Game of the Generals


Game of the Generals, also called GG or GOG or simply The Generals, is an educational war game invented in the Philippines by Sofronio H. Pasola Jr. in 1970. Its Filipino name is "Salpakan." It can be played in twenty to thirty minutes. It is designed for two players, each controlling an army, and a neutral Arbiter to decide the results of "challenges" between opposing playing pieces that have their identities hidden from the opponent.
The game simulates armies at war trying to overpower, misinform, outflank, outmaneuver and destroy each other. It optimizes using logic, memory, and spatial skills. It simulates the "fog of war" because the identities of the opposing pieces are hidden from each player and can only be guessed at by their location, movements, or from the results of challenges. The game allows only one side's plan to succeed, although a player may change plans during the game. There are two different ways of winning the game. Certain strategies and tactics, however, allow both sides the chance of securing a better idea of the other's plan as the game progresses. Players can also speak or gesture to their opponents during matches, to create a false impression about the identity of their pieces or their overall strategy.

History

Sofronio H. Pasola, Jr. invented this game with the inspiration of his son Ronnie Pasola.
The Pasolas first tried the Game of the Generals on a chessboard. Even then, the pieces had no particular arrangement. There were no spies in the experimental game; but after Ronnie Pasola remembered the James Bond movies and Mata Hari, he added the Spies. The Pasolas also decided to make the pieces hidden, after remembering card games.
The Game of the Generals was released publicly on 28 February 1973. After the game was released, it angered some Filipino chess players who thought that Pasola was trying to denigrate chess.

Objectives and victory conditions

The game's objective is to eliminate or capture the opponent's Flag or to maneuver one's Flag to the far edge of the board, subject to the following conditions.
If challenged, the Flag is eliminated by any opposing piece, including the opposing and challenging Flag. If a player's Flag is eliminated by a challenge, that player loses the game. The Flag that challenges the opponent's Flag wins the challenge and thus wins the game.
When the Flag successfully reaches the opponent's back rank, it has to survive one more turn without being challenged before it can declare a victory. If a Flag reaches the opposing back rank and there is no adjacent opposing piece that can challenge it, the Flag wins the game immediately. If a Flag reaches the opposing back rank directly adjacent to an opposing piece, and that piece does not challenge the Flag immediately on the opponent's next turn, then that Flag wins the game. Any player may reveal their Flag at any time and for any reason, although most often a player reveals their Flag after it has already secured victory at the opposing back rank.
Most games end in a victory for one of the players. However, any player may propose a draw at any time; the opponent can either decline, so play continues, or agree, and thus the game ends in a tie.
At the end of a match, whether as a draw or as a victory for one player, it is courteous to allow the opposing player a view of the surviving pieces before they are taken off the board.

Equipment

Pieces

The player's set of pieces represents 21 soldiers with a hierarchy of ranks and functions. A higher-ranking piece will eliminate any lower-ranking piece, with the exception of the two Spies; the Spies eliminate all pieces except the 6 Privates.
Apart from the Flag and the Spy, the rank insignia of the pieces used in the game are those used in the Philippine Army.
The playing pieces are identical-sized plastic or metal flat rectangles bent or molded at a 90-degree- or 80-degree angles. The rank insignia are printed on the rear side to keep them hidden from the opposing player; the game requires that the front side of the pieces should have no distinguishing marks that will help identify the pieces.
In plastic sets, the colors commonly used in the pieces are black and white. There are also sets composed of wooden boards and aluminum pieces. Those pieces have rank insignia that are printed either red or blue. In metal sets, the board's color is commonly brown and the pieces are aluminum colored. Some of the cheaper game sets consist of just a rolled up sheet printed with squares instead of a rigid board, as well as plastic pieces with ranks printed on cardboard.
Note: If both soldiers are of equal rank, both are eliminated.

Board

The game is played on a rectangular board with 72 plain squares arranged in 8 horizontal ranks and 9 vertical files. To start the game, each player's 21 pieces are placed in various locations within the nearest 3 rows to each player's home side. These are the 27 closest squares, leaving 6 squares unoccupied. For example, the Black player in the illustrated example has deployed 21 pieces in Ranks 6, 7, and 8, leaving the squares A8, B8, C8, G8, H8, and I8 unoccupied. The White player has also deployed 21 pieces in the nearest 3 Ranks, leaving A2, B3, C3, G2, H3, and I3 unoccupied.
A player can consider the half of the board nearest him to be "friendly territory" while the other side's half is the "enemy territory," though this is not an actual rule in the game. The two middle rows are initially empty at the start of the game and represent "no man's land" or "unconquered territory" that the contending pieces can occupy or leave vacant, depending on each player's strategy.
Although not specifically marked, each player's side of the board can be grouped into three amorphous battle zones, generally consisting of nine squares each: these zones are the "left flank," the "center," and the "right flank," but the boundaries are variable or may be considered psychological.

Initial layout

Unlike chess or its variants, there is no predetermined initial layout for placing the pieces, allowing each player to place the pieces in different squares to their preference or according to their initial strategy. Some players like to place the spaces at the rear row, the front row, to one side of the board, or interspersed between the pieces, but that initial placement can be a form of deception to try to mislead the opposing player.
The allocation of spaces is important for the tactical movement of the individual pieces in the first three ranks, because a piece that has friendly pieces in front, behind, and on each side is effectively immobilized until a space opens up on these adjacent squares.

Basic gameplay

Moves

There is also no predetermined order of play. The players can decide who goes first; afterward, they take their turns alternately. Each player can move only one piece per turn.
All pieces have the same move: one square forward, backward, or sideways, as long as it is not blocked by the board's edge or by another friendly piece. A piece cannot move into a square already occupied by a friendly piece. A piece cannot move diagonally nor move two or more squares away from its original position.
If a piece moves adjacent to an opposing piece, the piece that was stationary can be moved to *challenge* the opposing piece by entering and occupying the adjacent enemy-occupied square.
For the result of the challenge, a neutral Arbiter examines both pieces and removes the lower-ranking piece without showing the winning player the identity of that eliminated losing piece. If the two opposing pieces are of equal rank, both pieces are eliminated and the square they were on becomes unoccupied.

Challenges, maneuvering, and arbitration

Each piece can "challenge" an opposing piece directly adjacent in front, behind, or to either side of it. This is identical, in effect, to the way it moves. Thus, a piece does not directly threaten an opposing piece that is situated diagonally to it. However, a piece known or thought to be more assertive can restrict the movement of a weaker opposing piece that is situated diagonally to it by threatening to eliminate it if it moves to a square adjacent to that of the stronger piece.
A player can prevent or evade a challenge by moving his threatened piece to a square away from or diagonal to an adjacent enemy piece. This can result in a chase of the evading piece over various squares of the playing area as an assertive player tries to threaten the evading piece with elimination.
On any subsequent turn, an aggressive player can decide to restrict or trap an evading enemy piece by moving another of his pieces to a square diagonal to the enemy piece. It might be necessary for that aggressive player to force the evading enemy piece to the edge of the board or adjacent to another enemy piece to immobilize it. When the trapped enemy piece is moved to a square already threatened by one of the entrapping pieces, it can then be challenged.
A player initiates a challenge by placing their piece on the adjacent square where an opposing piece is located.
The following table shows all the possible results of a challenge between two opposing pieces. One or both of them may be eliminated.

5*G
4*G
3*G
2*G
1*G
COL
LTC
MAJ
CPT
1LT
2LT
SGT
PVT
SPY
FLG

5*G

4*G

3*G

2*G

1*G

COL

LTC

MAJ

CPT

1LT

2LT

SGT

PVT

SPY

FLG

;Notes:
The Arbiter then examines the ranks of the opposing pieces, removes the lower-ranked piece off the board, and returns it to the owner regardless of who initiated the challenge. The eliminated pieces are not revealed to the opposing player until the game ends. The Arbiter must not reveal the ranks of the pieces to the opposition, nor can he give any verbal or non-verbal clues about the rest of the board layout.
The game can be played without an Arbiter. In this case, when a challenge is made, both players must state the rank of their piece after which the lower-ranked piece is eliminated. The presence of the Arbiter, though not compulsory, is significant to ensure secrecy until the game is over. Official games are conducted with an Arbiter.