Risk is a classic strategy board game of global domination. The objective is simple to state and demanding to achieve: eliminate every opponent and claim every territory on the board for yourself. The game is available in numerous themed editions, meaning the artwork, the pieces, and the setting may vary considerably from one version to another, but the underlying rules and gameplay remain essentially the same regardless of the visual presentation.
The Pieces and What They Represent
Before learning the rules, it helps to understand the army tokens that represent your forces on the board. There are four denominations of army pieces. A single token represents one army, another represents three armies, another five armies, and the largest denomination represents ten armies. Being familiar with these values from the start makes counting and placing armies much smoother throughout the game.
Setting Up the Game
Begin by laying out the board and shuffling the Risk card deck. Place the deck face down to serve as the draw pile. Each player then selects a colour and takes the army tokens of that colour.
The number of armies each player begins with depends on the total number of players in the game. With three players, each person starts with 35 armies. This number decreases as more players join, dropping to 20 armies per player in a six-player game. Each player counts out their starting armies and sets them aside, separate from their remaining supply, as these are the forces that will be placed during the initial setup phase.
To determine who goes first, all players roll the dice. The player who rolls the highest number takes the first turn, and play then proceeds clockwise around the table from that point on.
Claiming and Populating Territories
The board contains 42 territories in total. Starting with the first player and going around the table one at a time, each person places a single army on any unoccupied territory of their choice. This continues until all 42 territories have been claimed, meaning every space on the board belongs to someone before the game proper begins.
Once every territory has an owner, players continue the placement rotation, this time adding one army at a time to any territory they already control. There is no requirement to spread armies evenly. A player may concentrate forces in a few territories if that suits their strategy or spread them thinly across many. This continues until every player has placed all of their set-aside starting armies on the board.
The Structure of Each Turn
Once setup is complete, the player who rolled highest at the start goes first. Every turn follows the same three-step sequence in the same order. First, the player receives and places new armies. Second, the player may choose to attack opponent territories. Third, the player has the option to fortify their position. These steps must be followed in this order and cannot be rearranged.
Receiving and Placing New Armies
At the start of each turn, a player receives additional armies based on three potential sources.
The first source is territorial control. Count the total number of territories the player controls, divide that number by three, and discard any remainder. The result is how many armies the player receives. No matter how few territories a player holds, the minimum number of armies received per turn is three.
The second source is continental bonuses. If a player controls every territory within an entire continent, they receive additional armies as shown on the board’s legend. The bonuses vary by continent, reflecting their size and strategic value, ranging from seven extra armies for controlling Asia down to two extra armies for controlling South America or Australia.
The third source is Risk cards. Players may trade in matching sets of cards in exchange for armies. A valid set consists of either three cards bearing the same symbol or one card of each of three different symbols. There are two wildcard cards in the deck, and each wildcard can substitute for any symbol when completing a set. The value of traded sets increases progressively throughout the game.
The first set traded in by any player is worth four armies. Each subsequent set traded in across all players increases the value by two armies per set, continuing up to twelve armies. After that threshold is reached, the next set is worth fifteen armies, and from that point onward each traded set increases by five armies. If any of the three cards in a traded set depicts a territory that the player currently controls, that player receives two additional armies placed specifically on that territory. This bonus applies only once per trade-in, so having multiple matching territory cards in the same set does not multiply the bonus.
After placing all newly received armies anywhere among their territories, the player may proceed to the attack phase.
How Attacking Works
Attacking is optional. A player may choose not to attack at all during a turn, or may attack as many times and against as many territories as they wish. However, certain conditions must be met before an attack can be declared.
A player may only attack a territory that is adjacent to one of their own territories. On the board, territories that share a border are connected, and some territories across water are connected by dashed lines indicating an eligible attack route. The attacking territory must contain at least two armies, since a minimum of one army must always remain behind in any territory.
To initiate an attack, the player announces which of their territories is attacking and which opposing territory is the target. The attacker then chooses how many red dice to roll, either one, two, or three. The requirement is that the attacking territory must contain at least one more army than the number of dice being rolled. So rolling three dice requires at least four armies in the territory, rolling two dice requires at least three, and rolling one die requires at least two.
The defending player, whose territory is under attack, chooses to roll either one or two white dice. The defender may roll two dice only if their territory contains at least two armies.
Both players must declare their number of dice before rolling. They then roll simultaneously. The single highest die from the attacker is compared against the single highest die from the defender. Whoever rolled the lower number loses one army, which is removed from the board entirely. If both dice show the same number, the tie goes to the defender, and the attacker loses one army. If both players rolled more than one die, the second highest die from each side is then compared under the same rules.
After each roll, the attacker may continue the assault or stop. If they continue, both players roll again under the same conditions, though the number of dice either player uses can be adjusted each time based on how many armies remain. A battle continues until either the attacker chooses to stop or the defending territory runs out of armies.
If the defender loses all armies in the territory, the attacker captures it. The attacker must immediately move armies into the newly won territory. At minimum, they must move some armies equal to the number of dice rolled in the final battle, and at least one army must remain in the original attacking territory. The player may move more armies into the conquered territory if they choose.
If attacking eliminates all remaining territories belonging to an opponent, that opponent is knocked out of the game. All Risk cards in the eliminated player’s hand are immediately transferred to the attacker. If this brings the attacker’s total hand to six or more cards, they must immediately trade in matching sets and place the resulting armies, continuing until their hand drops to four cards or fewer.
Fortifying Your Position
After the attack phase ends, whether or not any attacks were made, the player may choose to fortify. This means moving any number of armies from one of their territories into a single adjacent territory they also control. At least one army must be left behind in the territory armies are moving from. Only one such movement is permitted per turn, involving exactly one source territory and one destination territory.
This step is entirely optional. A player who is satisfied with their army distribution may skip it without consequence.
Drawing Risk Cards
After the fortification step, if the player conquered at least one enemy territory during their turn, they draw exactly one Risk card from the top of the face-down deck. Only one card is drawn regardless of how many territories were taken during the turn. If no territory was conquered, no card is drawn.
A player who accumulates five Risk cards in hand must trade in a valid set at the start of their next turn before doing anything else. This is mandatory rather than optional when the hand reaches that size.
Winning the Game
The turn then passes to the player on the left, and the cycle continues. The first player to eliminate every opponent and gain control of all 42 territories on the board wins the game. Risk rewards a blend of tactical aggression, careful army management, strategic card play, and the patience to consolidate gains before overextending. No two games unfold the same way, which is much of the reason the game has endured for decades.