I am thinking of getting this game for our son, but I have never played it and it is a bit pricey.
I have been listing on freecycle locally trying to pick up someone’s unloved box and surfing ebay, where it seems to be a popular item with an average price going for about $20 or so.
Tell your love with this game and what edition is the most funnest evar!!!
Risk is a legendary game with a long history and without a doubt many people on this board have spent many a wee hour struggling to hold on to Asia.
It’s a great game, buy it for your son. You can’t go wrong with the tried and true original version, but some of the modern versions (like the sci-fi version) are excellent (although very different in some ways) as well.
Get the original. It’s the best. If you can find one of the recent throwback editions, get it; the classic pieces are great.
Risk is one of those annoyingly addictive games; people who think they would never like the game because it’s a “war” game find themselves unable to stop playing it. The whole neighborhood will be in your house constantly this summer. 
The original game was a game that was before its time. Specifically, its time came when they started making computerized versions of it. What was a 6-hour game became a half-hour game, with no change to the actual gameplay. On a tabletop, it’s just too much dice-rolling and tedious counting.
Are you kidding? You don’t even try to hold onto Asia until you’ve taken all the other continents. Before then, you just take toeholds in Arabia, Siam, or Kamchatka to make sure nobody else holds it, and whatever is the easiest path through it. You probably think we’re foolish enough to go up against a Sicilian when death is on the line, too.
It is a good introductory strategy game. Many more serious gamers don’t enjoy it due to the large random factor that can make or break even the best strategy, but if your son isn’t an obsessive board game player he will enjoy it.
Oh, and you always want Australia + Siam. It’s easy to hold and is a guaranteed income.
As soon as I can locate a copy at a Tightwad Pricey that agrees with me, I am getting it.
While living in Europe, I played a version of the game that allowed you to win normally (i.e. US rules at the time), but also had objective cards, thus allowing each player to have a specific objective to win, without the other players being aware of what that was, other than guessing through your actions.
I found it far more enjoyable than the original, and am wondering if it ever made its way into the U.S. version.
Most versions since about 1994 have had this. This was about the time that the plastic molds of the pieces were changed to be actually shaped like cannons, cavalry, and infantry, so look for that when buying. It is called ‘objective risk’ if I remember correctly. My copy isn’t home so I can’t check.
There are other good territory holding games - El Grande and Age of Empires III (The boardgame) come to mind. And there is always Imperial for the hard core.
Days of Wonder (maker of Ticket to Ride) is coming out with a Vinci reimaging called Small World. http://www.daysofwonder.com/smallworld/en
Brian
Yes, but not at the expense of holding some other continent-- your attack options are too limited from Australia. If I were to start the game with one and only one continent, I’d want South America: It’s slightly harder to hold, but gives you the option of expanding into either North America or Africa. If resistance isn’t too stiff in North America, you can very quickly end up with 7 armies worth of continents and toeholds everywhere but Australia (so nobody else can control a continent), for the cost of maintaining three strong points. From there, spend a little time building up forces, and it’s easy to take Africa, Europe, and the world.
The fact that it is a stupid strategy does not mean that there haven’t been plenty who have tried it. 
See, I play by the custom rule that says East Australia is linked to Peru. Opens up SA perhaps a little too much, but I find that the balance it gives the entire board is worth it.
Besides, it’s funny when the types of players who aim to start with the small continents start sniping each other right from the start.
Oh yeah, I’m going to need to buy that now. That looks amazingly awesome. It’s like mini-civilization, with dwarves!
As I recall, Risk 2210 had an interesting rule change that allowed players to establish orbital military bases. You could send troops up while the station was above your territroy and then drop them down into enemy territories when it was passing over them. But looking at the Wikipedia article, it doesn’t seem to mention this. So it may have been a house rule we created.
Space stations let you roll the D10 (D8?) while defending for every troop there, and send people to the moon with a space commander. However, the only way to attack from the moon directly to Earth, was a space command card that sent you to the next territory in the deck - no choice in the matter.
You may want to look into Conquer Club.
Although Risk is a fun family game, Diplomacy removes the luck and introduces negotiation and simultaneous strategy.
Australia is for noobs. I love watching two players duke it out over Australia while I quietly position myself to take over the west.
The first three turns of risk are about getting a single card each turn and losing less than your opponents. You do this by scattering your pieces and reinforcing a small cluster of two or three territories that sit on different continents. No-one wants to assault you and will clear the territories with one army. Since you sit on different continents you are ambiguous about your goals, are you trying to take Europe or Africa?
Don’t blow your load with reinforcement cards to take a continent. Other players will be threatened and than throw everything they have against you, and you are weak since you just spent all your cards. Use your cards to breach or reinforce.
Risk is all about managing how the other players perceive you and pitting them against each other. The problem is, once you keep winning everyone else will realize this and the first few rounds of the game turn into pre-mediated genocide. It ain’t fair I tells ya!
Ah, the nomad strategy. I’ve used that to good effect in a few games, but it does leave you vulnerable if anyone decides that you’re a threat after all. And you’re going to need to start taking continents eventually.
I’ll point to my use of the word “struggling”
I usually let someone else give it a shot and then take little bites out of the continent to nullify their reinforcement bonus.