In 1980, Ideal released The Generals Electronic Strategy Game. The rules and piece ranks are the same as above, except that the "Spies" are "Agents", and an electronic arbiter determines which piece wins in a confrontation; neither player sees his opponent's pieces. The plastic pieces have selected notches on their bases, which depress certain indentations in the electronic arbiter's twin slots. The lights flash and a short musical phrase plays before a light labeled "battle winner" is illuminated. The losing piece is removed from the board, while the winning piece is placed back on the board. If the flag is placed in the arbiter, it plays "Taps" after the initial musical phrase.
Unlike the original version of the game, if a player's flag reaches the back row in The Generals Electronic Strategy Game, that player wins, even if an opposing piece occupies an adjacent square on the back row.
Unlike the somewhat similar game of Stratego, Generals does not have any bombs, nor miners to defuse them, nor scouts to zip several spaces across the board in one move. Nor does Generals have any immovable pieces (both the flag and the bombs in Stratego are stationary). In addition, unlike Stratego, which features two "lakes" in the middle of the board, all the squares on the board are accessible. Also, each player has two Agents in Generals, while each only has one Spy in Stratego. Finally, Generals inherently requires a third-party arbiter to maintain the game's uncertainty to the endgame.
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