I was really surprised at how subtle a lot of the revisions to this new Risk are- having played almost every one of the post-2210 editions with their thematic grounding, action cards, set turn orders, and often radical departures from Risk dogma, I think that the new edition feels a lot more like that classic Risk I played twenty-odd years ago- but with some judiciously applied tweaks and simple additions that somehow manage to make the game feel classical and modern at the same time. Has that been a concern of yours, to preserve and respect the best things about Risk?
Definitely. This was not about expanding Risk but trying to see if it could be massaged, tweaked, and fine-tuned to feel almost the same but play differently. There were a lot of false starts on this one and, at some point, we questioned just about every sacrosanct part of Risk: keeping a troop in a territory, counting territories at the beginning, maximum of three dice, continent bonuses, everything. The goal was to see what was needed and what was habit. Turns out most everything was needed.
I think that again really speaks to the elemental quality of the game and also to the fact that maybe the expectations of design that hobby games have imposed on gaming have sort of blinded a lot of people to the fact that Risk is actually a pretty solid design out of the box.
I’m happy with the way the cards work in the new version. We didn’t need the escalating (American) card system since that system was designed as a timer to end the game. I first used the European system of different sets being worth four, six, eight or ten troops depending on the set. But at some point I realized that I could get five cards and get one set, the lowest, worth four troops. Someone else, going right before me could get six cards in the same amount of time and could have two sets of ten. So he got 20 troops in the same time I got four. All due to random chance. In a short game this would be very unbalanced so we set out to adjust that to something that gave the player more control but not complete control.
I’ve never really thought of the old card system as a timer, but you’re absolutely right- it makes sense that the game is intentionally designed to reach a point where a player is going to be able to build the fabled Risk horde and crush everybody. I like the system in the new version a lot better because you can still get those huge, sweeping death armies but it does feel a lot more balanced.
The idea was just to speed it up without losing strategy and without adding too many new rules.
Having seen the promotional Black Ops edition and early photographs of the new version of Risk coming this summer, I think both look very modern, sophisticated, and attractive. In particular, I think Black Ops may be some of the best product design I’ve ever seen in boardgaming. Can you give a little insight on the choices that were made in defining the look of these new editions of Risk?
Well, I’m not the art director so this is my interpretation of her conversations with me. Risk itself was meant to be vaguely modern but not realistically modern. Sort of how the older games were “sometime in the past”. The look was meant to be more poster-like and anathematic. The oceans are red so realism isn’t the goal. It’s supposed to be bold and brash and aggressive – the macho posturing of war. Black Ops is the storm before the storm, the rumblings of war to come. It’s secretive, mysterious, elusive, abstract – a hint of things.
As of this writing, there are two copies on eBay that are breaking $300 with four or five days left on the auctions. I’m sure the auctioneers will breathe a sigh of relief!
They are going for over $500! I’m stunned.
Is this Risk for a new generation? How do you get kids raised on video games to want to sit down to play a board game- even a 60-90 minute one with lots of competition, interaction, and drama?
The new generation and the current one, really. As people ease into adulthood with jobs, kids, marriages, they just can’t carve out a whole night with four buddies that often. We wanted to give them a faster option but one that still felt like they had earned their win.
That’s something I love about Risk…no matter how much luck is involved with the dice, when you win you really feel like you’ve earned the right to win. I love that in the Black Ops rules where it states that if you win the World Conquest version that “…you may now demand that all of the losing players call you ‘sir’. Seriously.”
That was a request from marketing. They wanted some icon or totem or trophy that showed that you were The Man for winning. We eventually realized that bragging rights were the best trophy of all.
It’s been 50 years since Albert Lamorisse published the first edition of Risk (La Conquete du Monde). How does Risk stay relevant, interesting, and viable in the face of a hobby gaming market with hundreds of titles currently available and despite other hobbies such as video gaming severely cutting into the traditional market for board games?
I think that saying that videogames cut into board games is too easy a connection, probably, because they both have the word “game” in the title. Overall, there are a lot more entertainment options to people today and you have to look at what best fits any social situation. Risk fills a space when a group, probably male, wants to outwit each other, bond, talk trash, and generally be boys. Pick up basketball and poker probably also fits this mood. But Risk has that nice blend of awareness, familiarity, time-tested rules, etc. to make it a ‘go to’ option.
What’s next for Risk?
There’s a 2-player version of Risk called Balance of Power that springboards off the new ruleset. It will be out in Germany this year and the rest of the world in 2009. I quite like it.
We'd really like to thank Rob for taking the time to talk with us. The new edition of RISK will be available later this summer pretty much anywhere you can buy a board game. BLACK OPS can be purchased from any number of irresponsible reviewers, industry insiders, and webmasters auctioning their copies on eBay for $400-$560.
