What makes Stratego Stratego is hidden information: two armies of face-down pieces, a flag to protect, and the slow read of which motionless piece is bluffing. Surprisingly few mobile games actually deliver that. This is a short list of the ones that do — and how each differs.
1. Stratego® Online
The licensed digital version of the board game itself: the full original 10×10 experience with online play. If you want exactly the original ranks-and-flag rules, start here.
2. Rock Paper Scissors Ninja
The Stratego formula rebuilt on rules nobody has to learn: a 7×6 board, 14 pieces per side — 12 ninjas armed with hidden rock, paper, or scissors, a flag, and a reusable hidden trap. Combat is the schoolyard duel (ties re-pick and clash again), so where Stratego resolves fights by fixed ranks, here every clash can be outguessed. Matches take minutes. Play a friend from two phones with an invite code, the computer offline, or coin-entry online arenas. Free; this version has no ads and no in-app purchases. Currently on the Israeli App Store.
Download on the App Store Full rules →
3. Two Spies
A minimalist duel of hidden movement across a map of European cities: each player's spy is invisible until it strikes. It trades Stratego's army for a single piece, but the read-your-opponent tension is the same.
4. Army-chess (Luzhanqi) apps
China's take on the same idea — face-down military ranks, railways, and a flag — with several mobile implementations of varying quality. Worth a look if you want a denser, longer version of the Stratego formula.
5. Onitama
No hidden pieces — all information is open — but its five-card movement system creates the same "what will they do next" mind-reading in a five-minute duel. The right pick when you like Stratego's psychology more than its secrecy.
How to choose
- Want the original? Stratego® Online.
- Want hidden-info bluffing without learning ranks? Rock Paper Scissors Ninja — combat is rock-paper-scissors, so a five-year-old already knows the rules.
- Want it stripped to one piece? Two Spies.
- Want more depth than the original? Luzhanqi.
- Want the psychology with zero secrecy? Onitama.