Game of the Generals

Game of the Generals, also called GG, The Generals or Salpakan, is the Filipino war game of hidden ranks. Each player commands 21 pieces, from a five-star General down to Privates, two Spies and a Flag, but the ranks face only their owner. When two pieces meet, a neutral arbiter checks them in secret and removes the loser, so you learn about your opponent’s army one battle at a time. Capture the enemy Flag, or march your own Flag to the far side of the board, and you win.

Game of the Generals at a Glance

Game of the Generals Ranking

The pieces follow the ranks of the Philippine Army. Higher ranks eliminate lower ones, with two big exceptions: the Spy beats every officer, and the humble Private is the only piece that beats a Spy.

When two pieces of the same rank meet, both are removed. Players call this a split. A Spy meeting a Spy, or a Private meeting a Private, is a split too.

How to Set Up

1. Lay out the board between the two players. The arbiter, if you have one, sits at the side.
2. Place your 21 pieces on the three rows nearest you, with the printed side facing you. Those rows hold 27 squares, so six stay empty.
3. Arrange them however you like. There is no fixed starting position, which is half the game: where you hide your Flag, Spies and Generals is your plan.
4. Leave the empty squares where you need them. A piece boxed in by your own pieces on every side can’t move until a square next to it opens up.

How to Play Game of the Generals

1. Decide who goes first. There is no set order; agree on it, then take turns.
2. Move one piece one square per turn: forward, backward or sideways. You can’t move diagonally, more than one square, or onto your own piece.
3. Challenge by moving onto an enemy piece. Moving into a square held by an opposing piece starts a challenge.
4. The arbiter settles it. The arbiter looks at both pieces in secret, removes the lower-ranked one and hands it back to its owner face down. Neither player sees the other’s piece. Equal ranks are both removed.
5. Keep track. Every result tells you something: a piece that has beaten three of yours is probably a General, or a Spy.

Challenge Rules

It doesn’t matter which piece moved in; only the ranks decide, apart from the Flag against Flag case.

How to Win

• Eliminate the enemy Flag. Any of your pieces can do it, your own Flag included.
• Reach the far row with your Flag. If no enemy piece is next to it there, you win at once. If one is next to it, your opponent gets one more turn; if they don’t challenge your Flag, you win.
• Resignation or a draw. A player can resign, and both players can agree to a draw at any time.

Playing Without an Arbiter

Official games use an arbiter, but at home you can play without one. When a challenge happens, both players say the rank of their piece and the lower one comes off. You give away more information this way, so games are quicker and less of a bluff.

Game of the Generals Strategy

• Give every piece a job. Experienced players think of the five-star and four-star Generals as killers, the next officers down (three-star General to Major) as sweepers, the junior officers (Captain to Sergeant) as probers sent to test unknown pieces, and the Privates as Spy hunters.
• Keep Privates near your Generals. A Spy is the only thing that beats your Generals, and a Private is the only thing that beats a Spy.
• Probe with cheap officers. Send a Sergeant or Lieutenant into an unknown piece. If it disappears, the piece that took it is strong, and you know where to send a General, or a Spy.
• Hide the Flag, and fake it. Let a Private act nervous and run like a Flag, while the real Flag moves like an ordinary officer.
• Remember every result. Losing track of which enemy piece beat your Colonel is how Generals walk into Spies.
• Pick a plan. Classic set-ups include a blitzkrieg (strong pieces massed on one flank to clear a path for the Flag), a slow-moving shield (Generals and Spies in a central block guarding the Flag), and strongholds (small groups of three to five pieces covering each other).
• Talk the game. In face-to-face play, a little bluffing about what your pieces are is part of it, within good manners.

Game of the Generals Odds

At the start, every enemy piece is a mystery, so the chances of a challenge come straight from the 21 pieces. Against one picked at random:

So a Captain is a coin flip against an unknown piece, a Private usually loses unless it finds a Spy, and the Spy wins 62% of the time but is the one piece that must fear the six Privates. Any unknown enemy piece is a Private 29% of the time, a Spy 10% and the Flag 5%.

The hidden set-up is what makes every game different. With 21 pieces and 6 gaps on 27 squares, and the Privates and Spies interchangeable, each player can lay out their army in about 10,500 billion billion different ways (1.05 × 10²²).

Game of the Generals vs Stratego

Variations

• No arbiter: players announce ranks at each challenge, as above.
• Short games: play with only 11 pieces each, or with the Flags shown, for a faster game.
• Electronic and online: Ideal’s 1980 The Generals Electronic Strategy Game used an electronic arbiter, and today the game is widely played on phone apps and websites, where the software judges each challenge.

Where Game of the Generals Comes From

Sofronio H. Pasola Jr. invented the game in 1970 with help from his son Ronnie. They first tried it on a chessboard, added the Spies after thinking of James Bond and Mata Hari, and hid the ranks after the example of card games. It was released to the public on 28 February 1973. Apart from the Flag, which shows the Philippine flag, and the Spy’s pair of eyes, the insignia are those of the Philippine Army, including the seven-ray Magdalo sun and the Magdalo triangle.

More Filipino Games

For more games played in the Philippines, see sungka, the traditional mancala game, and the card games tongits and pusoy dos. For another board game of moving and capturing, try checkers, whose Filipino version is dama.

Game of the Generals: frequently asked questions