Redesigning Risk:

("The classic boardgame of global domination")

By Dominic Da Souza

As Risk celebrates its 50th Anniversary this coming year, someone thought it might be interesting to try and redesign the game to fit the current times. After much passing around of this metaphorical hot potato, it landed splat in my unsuspecting lap and it was up to me, an occasional risk player at best (though I am a former war-games fanatic, my secret shame).

Four days of hectic research ensued; Google + about.com for some throw-away facts, and much playing of computer risk, reacquainting myself with the game's dynamics. Purists may scoff at this, but the virtual version saves time (setting up the board, pieces etc), money; as implied by the word 'occasional', I don't own a copy of the board game, and it is rather expensive for a poor student who writes for love), plus it preserves my hermit lifestyle of not leaving the house and gave me a good excuse to stay on my girlfriend's computer all day long. Even if I had have miraculously come into possession of the board game, due to some benevolent, kind, hyper efficient, god like editor (do they exist?), I would have been hard pressed to convince my girlfriend (the one person I know in this country) to play it with me, even in the name of research.

If the Risk: 40th Anniversary Edition was released in 1999,Risk fans may be wondering why I mentioned earlier that the game would be celebrating its 50 th Anniversary in the coming year. Surely that makes it two years too early? However, here in France, the home of Risk, the game was originally invented in 1957, with the name La Conquête du Monde. It was then repackaged and produced in English in a deal with Parker Brothers in 1959. So count, that makes 50 years of Risk. But enough historical digression; we are in the 21st century now. Its time for Risk to get refreshed:

Territory Changes

Currently on Risk maps there is Eastern US and Western US. I think it appropriate to add a Middle US given that they shape the majority of US policies, they deserve representation. To do this it would be necessary to take some land from Central America (after all, this is what really happened) to add resemblances of California to Western US and Texas to Middle US.

Outside of that, I wouldn't alter any of the other existing territories, though, like in the virtual version, I would add some extra territories:

¨ New Zealand (go patriotism) – With connections to Eastern Australia and Argentina.

¨The Philippines – (South of Japan and directly east of Siam), with connections to Japan and Indonesia.
¨ Svalbard – (North of Scandinavia), with connections to Scandinavia and Iceland
¨ Hawaii – With connections to Western United States and Japan.
¨ Falkland Islands – With connections to Argentina (not England Mrs Thatcher!!) and South Africa.
¨ Oikiqualuk – The large landmass and grouping of islands between Greenland and Northern Territories.


It is when we come to the territorial groupings that the real changes begin. If we are to change Risk to reflect today's day and age, we have to get rid of the old concept of continents.
The new territory groupings are:

¨ Canada; Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, Northern Territories, and Oikiqualuk (try saying that quickly five times… try saying it quickly just once even…) considering that the majority of this country is sparsely populated at best, mainly covered in forests, ice, and Newfies (think Texans in a land that is cold, i.e. what ever thought patterns they may have had are frozen solid) they should only be worth 6 bonus battalions.

¨ USA (don't you wish we could just ignore them?); East United States, Middle United States, West United States, Alaska, Hawaii. Admittedly the most powerful sovereign nation in the world today (how on earth did that happen? It is like giving a child a machine gun and telling him to protect the farm. The cattle will have fancy new speed holes when you next look…) to reflect this ridiculous imbalance, The US is worth 15 battalions.

¨ Central America : This has its own autonomy, worth 1 bonus battalion.

¨ South America: One of the few to remain the same under the new rules, with the addition of the Falkland Islands (Did you hear that Margaret, its part of South America, but you can try and reclaim it if you are really needing it. 6 Bonus battalions.

¨ Africa; With the exception of the exclusion of Egypt (to the Middle East), this too remains the same. Riddled with Aids and Warlords, but plenty of natural resources for the taking. 8 battalions.

¨ Europe; Great Britain, Northern Europe, Southern Europe, Western Europe, and Ukraine. Ahh, the old world, not quite as glorious as it once was. The last hope of the socially conscious, but the extreme right is getting ever more scarily popular and the EU cannot even decide on a constitution. 9 battalions.

¨ Scandinavia; Scandinavia (surprise!), Iceland , Greenland and Svalbard. Not much on offer here, half the land is (again) ice covered, and the people are the most mentally unstable on the planet (that half a year of darkness takes its toll). 5 battalions.

¨Russia ; Ural, Siberia, Irkutsk, Yakutsk and Kamchatka. What is going on with the old mother land?? More corruption, greed, killings and general lawlessness than a Martin Scorcese film. A heavyweight boxer trying to pretend that retirement isn't the best option. Still packs a punch though with 9 battalions.

¨ Middle East; Middle East (anyone guess that?), Egypt and Afghanistan. The beginnings of humanity were here, and not much has changed since other than the weapons that flood the region have become more sophisticated. Almost as much blood and bullets have hit the sand as there is oil underneath it. But that's what it is all about these days. 10 battalions.

¨ India: Still the cheapest country in the world to buy cigarettes, tea, and child labour, but with a sixth of the world's population in this cumin scented region, it cannot be ignored. 2 battalions for the trouble.

¨ Far East; China, Mongolia, Japan, Siam and the Philippines. The new world order, the ever growing economic powerhouse, and also the origins of such great innovations as, sweet and sour pork, sushi, $1 sucky sucky, and ' Avion Flu'. 12 battalions.

¨ Australasia; Indonesia, New Guinea, West Australia, East Australia, and New Zealand (cheers all round). The collective might of Cyprus or any of the smaller Greek Islands, (Indonesia is an exception) these fair isles plus the one country continent represent the new hope of the free world (again, Indonesia is an exception) after America was overrun by extreme Christians. FACT: The Pilgrim Fathers left Holland thinking that the Dutch Calvinists were too liberal. And now their descendents are the 'leaders of the free world'… Madness!! 4 battalions for Australasia.

The United Nations

The UN is an important factor in the modern world, and even if they can't stop Iran from going full fission steam ahead with its nuclear programme, or punish those high profile illegal aggressors who make up the (criminal) 'Coalition of the Willing', they deserve recognition and representation in this revised edition of Risk.

To do this I would add an entire new card deck to represent the United Nations actions. You would have to begin taking these every second turn after you had made a successful attack on another territory. This pack would consist of 48 cards, (that's one for each territory) which must be well shuffled at the beginning of each game:

30 cards with variations of the following theme (that of inaction; after all the UN can't act all the time, this is a war game, and plus, it wouldn't be realistic!);

"The UN attempts to imitate its predecessor the League of Nations, and takes no action to your relentless war-mongering." (ooohh, history nerd joke!!)

"You've successfully pulled a George W. Bush and, despite UN opposition, your aggressions go unpunished."

"Its Rwanda all over again, go on, act with impunity, take that territory, you deserve it!"

6 cards for each of the following:
"The UN imposes sanctions upon you for your hostilities. Lose ten percent of your armies (minimum of one battalion)."

"United Nations calls for an immediate ceasefire; you may not make any attacks this turn."

Plus 6 more cards (2 copies of each) reading:

"The United Nations has declared you a war criminal; all other players must make at least one attack upon one or more of your territories for the next three turns."

"The UN declares you have been unfairly aggressed against: Choose any enemy player to be declared a war criminal, all other players must make at least one attack upon one or more of this player's territories for the next three turns"

"Territory Offer! Enough bigotry against your people, The UN has decided you have suffered enough persecution and is returning you to your 'promised land': The player with the least territories is offered any territory of his choice that has no battalions present. This card must be presented to the player with the least territories, including any defeated players. If there are more than one player who have the same number of territories (or more than one defeated player) a dice roll is used to decide who is awarded the territory.

Hazard Cards

The modern world is a hazardous place; what in days gone by would have been called acts of god have now been stripped of their mysticism by the cold hard facts of science. We now have an ever increasing, dangerous idea of control over our surroundings and our lack of restraint in this fashion is showing to have very serious repercussions. Today more than ever we must be conscious of massive floods, hurricanes, tidal waves, and earthquakes; all worsening with the increasing dangers of global warming. Added to this there is the very real threat of international terrorism. Today's world is a volatile place.

In an effort to show this in my reformed version of Risk, I have created the Hazard Card set: A pack of 60 cards, again to be well shuffled before the start of the game, and every 3 rounds, a card is to be taken by the player who commences the round. 20 of these cards read "nothing happens", the other 40 cards are:

¨ Acts of terrorism in the following territories:
Eastern US, Great Britain, Western Europe, Ural, All the territories making up the Middle East and Indonesia. (My my, what a lot of terror there is in the world).

¨ Nuclear explosion in the Ukraine

¨ AIDS epidemics for each of the African territories.

¨ A Tsunami striking India and Siam.

¨ Revolution in China, Venezuela and Afghanistan.

¨ Monetary crisis in Argentina.

¨ Earthquakes in Western US.

¨ Hurricanes in Eastern US.

All these cards have the same result, a simple 20% loss of battalions for the next round of the person who controls them. However, a territory suffering a 'hazard' cannot be attacked for the turn for which it is affected.

The Final Addition.
It is the turn of the suicide bomber to enter into the annals of Risk. This is an important admission to the new version, and is available to every player (why should the Middle East have all the fun?? After all, Japan invented them much earlier, and America seems to have ticking time bombs for students in almost every second high school). At the beginning of the game each player rolls a dice: 1 - 2 = 1 suicide bomber, 3 - 4 = 2, 5 – 6 = 3 suicide bombers. These units can be played at anytime on any territory the player may wish. The attack is of the value of 5 battalions, which continue to attack until they or the defender is destroyed. Any surviving suicide bombers are (obviously) destroyed. If the defending battalions are destroyed, then it becomes the attacking player's territory.


And that's it, Risk is now able to stand up and call itself modern.On the other hand, I suppose it's always dangerous changing in any real form the way a game is played, particularly a game as popular and successfully designed as Risk. Hasbro and Parker Brothers, have attempted to evolve the game somewhat over the years, with Castle Risk, Risk: Edition Napoleon, Risk 2210, and Risk: Lord of the Rings versions, each with their own adaptations on top of the original core rules. Unlike this version however,they lack the punch of the original Risk (an over stylised representation of political planet Earth)...

You are welcome to try out any of the ideas I have written down here, develop them further, or, if really inspired, come up with your own. As for me, I can hear the calls of the Risk II icon on my desktop; maybe I can convince my girlfriend I am still doing research…

Unknown to the author of this article, some of the suggestions made here for the Revised Risk Modern Edition, have actually been brought to life by two American web designers, who have invented and produced the conspiceously named board game "War on terror"....

www.waronterrortheboardgame.com