Risk: Most Popular Board Game Worldwide

By Cheryll Tefera


The are many board games available of the web, but the strategic game 'Risk' has stood out away from the rest and made a special place for itself in the mind of the gamer. 'Risk' is a game unlike any other. It's fun as both a casual game among friends, as well as a serious strategy game with dedicated students worldwide. The object of Risk is to conquer the world by controlling every territory on a board that's a map of the world. Since you can't take over the world in real life, its interesting to do it in a board game!

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 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 unraveled by changing it into a pictorial-symmetrical representation where the areas are the centers and the lines between center points are the potential ways that can be taken from locale to district. One key to triumph is control over primary terrains. Players that hold fundamental terrains toward the beginning of a turn get additional strongholds in an entirety for the most part comparing to the compass of the landmass. In this way, the key positions on the board are the spaces on the edges of fundamental terrains.

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.

At the point when the whole of what areas have been ensured, players keep on putting whatever is left of their starting troop assignments one by one in a clockwise way. "Turtling" is a defensive strategy where a player who feels vulnerable tries to become too expensive to be removed while remaining a threat to harass other players. The objective of this strategy is to avoid defeat. A player using this strategy might remain in the game all the way to later stages and then mount an attack on the weakest player and start a chain elimination to remove one player after another to win the game. You know that a greater number of dice gives a greater chance of winning. Throwing fewer dice, however, will limit your losses since the number of armies you can lose is never greater than the number of dice you throw. In general, the attack should stop when in your opinion your front line armies are still strong enough to repel attacks. Remember that your opponent will often mass his new armies on the border of your weakest territory.

'Risk' is very easy to understand, that's what makes it so popular throughout the world. It is tough for beginners to understand the game quickly, but that's even the rule of life, nothing comes easy. Practice and constant use of aptitude will surely open the new arenas to be won, literally! Today the game is popular all over the world and has many versions including Risk 2210, a computer version, Risk II and Lord of the Rings Risk, all of which are widely available in toy stores or computer stores.




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