by Johan Burghall

Created on: November 09, 2009

Risk is a board game of world domination played on a stylised Napoleonic era map of the world with different coloured tokens representing the forces of opposing generals. The rules of the game are simple and effective, with players moving their pieces into neighbouring territories and the outcome of battles being decided by rolling dice: the larger your force the more dice you roll, and the highest result wins. The more territories you control the more reinforcements you receive, with whole continents providing even more extra armies each turn.

Beyond its simple mechanics however, the layout of the world map, the machinations and alliances of rival generals and especially the luck of the dice means that there are almost infinite strategic possibilities, and this (combined with the natural human desire to conquer the world!) has contributed to the game's lasting appeal even half a century after its creation.

First conceived of by French director Albert Lamorisse, 'La Conqute du Monde' ('The Conquest of the World') was released in France in 1957 by Parker Brothers, and two years later it was released in America as 'Risk! The Continental Game.' Featuring a brightly-coloured board and simple coloured wooden shapes to represent the different armies the game was an instant success, spawning a number of minor variations and building up its popularity over several decades.

Inevitably with the onset of the digital age, the first computer game version of Risk was released on the Commodore 64 in 1988, and countless versions official or otherwise have been released since, each subsequent edition embellished with better and better graphics.

A re-release of 'Risk: The World Conquest Game' in 1993 following the purchase of Parker Brothers by Hasbro brought the classic board game into the modern world, with hundreds of finely detailed plastic miniatures sculpted to look like Napoleonic era armed forces each representing different numbers of troops: soldiers for 1, cavalry for 5, and artillery for 10. This version also added a deck of secret mission cards that shifted the style of play away from simple world conquest to achieving one of a number of different objectives, from holding a specific set of continents to annihilating another player completely!

The next major development for the franchise was in 2001 when Avalon Hill, a subsidiary of Hasbro, released 'Risk 2210 AD'. This game retained the same core rules and mechanics but shifted the setting into a war-torn

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