50 Fun Facts About Risk

Who invented Risk?

He released it in France in 1957; Parker Brothers bought it and published it in the US two years later.

Lamorisse, who invented the game, was better known for what profession?

The French director also made the 1956 short The Red Balloon.

In which year was the game invented?

It has since been inducted into three halls of fame, most recently the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2021.

Under what French title was the game first released?

The Conquest of the World became Risk: The Continental Game when Parker Brothers released it in 1959.

Which American company bought the game and released it in 1959?

Hasbro acquired the Parker Brothers brand in 1991 and now sells it under Hasbro Gaming.

The standard board divides the world into how many territories?

There are also 42 matching territory cards in the deck, plus two wild cards.

The territories are grouped into how many continents?

Holding a whole continent earns bonus armies at the start of each turn.

The standard game is for how many players?

With two players, a neutral third army is set up that only ever defends.

What is the goal of the standard game?

European editions give each player a secret mission instead, which makes for a much shorter game.

How many dice may the attacker roll at most?

The standard set has three red dice for the attacker and two or three white or blue for the defender.

Under standard rules, how many dice may the defender roll at most?

Rolling three against two still gives the attacker a slight edge, but only just.

When both sides roll the same number on a die, who wins the tie?

That edge is offset by the attacker's ability to roll more dice.

Which continent can be defended by heavily fortifying a single territory?

Either Siam or Indonesia will do it, which is why players rush for it early.

Asia, the hardest continent to hold, has how many access routes?

South America has just two, North America and Africa three each, and Europe four.

How many wild cards are in the Risk deck?

Each shows all three symbols, so it matches any two other cards to make a set.

Each territory card shows one of three symbols: infantry, cavalry and what?

Three of a kind, or one of each, can be traded for reinforcements at the start of a turn.

In the 1993 edition, a cavalry piece represents how many units?

Infantry stand for one unit and artillery for ten.

What does the Golden Cavalry piece track?

Each set traded in is worth more than the last, so the marker climbs as the game goes on.

Which combination of territory cards can be traded in for reinforcements?

One of each symbol also works, as does any two plus a wild card.

A player left with six or more cards after eliminating an opponent must do what?

They keep trading until they hold fewer than five, then may carry on attacking.

The game was retitled 'The Game of Global Domination' in which year?

The 1959 release had been called Risk: The Continental Game.

In which year did Hasbro acquire the game's longtime American publisher?

The game has since been rebranded under Hasbro Gaming.

The first variant, Castle Risk (1986), used a map of what?

Each player defended an 18th-century castle; it flopped financially but seeded ideas used later.

In which year were the European 'secret mission' rules added to the US edition?

The same edition brought in the plastic infantry, cavalry and artillery pieces.

Which futuristic 2001 edition from Avalon Hill added moon and ocean territories?

It also added commander units and an energy economy, and won awards.

Risk 2210 A.D. lasts only how many 'years', or turns?

The winner is whoever has the highest score at the end of the last year, not the last player standing.

Which 2011 edition began the genre where each play permanently alters the board?

Five factions, each with its own pieces and rules; a sequel, Shadow Forces, followed in 2022.

Risk: Factions (2010) let players fight as soldiers, zombies, robots, yetis and what?

The Electronic Arts video game also had a classic mode with the standard rules.

Which noted designer created Risk Express (2006)?

Players roll combinations of infantry, cavalry, artillery and generals to capture territory cards.

Risk Godstorm (2004) is based on what?

It came from Avalon Hill, the same Hasbro division behind 2210 A.D.

In the 2006 Original Trilogy edition, which faction must seize 10 of 13 resource planets?

The Empire must wipe out the Rebels; the Rebels must find and destroy the hidden Emperor.

The 2015 Star Wars edition recreates the battle at which location from Return of the Jedi?

Fighting runs across the throne room, the space around the Death Star and the forest moon.

Risk Junior: Narnia (2006) pits the forces of Aslan against whose?

It was based on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Risk: The Battle for Medieval England was published with which organisation?

The object is to become King of England; if nobody has won by a set point, everyone must retreat.

The Italian variant RisiKo! lets the defender roll up to how many dice?

Matching the attacker's three dice dramatically shifts the odds.

In the 1980s, army pieces were shaped like what?

I, III, V and X replaced the earlier wooden cubes and prisms before the 1993 soldiers arrived.

Which of these was one of the six army colours in the first editions?

Black, blue, green, pink, red and yellow wooden cubes each stood for one troop.

The 40th Anniversary Collector's Edition (1999) featured pieces made of what?

Same infantry, cavalry and artillery shapes as the 1993 edition, just heavier.

The 2005 bookshelf-format collector's edition was distributed through which retailer?

It came in a wooden box as part of the Parker Brothers Vintage Game series, with wooden cubes again.

Which Hasbro licensee issued a reproduction of the 1959 edition in 2008?

It restored the original artwork, wooden pieces and rules.

The most recent edition has how many attack routes between territories?

The count has changed over the years as editions added or removed sea lanes.

Which South American territory is linked by a sea route to North Africa?

The oceans themselves are not part of the playing field; only the marked routes count.

Which of these is NOT represented on the standard board?

Antarctica, the Caribbean and the Philippines are missing too.

In which year was Risk inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame?

Games magazine's Hall of Fame took it in 1984 and the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design in 1995.

Which House of Cards creator was reported in 2021 to be developing a Risk TV series?

The report came on 11 January 2021.

In the two-player variant, who controls the third set of armies?

The neutral army never attacks or moves and has no turn of its own.

Which variant, often much shorter, is won by capturing every opponent's home territory?

A defeated player's armies and territories all pass to the victor.

What is the strategy of becoming too costly to eliminate while staying a threat called?

The term came from real-time strategy games; the aim is to survive to the late game, then strike the weakest.

Risk is credited with inspiring Axis & Allies and which other famous game?

Its own descendants include Risk Europe, whose income-and-purchase economy resembles Axis & Allies.

The first video game version of Risk appeared in 1988 on which computer?

A Macintosh version followed in 1989; Hasbro Interactive's 1996 PC release added a dice-free 'Ultimate Risk'.