RISK

Origin of the game:
The board game Risk was invented in 1957 by Albert Lamorisse and originally had the title ‘Le conquette du monde’. This original edition has become very rare and has become a real collector’s item. In 1959, the game’s concept was sold to Parker Brothers who released their version. Today it is published by Hasbro who acquired Parker Brothers. The CD-ROM version is also from Hasbro.

Purpose and rules:
The goal is to conquer the world, but you probably already figured that out. In the first version of Risk in 1959, you could only place 1 army per country. Today it is different and you can place multiple armies per country. In the more than 45 years that the game has been in existence, there have been many changes to the rules of the game. Most important changes that were made, especially by Hasbro, were the introduction of the assignment cards where you have to follow a certain scenario, the connection Middle East to East Africa & Egypt and also the amount of armies available at the start of the game. The rules still change with each new edition and also often change per country of publication. The reason for this is that the basic rules of the game stimulate static strategies and the rules are constantly being adjusted both officially and by the players themselves to keep the game interesting. The rules below are the basic rules.

At the start, each player rolls 1 die. The player who throws the highest gets to start and so it continues clockwise for the other players. Then playing cards are distributed among the players, after which the players take turns placing armies on the territory that is on the playing card. When all countries are occupied, the players start to replenish their armies depending on how many armies they have. This differs according to the number of players. With six players that is 20 armies, with five 25, with four 30 and three 35 armies per player. You can also play with two, but that is not that exciting at all, and can take a very long time. The most ideal is 4 players, but with 3 players is also possible. The game continues in turns and phases.

Reinforcement phase:
A player’s turn always starts with the reinforcement phase. There, armies are added to certain countries owned by the player. A player gains additional armies on every turn depending on the number of countries or territories he controls. For every 3 areas in possession, the player receives one extra army. Additional armies are given to the player if he controls an entire continent or several continents.

    * Africa: 3 armies
    * Australia: 2 armies
    * Asia: 7 armies
    * Europe: 5 armies
    * North America: 5 armies
    * South America: 2 armies

A player can also receive additional armies by turning in a set of 3 identical cards or a set with one card of each of the 3 types of cards. These cards are won from other players by taking them out of the game or by playing a round of play without being removed from the game yourself and in which at least one area is conquered from an opponent. The latter always yields one card.

Attack phase:
After the reinforcement phase there is the attack phase. The player may now attack an area that is adjacent to one of his areas and has at least 2 armies present. Then we have a battle for that area and the outcome of that battle is determined by the attack and defense dice. The attacking player decides with how many attack dice to roll. The player being attacked must always have one more army in his territory than the number of dice being rolled and no more than 3 attack dice may be used. The player being attacked may then choose whether to roll one or two defense dice. The defending player must always have at least as many armies in his territory as the number of defense dice used. Both players simultaneously roll their chosen number of dice and then the highest number of pips is compared. If the highest number of pips of the defender is equal to or greater than the highest number of the attacker, the attacker loses an army. Otherwise, the defender loses an army. This procedure is repeated with the second highest number of pips of both players. If the result of an attack is that the defender has no more armies in the territory, then the attacker must place at least the number of armies in that territory than the number of attack dice used. The attacker may add more armies to that territory as long as one army remains in the territory from which the attack started. After each attack, the attacker may decide whether to attack that same territory again (if not captured),

If an attacker can conquer the last territory of a defender, he must give all his remaining cards to the attacker and he is out of play. The attacker can then possibly use those cards in the reinforcement phase on his next turn. A player must never have more than 5 cards in his possession and the decision to exchange cards must always be made before the player starts the attack phase. At the end of the turn in which the attacker has conquered at least one area, he must draw a card from the stack, but as mentioned, he may never have more than 5 cards in his possession. The turn ends and the attack dice are passed to the next player. The winner is the one who has conquered all areas on the game board and thus holds the world power.

Facts about RISK:
As with Monopoly and many other board games, Risk also has a number of special releases. Some examples from a much wider range.
– Castle Risk (1986, Hasbro) (a version of Risk set in the Middle Ages in Europe.)
– Risk 2210 AD (2001, Avalon Hill) (a version of Risk set in the distant future.)
– Risk 2042 (a version of Risk in ‘modern warfare’ version, i.e. M1 tanks, helicopters etc …)
– Risk Edition Napoleon (1999, Hasbro) (a version of Risk set in the era of Napoleon with a sequel featuring the Ottoman Empire.)
– Risk the Lord of the Rings (2002, Hasbro) (A version of Risk set in Middle Earth with the expansions: Lord of the Rings Expansion Set and Lord of the Rings the Trilogy Edition.)
– Risk GodStorm (2004, Avalon Hill) (a version of Risk based on ancient Gods and the ancient Earth.)
– Risk Star Wars: The Clone Edition (2005, Hasbro) (A version of Risk based on the Star Wars universe.)