With over 20 years of competitive play, Counter-Strike is one of the most well-known and recognised first-person shooters in the world. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CSGO) is the latest version of the game and is played professionally in major tournaments around the world.

Counter-Strike is a series of first-person shooter video games that have had a tremendous impact on the gaming community, both on the multiplayer side and the esports scene. The explosive gameplay, fast-paced action and highly skilled players all combine to make this game something truly special.

Counter-Strike was released on Windows in 1999, and is the series' first game. It remains a fan favorite for nearly 20 years now.

It was initially released as a mod for Half-Life that was designed by Minh "Gooseman" Le and Jess "Cliffe" Cliffe before the rights Half-Life were acquired by Valve, who then transformed Counter-Strike into a retail product which was released in 2000.

Matches pit two teams of five against each other in a best-of-30 match. Essentially, in competitive play, players must purchase armour, and weapons, defuse or rescue kits, and manage their in-game economy to maximise their chance of success and hold an advantage over the opposing team. 

You start the game with $800, but you earn money by killing enemy players, planting bombs, and winning rounds. You then spend your money on better weapons and equipment so you can improve in future rounds. The first team to win 16 rounds will be the winner.

The game has seen professional competitive play for the most part of a decade and over the years has matured into a fan-favourite eSport with a sprawling fan base. It's growth in popularity is attributed to fine-tuned gameplay mechanics, a ruthless ranking system, and an unparalleled field for balanced team-based combat.

Counter-strike is dynamic, when compared to other popular multiplayer games like League of Legends and Smite. In CS:GO, roles aren't assigned, it's more about what type of play a team wants to run. Whether you're playing for your team, or defending a certain site, or you want to be your team's AWPer. Terrorists and Counter-Terrorists compete to score more points than their enemy by winning rounds. This is a simple but effective technique to ensure you are starting in the early game advantage.

Classical maps are more favoured to one side, so if you fall behind on one side, it's essential to not get distracted. To succeed, you'll need to work as a team, manage your economy, and make individual decisions that will benefit your team. Though the first point, team work, is the most important if you want to become a ranked CS:GO player.

Once you've got a feel for CS:GO, it's time to step up to the next level. Here are some useful tips and tricks to help you move into ranked play:

Join gun-game servers to practice the full arsenal of weapons or join Deathmatch servers to get better at reaction fragging.

On Steam you can search for “Aim Training” and find many games and software applications that are focused at improving your aim. And you'll also have no need to spend a penny.1.

Your focus should be on learning and practicing the core weapons: AK-47, T and M4A4, CT. Focus on using these, then move on to the more advanced and specialist ones.

Check your ammo and don't get killed while reloading: One tip the game tells you early on is “it's faster to swap to your pistol than it is to reload”. if you're in a tight situation and low on bullets, remember that reloading is audible, and you might get pushed. You can also take advtange of this by reloading and cancelling it to lure players to you.

Get high quality headphones and listen to your surroundings: Sound is a core mechanic in CS:GO, being aware of how close players are to you and what weapons people are using is essential to your victory. Get familiar with these sounds and use them to your advantage.

Memorize the four common ranked maps: The four primary maps in CS:GO are; Mirage, Inferno, Dust 2, and Nuke. Study these maps one at a time, find spots that you can hide in, and see how the enemy attacks or defends bomb sites.

Communicate with your team: Corresponding with your team is vital. While you don't need to function as an in-game general, informing your team where enemy players are located can save your team valuable seconds and may be the difference between a round win or a loss.

Do not rush into ranked: CS:GO is a challenging nut to crack. Having existed for a long time, the game has many highly skilled players. Take the time to learn and familiarize yourself with the game before getting your feet wet.

Watch CS:GO Esports and learn from the pros: CS:GO has an array of professional talent that play for hours every day. You can watch pro events or players on Twitch to help you improve.

Counter-Strike games can be purchased onSteam for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Versions for PlayStation and XBox consoles are available in their respective platform stores. You can play Counter-Strike Global Offensive on Xbox One and Xbox 360, as well as the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 consoles.

A CSGO campaign is a collection of Missions, all linked to one another. Earn Mission Coins during Operations to upgrade your Operation Vanguard Challenge Coin. Complete Challenges to earn Mission Stars, which are used to upgrade your Operation Vanguard Challenge Coin.

Besides the multiplayer mode, it also included a single-player mode with a "full" campaign and bonus levels. The game received mixed reviews in contrast to its predecessor and was quickly followed with a further entry to the series titled Counter-Strike: Source.

Strafe is the internet's number one destination for all things CSGO esports, where users can watch Counter-Strike Esports matches live, checkCSGO esports tournament schedules, get live scores and read the latest CSGO esports news. We also have acalendar for CSGO esports available where you view a schedule of upcoming matches and see the latestresults for CSGO esports matches.