Risk Game Strategy

I have been playing Risk board game for a long time now and it is perhaps my all time favourite game. I was so fascinated by the game, and learned so much, that I ended up writing a book about it (Total Diplomacy: The Art of Winning Risk). It's that good.

Risk has been a very successful strategy game. The success of this game largely depends on its flexibility. Since you have to deal with other players over a well-defined goal, you are pushed to negotiate with them continuously. You need to understand their position, where they are, where they are heading to, whether they are friends or foes, if they listen to you or want you to listen to them, and so on and so forth. These issues all directly relate to real-life situations as well. In fact, this is why a new player feels right at home when playing for the first time. As soon as you know the basic rules of the game, you can start using your entire life knowledge to compete with other players over the resources provided in the game, and compete to win. In short, Risk is a great game to use to fine-tune your tactical, strategical and diplomatical skills.

In this day and age, we always experience a lack of time. Everyone wants to use their time as effectively as possible. As many know, the best way to achieve this is by multitasking: doing many tasks at once. However, this is easier said than done. Playing Risk is entertaining, and simultaneously it teaches a number of lessons. For example, you will learn how to deal with people effectively, how to control your resources, how to fight for what you want and manage risk.

My book, attempts to address two domains: it shows you how to win at Risk and it illustrates the finer concepts and skills required to deal with people. The idea is to use Risk as a training tool for skills otherwise challenging to master in real life.

By being familiar with the concept behind the game, you can focus on the actual skills in a more systematic way. Once you have mastered the dynamics of a particular situation, such as dealing with conflict escalation or understanding prisoners' dilemma, you can move away from the abstract environment of the game and apply your findings to the real world.

Risk, like any other game, has a set of well-defined rules and a specified goal. All you have to do is to conquer the world and win the game. If you cannot achieve this consistently, you obviously are not as good as other players, and you can keep practicing until you become better. This is in fact a simple, albeit harsh, measure of performance, but one that can easily be understood. In short, if you lose, keep working on your skills until you win. Practice makes perfect. You cannot blame someone else. If you lose consistently, you cannot blame it on luck either.

Risk can be used as a tool to learn more about yourself and about dealing with others. Buy the game, play it and join the risk community which its members are already engaged with different variations of Risk board game or the online versions of Risk. These days, it's easier than ever before to find playmates who either know the game already or are willing to play with you.

You can find a lot of resources on Risk on my website at www.totaldiplomacy.com