# Risk: My kid is finally doing schoolwork I can help her with **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 11, 2005, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/risk-my-kid-is-finally-doing-schoolwork-i-can-help-her-with/289584 "2005-02-11T15:22:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pasunejen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/58956e/32.png) [@pasunejen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pasunejen)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/risk-my-kid-is-finally-doing-schoolwork-i-can-help-her-with/289584/21 "2005-02-12T01:05:09Z")
> [@vibrotronica](#): > > Anybody played the Lord of the Rings Risk? It’s pretty well designed, and it’s cool to attack Isengard, Helm’s Deep, Mordor, etc., and it’s got a time limit so it doesn’t go on for days. The only downside is that whomever goes last has a big advantage. I was really bothered by the time limit in LotR Risk…in my experience, Risk games are usually really slow until the end when people have consolidated and start steamrollering each other, and with the time limit there really wasn’t enough time for the game to develop. Also, I wasn’t too pleased with the way territories were arranged. Maybe it was just because I wasn’t familiar enough with playing on the board, but things just didn’t seem to work as well when planning attacks and defense. I really wanted to like it, too…_sigh_ ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/risk-my-kid-is-finally-doing-schoolwork-i-can-help-her-with/289584/22 "2005-02-12T04:27:06Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > My son got Risk as a Christmas present, but I swear, sometime in the past 30 years they changed all the rules. They’ve added new stuff and possibly deleted some old. Does anyone know when this happened (if I am in fact not mistaken)? I have never met two people who play Risk the same way in my life. I think there are about 45 million varieties of the rules out there. It’s why I gave up the game in college, it always led to fights over the rules. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/risk-my-kid-is-finally-doing-schoolwork-i-can-help-her-with/289584/23 "2005-02-12T07:36:27Z")
> [@AbbySthrnAccent](#): > > Vinci I think it’s stretching it a bit to say that Supremacy and Axis & Allies are ripoffs of Risk. I’ve played Vinci and it’s nothing like Risk at all. > [@Summary from boardgamegeek.com](#): > > Along the lines of History of the World by Avalon Hill, players cycle through a series of european civilizations as they attempt to score the most points using the civilization’s special powers. The game is set in Europe and each player is provided with a pool of wooden tokens to represent their civilizations. Each player selects a combination of civilization tiles, which give his civilization special abilities or characteristics. Players expand their empire through territorial expansion, often at the expense of other players. The key to the game lies in chosing when to decline your currently played-out civ to get a new one which will keep generating points. Play continues with the cycling of civilizations until a certain score is reached whereupon final rounds are played and a victor is determined. Marc ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/risk-my-kid-is-finally-doing-schoolwork-i-can-help-her-with/289584/24 "2005-02-12T07:44:26Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > Ummmm … WHY are they playing RISK in class? I think it has something to do with World History. You know, the whole “pointlessness of trying to hold the Ukraine and Eastern Europe” thing. It is a classic demonstration why Poland has had about fifteen official languages in the past 1000 years. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/risk-my-kid-is-finally-doing-schoolwork-i-can-help-her-with/289584/25 "2005-02-12T08:29:25Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > I think it has something to do with World History. You know, the whole “pointlessness of trying to hold the Ukraine and Eastern Europe” thing. It is a classic demonstration why Poland has had about fifteen official languages in the past 1000 years. Truly, Risk taught me how right Vizzini was. ---
**Author:** ![Torgo\_ate\_my\_hamster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/71c47a/32.png) [@Torgo\_ate\_my\_hamster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Torgo_ate_my_hamster)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/risk-my-kid-is-finally-doing-schoolwork-i-can-help-her-with/289584/26 "2005-02-12T11:37:05Z")
> [@vibrotronica](#): > > Anybody played the Lord of the Rings Risk? It’s pretty well designed, and it’s cool to attack Isengard, Helm’s Deep, Mordor, etc., and it’s got a time limit so it doesn’t go on for days. The only downside is that whomever goes last has a big advantage. I own the plain Risk game plus both variants mentioned above. I’ve only played RISK LOTR once, since I only got it about a month ago and the predominant game in our gaming group is The Settlers of Catan, but liked its design and will certainly be playing it again. > [@vibrotronica](#): > > I’ve heard from several sources that Risk 2210 AD is the best variant, but I still haven’t played it. As far as the Risk 2210 AD is concerned, I have to second that opinion. I’ve only played a game or two of the original Risk since I bought that variant. It expands the gameboard by adding the moon and underwater territories plus I just love the action cards which heavily increase the gaming strategies. You can drag far behind the leading players in the last round but a few good Nuclear cards and a bit of a luck at drawing the territiory cards can change the standings significantly. There’s also the strategic positioning of commanders, thereby enabling you to attack or defend the critical territories with d8 instead of d6 and many more. I recommend that you give it a try and see for yourself but I am almost certain that you won’t be disappointed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/risk-my-kid-is-finally-doing-schoolwork-i-can-help-her-with/289584.md?page=1)