Strategus Play Studio Podium

Stratego game rules

Game board

Stratego game board is 10 by 10 squares representing a battlefield. There are two 2 by 2 areas in the middle called "lakes".

Pieces

Each player has 40 pieces representing an army, which consists of 33 moveable and 7 non-moveable pieces.

Moveable pieces, ranked from high to low, are:

Non-moveable (unranked) pieces are:

Name Rank (10⊳1) Rank (1⊳S) Sample figures
Marshal 10 1
General 9 2
Colonel 8 3
Major 7 4
Captain 6 5
Lieutenant 5 6
Sergeant 4 7
Miner 3 8
Scout 2 9
Spy 1 S
Bomb - -
Flag - -

Preparation or setup phase

Place your pieces in the four back rows corresponding to your side of the board. The two middle rows are left unoccupied at the start of the game. Pieces are not visible for your opponent.

Once both players are ready the game can start.

Gameplay

Players alternate turns. Player 1 (known as "red") moves first; player 2 ("blue") follows.

On your turn you must do one of the following:

Moving pieces

Attacking pieces

Winning the game

The first player to capture the opponent flag wins the game.

If a player cannot move or attack in his/her turn, he/she loses the game. This is possible if all moveable pieces have been captured or they are blocked (by bombs and/or flag).

In the exceptional case that after an attack both pieces are captured and neither player can move any further, the game ends in a draw.

Additional moving rule: three moves on two squares

A piece cannot move back and forth between the same two squares more than three consecutive times (turns). This is regardless of the piece being just moved or also attacking an opponent piece in those squares.

After moving the same piece over the same two squares in three consecutive turns, in his/her next turn the player should move any other piece. If this is not possible, they must surrender and opponent wins the game.

To include the scouts in this rule it is generalized as: a piece cannot cross the same square boundary more than three consecutive times. This means that a scout can move back and forth over the same row (or column) as long as it does not cross a square boundary more than three times.

Additional moving rule: more squares or continuous chasing

It is not allowed to continuously "chase" one or more opponent pieces. Chasing is defined as moving a piece adjacent to an opponent piece ("threatening"), and he/she moving it away in the immediate following turn ("evading").

If a chasing move would lead to a position on the board which has already taken place ("board repetition") this potential move is considered illegal and the player should perform another move.

As an exception, moving a piece back to the square where it was in the immediate preceding turn is always allowed, as long as the two-squares rule is not violated. This is regardless of the piece being in a chasing situation.

For reference, some typical chasing situations are: