Stratego

Stratego is a strategic board game featuring a 10x10 square board and two players with 40 pieces each. Pieces represent individual officers and soldiers in an army, though the game is in all other respects an abstract strategy game. The object of the game is to find and capture the opponent's Flag, or to capture so many pieces that the opponent cannot move at all. Players cannot see the ranks of each others' pieces, so misinformation and discovery are important parts of the game.

The origins of Stratego can be traced back to traditional Chinese board game Jungle also known as 'Game of the Fighting Animals' (Dou Shou Qi) 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 in Stratego. The major differences between the two games is that in Jungle, the pieces are not hidden from the opponent, and the initial setup is fixed.

The modern game, with its Napoleonic imagery, was originally published in the Netherlands by Jumbo, and was licensed by the Milton Bradley Company for American distribution, and first published in the United States in 1961 (although it was trademarked in 1960).

Pieces were originally made of printed cardboard. After World War II, painted wood pieces became standard, but starting in the late 1960s all versions had 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 actually was for the better - the plastic pieces were much less likely to tip over. 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, of course, was disastrous for that player, since it often immediately revealed the piece's rank. European versions introduced cylindrical castle-shaped pieces that proved to be popular. American variants later introduced new rectangular pieces with a more stable base and colorful stickers, not images directly imprinted on the plastic.

The game is particularly popular in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium, where regular national and world championships are organized.