We’re well known for games overall, having licensed hundreds of board and action games over the past 50 years, many of which sold over 1 million pieces. The majority of our electronic game success were games based upon popular brands (e.g. Othello.. For ‘generic’ electronic games, a big success for us – and in the market– was the Game of The Generals, originally marketed by Ideal Toys in 1980.
In the Generals, each player commands an army of 21 pieces – from 5 Star General to Private – including 2 Power Secret Agents. The Object is to capture your opponent's flag, or maneuver your own flag to his front row to win. Using strategy and courage, you position your “army” for battle.
An attack is made when your piece is challenged by an enemy piece occupying the same square.
At that point, the COMPUTER ARBITER goes into action, electronically signaling – with lights and sound – which piece has the higher rank and is therefore the victor! That piece wins the position and the defeated piece is removed from play.
The Generals was based on a well-known Filipino folk game, which used a ‘neutral referee’ to determine the winner of each move. The Generals replaces the human referee with an electronic ‘Arbiter’, built integral to the board, that determines the winner of the move, without revealing the ‘rank’ that won the piece. In this electronic version, the identity of neither piece is ever revealed – all you know is that the opposing winning piece is of a higher rank than yours or vice versa. The ‘mystery’ of which piece (i.e. the rank) captured another’s piece, builds suspense and excitement until the very last move!
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