Intense fun
It's not so easy to pickup at first, but once you understand all the different rules you'll be hooked.

Be prepared to spend hours if you play world domination.

You DO need strategy to play this game.
I have not much to add that previous 4- and 5-star reviews have not already said. Except this:

I hesitated getting this game because of the complaints that too much of the outcome turns on a random roll of the dice. Some reviewers complained that luck or chance was more important than strategy. (See the 1-star or 2-star reviews).

I found this NOT to be the case. It is true that the outcome of individual battles are governed by rolls of the dice. However, the overall success in this game does involve a significant amount of strategy. That is, there are plans and strategies you or the child can develop, which must be viewed in the grand scheme of the entire game, that can help you win. This is true, even if you do lose a good number of battles because of unlucky dice rolls.

In fact, a number of real-life military conflicts confirms that having the most soldiers does not necessarily guarantee a quick or clean victory. I don't mean to get political here, but check out world history during the past 50 or 60 years and current events, not just involving the U.S., but around the world.


My 8-year old and 10-year old children love this game. They recognize that pure luck determines the outcome of battles. But this only forces them to focus more on the bigger picture -- what countries to focus on, how to limit another player's ability to move from one continent to another, how many soldiers to put into one territory, when is it advisable to retreat and regroup somewhere else.

We have played two games of Risk so far. Each game took about 3 or 4 days to finish. I was surprised that my kids were not put off by this.

CONCLUSION: This is not a real-life battle simulator. But it is a good introduction for children to learn how to develop long-range planning.

Risk
This is a game that take a great deal of time to play, but it causes your mind to work as you progress through the levels.
The sudden turn of events will always keep the players on edge.

Good game - but I miss the army boxes
We bought this game of risk to replace our old game, which was lost in a move. There are several differences in the new risk and the old risk. One difference is the mission cards. At first I was disapointed that the mission cards were not the same as the old risk, but after playing a few games, I admit that it is just as much fun. The other difference with the game is the lack of army boxes. The old game came with a clear plastic box to store each army color in. This game does not have boxes, just wells in the box to store each color. The clear boxes were quite useful during the game as you spend a lot of time taking armies out and putting armies in the box as you lose or gain reinforcements. I find the lack of boxes a pain as pieces fall on the floor etc. when you just have them piled on the table. However, it is still a great game and we are happy with this version.

RISK...chess with pawns only?
I used to be a RISK lover...until I tried other strategy games. However, this game is great for beginners who are just discovering wargames- RISK is simple, abstract, yet it will keep you busy for hours (a typical game lasts two hours or so). There is no economy/supplies to focus on, just combat. You place your men, you attack, and you defend. The amount of reinforcements per turn received is based on the amount of territories you have in a horribly misshaped map of the world divided into 42 territories. Controlling an entire continent gives more troops per turn, the only "resource" in this game. At first this game is a great time waster, since you'll always be just barely living for the next fresh troops to replenish the supply lost from brutal attacks and gallant battles. The pieces are quite well crafted, with tiny infantry, cavalrymen, and a cannon in six different colors stored in a durable plastic divider tray. The game is simple- and this may be its downfall. Battles relie completely on dice, and here you will discover what RISK veterans call "RISK dice"- there have been instances where 7 on 1 attacks have lost. Also, the game tends to get repetitive- for hours on end, you simply place troops, attack, die, and the cycle repeats until someone controls the ENTIRE BOARD. Imagine playing a chess game with only pawns and one king. A number of the games won't be lost from poor planning or inexperience, but from luck of the dice. There is no other advantages to consider other than having a higher dice roll than your opponent. The lowdown:

PROS

-beautifully crafted pieces

-simple gameplay that can be learned and understood by anyone with a shallow learning curve

CONS

-game relies COMPLETELY on dice

-players do nothing between their own turns; they only do something if another player chooses to target them

-on the other hand, the pieces are tiny. They can very easily be lost, knocked down, or moved even if you roll the dice on the game board.

-setup takes 15 minutes or more depending on the amount of players

IMPORTANT: This isn't a con or pro, per se, but worth mentioning. There are three types of pices- the infantry, cavalry, and artillery. These aren't different types of units, they're just counters. Infantry means 1, cavalry represents 5, and artillery represent 10.