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.

Players are eliminated when they lose all of their troops on the game board. Players must be skilled in troop deployment and must be aware of the underlying probabilities present in the game. When finished attacking and before passing the turn over to the next player, a player has the option to maneuver any number of armies from a single territory occupied by the player into an adjacent territory occupied by the same player. This is sometimes referred to as a "free move".

The board is a guide of the world separated into six main-lands included 42 domains. Players might just move between adjoining domains, except for couple of regions over water. If an attacker occupies a defender's last territory, the defender is eliminated from the game and the attacker acquires all of the defender's Risk cards.

The game of Risk comes with a fold able game board, a set of 72 cards, and various army tokens. The Risk board has 6 continents " North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Australian Archipelago " and 42 countries. You should always try to maintain the best relations with every player, even when that player is under the most vigorous assault by your armies. Remember, the enemy this turn, might be a vital ally on the next.

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.

Once all territories have been claimed, players proceed to place the remainder of their initial troop allotments one by one in a clockwise fashion. It's good to note that: the term 'Turtling' was popularized in Real-time Strategy games where a player creates a defensive perimeter or a Turtle Shell" around the base of operations. Solutions to counteract this strategy using cooperation have been proposed by Ehsan Honary. The initial troop allotment per player is dependent on the number of players participating in the game and can be found in the game's rule book. Taking risk is the element that gives 'Risk' its name. If you decide to take over the world in one turn, and fail, you will usually be so scattered that it would be easy for the next player to eliminate you.

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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