He’s a bit young for it right now, but if he still enjoys strategy games when he’s 12-14 I would recommend Cosmic Encounter. I guess younger kids could learn it easily enough, but most of the fun of that game comes from hacking: coming up with extremely unusual strategies that effectively make use of cards, powers, and abilities that you essentially receive at random.
Don’t forget to also play the Risk nuclear variant…instead of getting extra armies with a card trade in, you can stockpile a nuke instead. When you play the nuke, you obliterate the armies of one territory.
Discourages those pesky Indonesia squatters from building a massive legion of troops.
It does tend to make more of a marathon game though.
I think there are two questions that you should answer before starting your child playing Risk.
Is your child is willing and able to play a game which is likely to last multiple hours?
Does your child understand that when the person playing black, the person playing green, and the person playing yellow all attack your child it should not be taken personally, but is merely a matter of each other player deciding that their optimum strategy is to attack your child?
Because it’s no fun playing a game with someone who is sitting there crying “it’s not fair” when other people do things they don’t like.
I played Risk with my friends (and Dad) when I was under 10 - prob 9ish. We had no problem with concentrating but I don’t remember many games actually reaching a conclusion 
Risk is a great game, and a smart young kid with a good attention span should enjoy it, provided they can handle losing.
Just remember that Risk is a pretty cutthroat game, and you will be attacked, and you will lose men and countries.
Another thing to think about is that Risk pretty much demands at least 4 players for it to be any fun. The six player game is even better. If you don’t have regular opportunities to play with a group, there are likely better games for an eight year old.
Based on Sauron’s comments I would suggest the computer version would be much more appropriate than the board game. The board game is LONG, and you need 4 people committed to it. So if your family regualrly plays board games together, this would be a fine addition. But otherwise he’ll probably need the computer as an opponent.
I played Risk back in high school, back in the wooden army days. I’ve played an old computer version, and didn’t like it much. There is a pleasure in seeing the armies piled on the board and actually moving them a computer game doesn’t match. There is drama in dice rolls also. Yes, it could take hours, but a kids who plays chess well shouldn’t have any problem with attention span, and there are enough things decreasing attention span these days - why add one more. Concentrating for hours is a good skill to learn. My kids and I played when they were under 10, no problem.
I do agree that you need at least 3 people, maybe 4. I prefer cards for country selection, since it makes it a bit more lucky, and because you have to deal with different regions in different games.
I’m shocked that I might be the only contrary opinion in the thread but Risk is a terrible game. It’s very random, has a handful of obvious optimal strategies, and the winner is usually obvious hours before the game ends. There’s an entire world of spectacular board games out there so there’s no reason to get something this mediocre.
You said he likes world geography so may I recommend the 10 Days series. In these games players try to assemble a ten card hand that forms a concurrent vacation through a particular region of the world. It makes it a lot like Rummy in that you are building a run of cards but you’re doing it with states and countries. So far there are 10 Days in the USA, 10 Days in Africa, 10 Days in Europe, and 10 Days in Asia. They play very similarly so you wouldn’t want to get more than one. My personal favorite so far is Africa but a lot of people favor the recently released Asia.
But let’s say that geography isn’t really what he wants and it’s more of a game where armies fight. In that case the current darling is Heroscape, a miniatures game where players build a rather nice map to fight on out of large lego type pieces and then have fantasy armies duel on it. It plays very fast and its expandable in that there are a lot of accessories that you can buy (additional armies and terrain pieces) which can be a pro or a con depending on how you look at it. I would recommend the Master Set which I linked to above as the starting point since the other two core sets don’t have nearly as much terrain or figures with them. It’s becoming a bit rare but it can be found more cheaply than what I linked to above.
You also said he liked chess, so have you considered Go? This Asian abstract strategy game has been played for thousands of years and is considerably deeper than chess though its rules are much simpler. Essentially on a grid of 19x19 players take turns setting down white and black stones trying to enclose spaces. This is a game that can be learned in minutes and take multiple lifetimes to master. If you live in an area with a Chinatown then you could find a set fairly cheap otherwise you’ll have to check online for a decent price (though I wouldn’t try for a big set until he’s played it). I should also say that while I know of eight year olds who play this one might be bit too far for him. I’d only look in this direction if he’s a chess maniac already since then he might be receptive to trying it.
Finally let me strongly recommend using boardgamegeek.com (which is down for maintenance as I write this). There’s opinions and suggestions for pretty much any game you might think of and plenty of recommendations for more.
God, I must have the most character of any Risk player ever, as my Dad, a retired Army general, would mercilessly rout me in that game from the time I was about seven even into my teens.
It is a great game and if your child is as bright as you say and has the patience to play chess, then he’ll enjoy Risk.
Someone else here mentioned Axis and Allies, that’s pretty much my alltime favorite war boardgame, but it’s a little advanced for an eight year old. If he cottons to risk, but him Axis and Allies when he’s eleven.
Also, another option and blast from the past …Stratego.
While not nearly as involved as Risk, it’s still military-oriented and a lot of fun.
That was another game my old man regularly blasted my arse at.
I recall loving the gamepieces, too, with the marshalls, colonels, etc. Great game.
Ditto. Risk 2020AD is so much better than the original Risk that even thinking about playing the original gives me a headache. In comparison with most modern board games (like Settlers of Catan, Acquire, Puerto Rico, etc.), the original Risk is actually pretty bland, repetitive, and boring. However, the original was still quite good if you had enough ganja to last the duration.
“You sunk my battleship!”
“That’s Kirkuskt, and there are no boats!”
“Go fish!”
Touche’
I hated Risk!
If you can, find a copy of Castle Risk. It sticks to Europe and empires, and it adds certain elements that help alleviate the boredom. Much more strategy than building up armies and cutting a swath, if you ask me. He can work up to Risk later when he has a bit more patience.
Castle Risk is even worse than normal Risk. It’s not uncommon for a player to win on the first turn before any other player has gotten a turn. Admittedly this does cut down on the hours of not so great game play but otherwise it is considered a bit of a design flaw.
If you are looking for an computer version of Risk, without a doubt, go with Lux Delux. The demo comes with a couple different ‘classic’ Risk maps, but even better, you can refight WW2(tough, I like to build up down in the ME), the Vietnam War(fun! start in the north, make sure you control the water), conquer the US(great map!, start with DC and the eastern front push), capture castles, fight for a space station, and a bunch of random type of maps. If you buy the full versions you get more maps and online play. The interface is supperb, and though graphically it is very simple, it still manages to look quite nice. Do check this game out. You get 30 free games on the demo, and a little trick I learned, when you get to 30 games, you can actually keep playing as many as you like as long as you dont exit the game.
…yeah I’m a fan…
They also have other versions, though I’ve only played the demo’s which are fairly limited, of American History(refight all the wars the US has been in, including Iraq), world history(all the great wars through the ages). I think they might have a couple other versions as well, but I can’t check the site at work.
I played Civilization (board game) in fifth grade, which was like Risk on steroids and was fine. I’m sure I must have played actual Risk even before that. It’s probably more a question of temperament and interest than age - there are many adults who either love or can’t stand Risk. Also the question of, are you willing to play or does he need a group of friends who also like the game? A computer version is definitely something to consider.
My brother and some of his friends were Risk fanatics. I used to regularly get browbeaten/forced into playing. Even without the element of coercion, I always found risk tedious in the extreme. I was an enthusiast of vastly more complex games like Squad Leader and other hex map war games; Risk was just a bore.
My daughters and I played History of the World,\
(http://www.funagain.com/control/product/~product_id=011708)
which is more complex than Risk but less complex than Diplomacy or Civilization. It’s an attractive game, with lots of little men to move around, and it models the ebb and flow of world empires and the course of world history very very well. My daughters were perfectly happy to play it with me.
Crashing this thread to state that I went years undefeated at Risk, and if anyone can find a free online game, I challenge you to defeat me.
I would also recommend History of the World. I used to play that a lot in my teens and it had a very nice ebb and flow which tended to make the game very open even in the final turn.
Excuse me for editing, but I think that now means what you actually meant it to mean. (Strangely, despite the bias noted above, the bunch I used to game with rated HotW really, really highly, as do I.)
No-one’s mentioned Britannia yet, a super four-player game covering British history from the Roman invasion to the Norman Conquest. Each faction has different objectives and has to try to maximise its own while, where possible, interfering with others’ attempts to maximise theirs. It’s an intriguing balancing act and, as a rule, every game is different. The combat system is simple too.