Welcome to my Stratego page. Having already written a 2-player game I decided to give a 1-player version a shot. It doesn't play a strong game yet but at least it is free and I'm making it better all the time. Please send any comments, good or bad, to me here.

This version of the game follows the standard rules of original Stratego, circa 1961. In general, a lowered-numbered piece captures a higher-numbered one. So, a 1 takes a 3, a 4 takes a 5, and so on. If two pieces of the same rank hit they both come off the board (called a "collateral"). Moves are made 1 square at a time and can go up, down, right, or left (no diagonals). A piece may not jump over any piece nor move into a square occupied by a piece of the same color.

There are a few special cases:

• An 8 removes a Bomb. Any other piece hitting a Bomb is destroyed (the Bomb stays).
• The Spy can take only the 1 and only if the Spy strikes first. Any piece can take the Spy (or the Flag).
• The 9 can move more than 1 square at a time, however, it cannot move more than 1 square ("slide") and attack in the same turn.
• The Bombs and the Flag are not movable pieces.

The game is over when either a Flag is captured or a player cannot move when it is his turn. The game can also end in a draw but this is rare in Stratego and the game will not be able to detect it. The computer may attempt to force a draw if it determines it cannot win.

How to play my game:

• The game will start up and the computer (Red) will make his move.
• Click once on the Blue piece you want to move and then once on the square you would like to move to.
• If you attempt to make an illegal move, the computer will tell you. Just try again.
• To play a new game press F3.
• There are currently 21 different board setups, picked at random. The beta versions of the game will cycle through all 21 boards before going back to the first one. If you don't like the current board just hit F3 to play a new game with a different setup.

Play my original version (9/15/2003 A).

Beta 1. Plays a little better than the original (12/6/2004 A).

Beta 2. Plays even better (12/31/2004 A).

Beta 3. Version 1/10/2005 A.