Comments on: Take a RISK

Take a RISK

KevinSkomsvold — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 07:30:35 -0800

Play RISK using Google Maps. From the FAQ: For some reason I decided a bit after the API for Google Maps came out that it would be awesome to be able to play Risk on it... I've always been a gamer and thought this was the perfect step.

By: blahblahblah

blahblahblah — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 07:40:02 -0800

Entirely gratuitous. But also cool. A cool history of Risk, and the newest Risk Godstorm.

By: Saucy Intruder

Saucy Intruder — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 07:51:00 -0800

Is Al Qaeda hiding in the mountains of the "Northwest Terrortories?"

By: fenriq

fenriq — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 07:52:37 -0800

I am not the only one who thought of Risk either, nice to know he had some follow through on a good idea. The next thing this needs to be able to do is play over the internet. What color are the fascists? What color are the fundies?

By: malusmoriendumest

malusmoriendumest — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 08:03:19 -0800

Poor. Extremely poor. My imaginary friend said it was boring and ran away.

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 08:18:08 -0800

It's pretty, but I couldn't really tell how to play and I don't have time right now to read the docs (or really to play Risk.) I'll have to go back.

By: Tlogmer

Tlogmer — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 09:14:43 -0800

Yeah, the interface really sucks. Cool idea, though.

By: gravelshoes

gravelshoes — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 09:22:33 -0800

There is a much better designed version online here . Careful though, it will reak havok on your productivity if you set up a game with your old risk friends

By: Divine_Wino

Divine_Wino — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 09:23:16 -0800

I'm still just going to hole up in Australia and you are going to have to pry me out and it's going to take hours and that is all. It's fine to win at Risk, but it takes a real Artist to lose, slowly and tediously, ever hoping that the cat will take notice and hit the board off with a World War III style nuclear spazzout, bringing about the whole Einstein "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."

By: billysumday

billysumday — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 09:29:34 -0800

Divine_Wino: Don't sell yourself short. Holing up in Australia is a damned good way to win the game. Just win one battle every turn, get your cards, and sit back. Let everyone else beat each other up, wait until their armies are depleted, then storm through and vanquish them all... God I love Risk.

By: Divine_Wino

Divine_Wino — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 09:31:56 -0800

Billy: Don't give away the secret, I just wanted Australia.

By: tkchrist

tkchrist — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 09:34:22 -0800

It takes a real man to hold Kamchatka! Never make the mistake of playing Risk on a get-away weekend in a cabin somewhere and thinking what happens on the Risk Board stays on the Risk Board. Risk kills friendships.

By: Suck Poppet

Suck Poppet — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 09:43:56 -0800

tkchrist: same thing goes for playing Risk in the barracks. Nothing like a hard-fought game to feed inter-squad friction amongst a bunch of professional military tacticians (albeit enlisted personnel who are not supposed to concern themselves with the why or how, but merely the do). and more topically, this is pretty cool and a few interface improvements would move it into the [this is beyond good] category.

By: Wolfdog

Wolfdog — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 09:45:41 -0800

Risk strains friendships. Diplomacy kills friendships and dances on the graves whilst micturating.

By: fourstar

fourstar — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 09:48:30 -0800

Risk II got rid of that Australia fortress bullshit - every continent now has 3+ attack points from at least 2 other continents.

By: Captaintripps

Captaintripps — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 09:52:14 -0800

When we were kids, we used to play Treaty after a game of Risk. It really kills a friendship when you demand all of Mexico's tacos as a line item in the treaty. That said, Axis & Allies is a much more superior game than Risk and I would love to see a Google Maps-enabled version of that.

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 09:52:52 -0800

World Conquest goes pretty quickly. The idea of Google Maps and Risk is a good one, but man, maybe this'll work better in Firefox because it sucks on my school's IE. That review of Risk Godstorm was hilarious though, what with his "This is a MACHO boardgame!" posturing. C'mon. It's a fuckin' board game, geekazoid. If it were really macho, it'd involve going outside. And Gravelshoes, that looked like a fantastic game. Too bad I don't know the email addresses of most of my old Risk buddies...

By: Stynxno

Stynxno — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 09:55:29 -0800

Real men play axis and allies. i still remember the day I won as the axis by taking moscow and england on the first turn. good times.

By: gwint

gwint — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 10:04:22 -0800

Slightly related: Yahoo Maps + API = Pirate and Radar Maps.

By: edgeways

edgeways — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 10:04:38 -0800

A&A. Moscow and London on the 1st turn? you must have gone through a lot of quickly lost games to luck out that good

By: Plutor

Plutor — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 10:11:36 -0800

Wolfdog: "Risk strains friendships. Diplomacy kills friendships and dances on the graves whilst micturating." Seconded.

By: Ironmouth

Ironmouth — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 10:22:22 -0800

Against skilled Risk players, holing up in Austrialia is the worst possible strategy. You can easily bottle that player up and force him or her to sustain unacceptable losses to get out. Best is to have three or four directions out, preferably with two of those directions aimed at the same player. The indirect approach. Stop me here, I hit you there. I learned from a master, Allen Groenwald, winner of the U.S. Army West German Risk tournament two years in a row. Unbeatable.

By: Ironmouth

Ironmouth — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 10:23:07 -0800

Also attack with overwhelming numbers when you do move forward--the dice play no role in a well-played Risk game.

By: mrgrimm

mrgrimm — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 10:31:38 -0800

So how to I zoom in to see the army guys on my roof?

By: cmfletcher

cmfletcher — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 10:33:21 -0800

How am I supposed to flip the board over in disgust? That's how the game ends, right?

By: Imperfect

Imperfect — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 10:35:21 -0800

I always loved South America. My friends would always tussle over Australia and whatnot while I'd quickly gank S.A. Only one extra point of defense and an extra army per turn. Then, tunnel north one province and you prevent anyone from owning N.A. And suddenly they've got three provinces to reinforce against your one defensive outpost. The same goes for Africa. Usually everyone just gives up when they realise that they're still squabbling over Europe/Asia when I have all of North and South America and can only be attacked by three places, all heavily fortified.

By: meehawl

meehawl — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 10:45:55 -0800

Real men play axis and allies. Real, real men play World in Flames. World in Flames contains 1400 counters. ! Masochists play Machiavelli. It's like Diplomacy, but with plague!

By: jlub

jlub — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 10:54:30 -0800

Real (crazy) men play World in Flames, put magnetic stickers on the back of each of the 1400 counters, then mount the map on a steel plate attached to their living room wall. No, really

By: XQUZYPHYR

XQUZYPHYR — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 11:07:09 -0800

i still remember the day I won as the axis by taking moscow and england on the first turn. good times. How is that possible? That could only happen if you wiped out England's fleet without losing your starting transport and either Caucasus or Karelia was left empty after an unsuccessful attack so you could blitz in with a tank. That must have been the luckiest two plays (or unlucky for Russia) in board game history.

By: Captaintripps

Captaintripps — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 11:34:14 -0800

It's been so long since I played the original version of Axis & Allies (my best friend and I got really dorky and created our own WWIII version complete with board) that I can barely figure out how he would have done that. But that sounds about right.

By: meehawl

meehawl — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 11:36:28 -0800

put magnetic stickers on the back of each of the 1400 counters That is extreme. Absolutely extreme. I spent four months playing WiF once upon a time as the Chinese (I got in late to the game and it was the only thing left to play). Extremely depressing. My entire time was spent fruitlessly trying to get the Reds and Nationalists to cooperate, being obliterated by the Japanese every time I ventured out of the mountains, and begging the US player for supplies. Which kind of replicates WW2 very closely... I had much more fun playing Japan in a later game. Managing to take a big chunk of both the USSR and Australia was personally very satisfying.

By: meehawl

meehawl — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 11:40:46 -0800

Oh, and a nice part of India as well. But even with all that territory the US still squashes Japan like a bug. The difference in industrial production is just *so* vast that after a year or two of Pacific War there can be no real Japanese fleet left.

By: dhartung

dhartung — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 11:42:14 -0800

TurboRisk. It's freeware. And it's got AI opponents.

By: o2b

o2b — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 11:57:49 -0800

The wall-based game is awesome. I'm shocked that there aren't games like that in production. Such an efficient use of space -- and time.

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 12:02:45 -0800

jlub writes "Real (crazy) men play World in Flames, put magnetic stickers on the back of each of the 1400 counters, then mount the map on a steel plate attached to their living room wall." Hol-EE SHIT!

By: tellurian

tellurian — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 14:23:12 -0800

I recently introduced a friends young son (10 years old - hardcore PS2) to the game. As we were playing the other day he said "who would have thought that you could have so much fun moving little plastic soldiers around on a board?"

By: JHarris

JHarris — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 19:23:54 -0800

As we were playing the other day he said "who would have thought that you could have so much fun moving little plastic soldiers around on a board?" Introduce this kid to Warhammer 40,000, and his folks will rue the day forever.

By: fFish

fFish — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 22:19:23 -0800

Real men play axis and allies Real Elves play War of the Ring.