Risk: Most Popular Board Game Worldwide

By Cheryll Tefera


A board game is a game that involves counters or pieces moved or placed on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games can be based on pure strategy, chance (e.g. rolling dice), or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal that a player aims to achieve. Early board games represented a battle between two armies, and most modern board games are still based on defeating opposing players in terms of counters, winning position, or accrual of points (often expressed as in-game currency). 'Risk' is a complex board game produced by Hasbro that involves both luck and skill. The goal is simple: take over the world. Despite this simple goal, the game is very complicated and dynamic. Players attempt to take over the world by eliminating all other players. 'Risk' can be an immensely enjoyable pastime. Children and adults can spend hours in the glorious splendor of their imaginary empires. An aspect of 'Risk' that has made it so popular over the years is its realism. It mimics actual geopolitical maneuverings in the diplomatic world.

The time required to learn to play or master a game varies greatly from game to game. Learning time does not necessarily correlate with the number or complexity of rules; some games having profound strategies (e.g. chess or Go) possess relatively simple rule sets. The key to winning is fairly simple and goes along the lines of a famous ungrammatical and pithy quote from the Civil War General, Nathan Bedford Forrest, "Get the first with the most" (with emphasis on most). The strategies in Risk rely on fundamental ideas around human relations and the national use of force.

The game board is a map of the world divided into six continents comprised of 42 territories. Players may only move between adjacent territories, with the exception of few territories over water. Additionally, Alaska connects to Kamchatka, which is the easternmost territory in Asia. The official rule book gives three basic strategy: Players should control entire continents to get the bonus reinforcement armies. Secondly, players should watch their borders for buildups of armies that could imply an upcoming attack. Finally, players should build up armies on their own borders for better defense.

There are three main phases to a player's turn: getting and placing new armies, attacking, and fortifying. The board can be simplified by turning it into a graph where the territories are the nodes and the lines between nodes are the potential paths that can be taken from territory to territory. One key to victory is control over continents. Players that hold continents at the beginning of a turn get bonus reinforcements in an amount roughly proportional to the size of the continent. Thus, the key positions on the board are the territories on the borders of continents.

The board can be disentangled by transforming it into a diagram where the domains are the hubs and the lines between hubs are the potential ways that can be taken from region to region. One key to triumph is control over main-lands. Players that hold main-lands toward the start of a turn get extra fortifications in a sum generally corresponding to the span of the landmass. In this manner, the key positions on the board are the domains on the fringes of main-lands.

There are two ways to determine the initial territories: Have each player roll a die (Standard Rules). The player that rolled the highest value will choose an open territory and place one soldier in it. Moving clock-wise, each player will select an open territory until all territories are occupied. Once players have claimed all the 42 territories on the board, players place their remaining armies onto territories they already claim in any order they choose.

Second way is to Deal out the deck of cards (Alternate Rules). Entire deck of card is used minus the two Wild cards and then each player needs to place one of their army pieces in each territory according to the cards they are holding. Turns should be taken to do this. The key disadvantage to attacking is that you usually lose armies as you gain territories; and even if you are lucky enough to not lose any armies in your battles, in a sense you become weaker with each territory you win since your armies are now dispersed over a larger number of territories. This gives the opponent more territories to attack with a greater chance of success.

When the sum total of what regions have been guaranteed, players continue to put the rest of their beginning troop assignments one by one in a clockwise manner. A mismatch in army strength is especially valuable early on. This means that you should try to redeem your Risk cards for reinforcements early on, when reinforcements count for more. That mismatch doesn't mean as much later on. The beginning troop distribution per player is subject to the quantity of players taking part in the game.

For a game with such simple rules, Risk can be an intricate, even beautiful game. It is fun, intense and requires skills that will also benefit the player in the real world. Keeping the advice set down here in mind, the best way to learn the game is, like everything else, through experience. 'Risk' boats of numerous exciting versions all over the web. Every version is unique and demands aptitude and luck to be at your forte!




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