Why the New Risk Rules are Completely Awesome

by Rich Sommer

Remember when I mentioned the new version of Risk being released this summer?

I had the chance to try the new rules while I was in the Frosty North last month during two games with Pat, Joe and Kris.

Sorry the review took so long.

How to begin?

How about: Holy. Shizoli. The game of Risk has become awesome.

Some may argue that it was awesome the whole time. I'm not sure that I entirely concur. The game we grew up playing, and that the generation before that grew up playing, was moderately unique when it came out in 1957. But it was long, repetitive, and led to people being eliminated and forced to sit on the couch playing Nintendo (or Pong (or Spirograph, depending on when you were playing)).

But there was something there that appealed. A nugget of a game that drew cocky teenagers to stake their reputations on a roll of the dice. And mean it, too.

I liked that Risk. It was fun. And I really liked the Lord of the Rings version that came out a few years back. I thought it sort of cleaned up what was an otherwise clunky, random, and overly simple system: point, roll, shrug.

But the version being published this summer fixes everything. I mean: everything.

Key elements that have been added:

Fifteen Cities. These raise the value of inhabiting a territory by allowing you to recruit another army for each city you control. That's huge, since you usually get 1/3 of a troop for each territory. During the initial setup, territories containing cities are likely to be snatched up first. Unless your name is Kris. At least that was our experience.

Capitals. Each player gets a capital of their color to be set with their first troop placement at the beginning of the game. Maintaining control of your capital garners you another troop during reinforcements. You can usurp others' capitals as well, getting you yet another troop. Also, you can only win the game if you have control of your capital when you meet the victory conditions. So those are kinda important.

Objectives. Speaking of victory conditions, here's where the new version really departs from the original. Also included with the game are twelve objective badges, eight of which will be used in each game. Six of the objectives are "Minor" and six are "Major." Four of each category are randomly drawn and form the core of the game. Objectives may require you to take over a certain number of territories on one turn, or to control a certain number of cities, or capitals, or whatever. Whomever is first to earn three objective badges wins the game. There are two ways to get an objective badge: Completing the objective printed on it, or eliminating a player who had already earned a badge.

Each objective carries with it a reward. This is given to the player who achieves the objective, and does not carry over to a player eliminating the player who earned it. Some rewards include an extra attack or defense die for the rest of the game (huge), two additional troops during recruitment, die roll modifiers for selected territories (an "Airfield"), et cetera.

Some people have stated that this sounds suspiciously like Risk with Mission Cards. Um, kinda, 'cept the objectives are out in the open, so it's much easier to see what opportunities your opponents have to crush you. Instead of taking some country, flipping over the card, and saying, "I win." Which blows.

Why the game is so awesome. Ultimately, it's Risk. But it's Risk that gives you the same vibe in a much, much shorter playing time. We completed two games in under three hours, and anyone who has ever played Risk knows how ridiculously amazing that is.

You can see pictures of the review copy I received here. The version that will hit stores this summer will look markedly different, but will utilize the same rules. It's rumored to look something like this:

What the new Risk might look like.

Frankly, I like the look of the mass market copy a little more, since it evokes a flavor of old-timey war room maps. I will be picking up a copy when it hits shelves.

You should, too.

Because you don't have to spend an entire weekend waiting for your brother-in-law to wipe you off the map. You only have to wait, like, forty-five minutes.

And that makes it a much easier pill to swallow.