Stratego · Complete guide
Stratego: how to play, where it came from, and how to win
Forty pieces, all face down. A French battle game patented by a woman in 1908, and one of the last classic games artificial intelligence managed to crack.
Stratego is chess with the pieces turned around. Each player deploys forty pieces face down, so your opponent can see where your army is but not what any of it is — and the whole game is finding out without giving anything away.
Ranks run from Marshal (10) down to Spy (1), plus six Bombs and the Flag, which never move. In a strike both pieces are revealed and the lower rank is removed. Only a Miner can defuse a Bomb. A Spy beats the Marshal — but only when the Spy attacks first. And Scouts run any distance in a line, which makes them your cheapest source of information.
The information rules are not in the rulebook but decide every game. Everything revealed is revealed permanently. A piece that has moved is not a Bomb or the Flag. A piece that advances confidently is strong — or bluffing. Every attack costs you information even when you win it.
Its ancestor, L'Attaque, was patented in France in 1908 by Hermance Edan, one of the very few named women in the history of board game design. And Stratego held out against computers until 2022, longer than chess, Go or poker, because it combines hidden information with an enormous game tree.
How to play
All forty pieces explained, how strikes resolve, why the Spy only beats the Marshal when it attacks, what Miners are for, and the rules that stop endless shuffling.
Where it comes from
A French battle game patented by Hermance Edan in 1908, adapted in the Netherlands as Stratego, launched in America in 1961 — and one of the last classic games to fall to artificial intelligence.
- Stratego descends from L'Attaque, patented by Hermance Edan in France in 1908.
- Hidden ranks revealed only on contact was an original invention, not borrowed from an older game.
- Jacques Johan Mogendorff adapted it in the Netherlands, expanding the board to 10×10 and the army to forty.
- Milton Bradley launched Stratego in the United States in 1961.
How to win
How to deploy so your flag is not found, how to spend Scouts and protect Miners, how to count ranks, and how advanced players think in probability distributions rather than guesses.
- Stratego is an information game — what you reveal matters more than what you capture.
- Vary your deployment: a flag bombed into the corner every game is the first thing an opponent checks.
- Spend Scouts for information early, but keep two in reserve; never waste Miners.
- Track which ranks have died — most players ignore free information that decides games.
Common questions
Can the Spy kill the Marshal?
Only when the Spy attacks. If the Marshal strikes the Spy, the Spy dies. Everything else beats the Spy in either direction.
Where should I put my flag?
Vary it. A back corner behind three bombs is the standard placement and therefore the first place an experienced opponent looks.
How many bombs are there?
Six per player, plus the flag. Neither ever moves — so any piece that has moved cannot be either, which is the most useful deduction in the game.
How should I use Scouts?
Send two or three out early to locate strong pieces, and keep at least two in reserve. A long-range move late in the game is often decisive.
Who invented Stratego?
The core game was invented by Hermance Edan in France and patented in 1908 as L'Attaque. Jacques Johan Mogendorff adapted it in the Netherlands as Stratego.
Guides
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