual horizontal and vertical moves. Again, as with the non-electronicStratego, scouts are not allowed to jump over pieces.[24]: 28–33
A player who successfully captures the opposingFlag is rewarded with a triumphant bit of music from the1812 Overture.[24]: 36 [25]
In the late 1990s, the Jumbo Company released several European variants, including a three- and four-player version, and a newCannon piece (which jumps two squares to capture any piece, but loses to any attack against it). It also included some alternate rules such asBarrage (a quicker two-player game with fewer pieces) andReserves (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 asCannons, 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.
In July 2022,DeepMind announced the development of DeepNash, a model-freemulti-agent reinforcement learning system capable of playingStratego at the level of a human expert.[26]Stratego has been difficult to model well because the opponent's pieces are hidden, making it a game ofimperfect information, the initial setup has more than 1066 possible states, and the overall game tree has 10535 possible states. DeepNash was able to win 84% of 50 ranked matches in online matches hosted by Gravon over a period of two weeks in April 2022 against human players, and won at a minimum rate of 97% over hundreds of matches against previously-developedStratego-playing programs including Probe, Master of the Flag, Demon of Ignorance, Asmodeus, Celsius, PeternLewis, and Vixen.[27]
Stratego and its predecessorL'Attaque have spawned several derivative games, notably one 20th centuryChinese game, "Game of the fighting animals" (Dou Shou Qi) also known asJungle or "Animal Chess".
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 inStratego. 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 ofL'Attaque orStratego.[citation needed]
A more elaborate and complex Chinese game known as Land Battle Chess (Lu Zhan Qi) or Army Chess (Lu Zhan Jun Qi) is a similar board game to Stratego, with a few differences: 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.[2] Lu Zhan Jun Qi's basic gameplay is similar, though differences include "missile" pieces and axiangqi-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).[3] There is also a 4-player version of Lu Zhan Jun Qi that has players opposite to each other on the board be on the same team and try to capture the opposite teams' flags and can defend each other from the opposition's attacks.
Acapture the flag game called "Stratego" and loosely based on the board game is played atsummer camps. In this game, two teams of thirty to sixty players are assigned ranks by distribution of coloured objects such aspinnies 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.
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 calledStratego 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.
These have 10×10 boards, 40 pieces per side with classic pieces and rules of movement.
Official Modern Version: Also known asStratego 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, theInfiltrator.
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.
Stratego 50th Anniversary (2011) bySpin Master comes in both a book-style box and a cookie-tin-like metal box, with original new artwork, pieces and gameplay. It includes optionalCannons (2 per player) playing pieces.
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 throughTarget 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 byBarnes & 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 anAmerican 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.[citation needed]
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 traditionalStratego and can accommodate up to 4 players simultaneously. TheUltimate 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 ofStratego, 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 uniqueSpotter playing pieces.
Stratego Waterloo: For thebicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo in June 2015, the Dutch publishing group Jumbo publishedStratego Waterloo. Instead of using ranks, the different historical units that had actually fought at the battle were added asPawns (Old Guard, 95th Rifles...) – each with their own strengths and weaknesses.[28] ThePawns are divided into light infantry, line infantry, light cavalry, heavy cavalry, artillery, commanders and commanders-in-chief (Wellington andNapoleon). Instead of capturing theFlag, the players must get two of their pawns on the lines of communication of their opponent.
From highest rank to lowest the pieces are:
| Rank | French (Blue) | Allied (Red) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Initial forces | Prussian reinforcements (Black) | |||||
| Name | Count | Name | Count | Name | Count | |
| 8/1 | Emperor Napoleon (France) | 1 | Duke of Wellington (Britain) | 1 | — | |
| 7/2 | Marshal Ney (France) | 1 | Lord Uxbridge (Britain) | 1 | Field Marshal Von Bulow (Prussia) | 1 |
| 6/3 | Empress'sDragoons (French Imperial Guard) | 2 | BritishRoyal Guards | 2 | — | |
| 5/4 | Polish Lancers (French Imperial Guard) | 4 | Scots Greys &Highland Regiments (Scottish cavalry and infantry, respectively) | 3 | — | |
| 4/5 | Cuirassiers (French Imperial Guard) | 5 | Dutch Carabiniers (cavalry) | 3 | — | |
| 3/6 | FrenchLine Infantry | 15 | KGL Infantry (Britain) | 18 | Prussian Infantry | 3 |
| 2/7 | Chasseurs a Cheval (French cavalry) | 6 | 95th Rifles (British infantry) &KGLHussars (British cavalry) | 8 | SilesianLandwehr (Prussian cavalry & infantry) | 8 |
| 1/8 | FrenchLight Infantry | 5 | Brunswick Leib ("Black Infantry") | 3 | — | |
| Artillery | 8 | Artillery | 6 | Artillery | 1 | |
| Totals | France | 47 | Allies | 45 | Prussia | 13 |
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 ofStratego 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.
Hertog Jan, a Dutch brand of beer, releasedStratego Tournament, a promotional version ofStratego 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 theArcher, which is defeated by anything, but can defeat any piece other than theBomb by shooting it from a two-square distance, in directorthogonal, 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'sFlag was captured.
These variants are produced by the company with pop-culture-themed pieces licensed from their respective owners:
Produced byAvalon Hill:
Produced by USAopoly:
There are now manyStratego competitions held throughout the world. The game is particularly popular in the Netherlands,Germany, Greece, USA andBelgium, where live and online championships are organized. The internationalStratego scène is at this moment dominated by players from The Netherlands and Greece. Stratego World Championships have been held since 1997 and continue to be held almost yearly around August; the latest was last year[as of?] in Nürnberg in Germany. In August the next World Championships will be held in Avenches in Switzerland.
Stratego competitions are now held in all four versions of the game:
World Championships Stratego Classic (40 pieces)
| Year | Host | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 |  London |  Peter van Bodegom | George Franka | Erik van den Berg |
| 1998 | London | Luc Adriaansen | Sander Rinzema | Erik van den Berg |
| 1999 | London | Johnny van Geffen | René Helmus | George Franka |
| 2000 | London | Erik van den Berg | André Pols | Wim Snelleman |
| 2001 |  Berlin | Erik van den Berg | René Helmus | Vincent de Boer |
| 2002 | Rotterdam | Erik van den Berg | Dennis Baas | Wim Snelleman |
| 2003 |  Vienna | Vincent de Boer | André Pols | Wout Gulden |
| 2004 |  Antwerp | Vincent de Boer | Erik van den Berg | Luc Adriaansen |
| 2005 | Not held | |||
| 2006 | Antwerp | Erik van den Berg | Ricardo Kik | Mark Blockhaus |
| 2007 | Antwerp | Vincent de Boer | Ralf Sandkuhle | Erik van den Berg |
| 2008 |  Kyiv | Pim Niemeijer | Tim Slagboom | Vincent de Boer |
| 2009 | Gladbeck | Steffen Annies | Tim Slagboom | Pim Niemeijer |
| 2010 | Maastricht | Pim Niemeijer | Tim Slagboom | Andreas Bonnermann |
| 2011 | North Shields | Richard Ratcliffe | Tim Slagboom | George Franka |
| 2012 | Haastrecht | Pim Niemeijer | Richard Ratcliffe |  Martin Ehrenberger |
| 2013 | Berlin | Tim Slagboom | Steffen Annies | Axel Hangg |
| 2014 |  Thessaloniki | Tim Slagboom | George Franka | Ruben van de Bilt |
| 2015 | Waterloo | Pim Niemeijer | Johnny van Geffen | Vincent de Boer |
| 2016 | Rendsburg | Stavros Sekertzis | Tim Slagboom | John Schepers |
| 2017 | Marmari | Anjo Travaille | Tim Slagboom | John Vandoros |
| 2018 | Naarden | John Vandoros | Vince van Geffen | Sem van Geffen |
| 2019 | Sheffield | Tim Slagboom | Pim Niemeijer |  Angel Baron |
| 2020 | Not held due to theCOVID-19 pandemic | |||
| 2021 | ||||
| 2022 | Kalavryta | Gerasimos Karelas | Max Roelofs | Anjo Travaille |
| 2023 | Amsterdam | Vince van Geffen | Max Roelofs | Sem van Geffen |
| 2024 | Nüremberg | Vince van Geffen | Tim Slagboom | Max Roelofs |
| 2025 |  Avenches | Vince van Geffen | Max Roelofs | Sem van Geffen |
World Championships Stratego Juniors Classic (40 pieces)
| Year | Host | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Berlin | Roel Verleysdonk | Thomas Kok | Niels Hardorff |
| 2002 | Rotterdam | Roel Verleysdonk | Niels Hardorff | Jordy de Raef |
| 2003 | Vienna | Roel Verleysdonk | Jordy de Raef | Peter Verleysdonnk |
| 2004 | Antwerp | Roel Verleysdonk | Pim Niemeijer |  Julien Alexis |
| 2005 | Not held | |||
| 2006 | Antwerp | Peter Verleysdonk | Bert Verleysdonk | Vincent Pausch |
| 2007 | Not held | |||
| 2008 | Kyiv | Maksym Malyshevsky | Yuriy Mykhalyuk | Nazariy Klyuzhnyy |
| 2009 | Gladbeck | Ansgar Pausch | Filip Andriessen | Benedikt Abel |
| 2010 | Maastricht | Steven van den Enden | Wilhelm David Weber | Ruben Trittin |
| 2011 | North Shields | Adrian Hangg | Ruben Trittin | Emerson Ratcliffe |
| 2012 | Haastrecht | Simon Quinn | Wilhelm David Weber | Filip Andriessen |
| 2013 | Berlin | Wilhelm David Weber | Timon Abel | Nighel Apostel |
| 2014 | Thessaloniki | Ioannis Takatinis | Anastasia Takatiui | Iosif Fragkou |
| 2015 | Waterloo | Vince van Geffen | Sem van Geffen | Bram Geelhoed |
| 2016 | Rendsburg | Nils Abel | Lasse Baasch | Mads Sievers |
| 2017 | Marmari | Elissaios Vandoros | Ernestos Pilalis | Filippos Mpanitsiotis |
| 2018 | Naarden | Thomas Geelhoed | Daniel Geelhoed | Woody Melbourne |
| 2019 | Sheffield | Woody Melbourne | Elly Melbourne | Alexander de Almeida |
| 2020 | Not held due to theCOVID-19 pandemic | |||
| 2021 | ||||
| 2022 | Kalavryta | Phaedon Kougiemitros | Ermis Metaxas-Mariatos | Evangelia Arkoumani |
| 2023 | Not held | |||
| 2024 | Nüremberg | Lio Birnbaumer | Ilyan Jánváry | Andor Jánváry |
World Championships Stratego Barrage (8 pieces)
| Year | Host | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | London | Roel Eefting | Richard Ratcliffe | Dennis Baas |
| 2007 | Not held | |||
| 2008 | London | Richard Ratcliffe | Chris Sergeant | Luke Daniels |
| 2009 | Not held | |||
| 2010 | ||||
| 2011 | Newcastle | Richard Ratcliffe | Kees de Vos | Mark Baardman |
| 2012 | Not held | |||
| 2013 | ||||
| 2014 | Thessaloniki | Ruben van de Bilt | Richard Ratcliffe | Theo Gerrits |
| 2015 | Waterloo | Axel Hangg | Pim Niemeijer | David Bouten |
| 2016 | Not held | |||
| 2017 | ||||
| 2018 | Naarden | Pim Niemeijer | Axel Hangg | Roel Eefting |
| 2019 | Sheffield | Richard Ratcliffe | Angel Baron | Dennis Baas |
| 2020 | Not held due to theCOVID-19 pandemic | |||
| 2021 | ||||
| 2022 | Kalavryta | Pim Niemeijer | Dennis Baas | Gerasimos Karelas |
| 2023 | Amsterdam | Sébastien Crot | Joshua Critchlow | Axel Hangg |
| 2024 | Nüremberg | Axel Hangg | Nils Tiedemann | Yannick Müller |
| 2025 | Avenches | Sébastien Crot | Dimitris Karamanis | Nils Tiedemann |
Other tournaments
駒や盤の取り方などは時代によって（あるいは製造元によって）多少異なるようです。第1次大戦後にはタンクや地雷が、第2次大戦後には毒ガスや飛行機、原爆が登場するなど、現実の戦争に応じて、次々と進化を遂げてきました。[Pieces and boards differ slightly depending on when or who manufactured them. After World War I, tanks and mines were included, and after World War II, poison gas, airplanes, and atomic bombs were added.]
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