High Risk Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Overview and Object of the Game
• Game Elements
  • Mountain board
  • Climber tokens
  • Dice
• Set Up
• Gameplay
  • A Player's Turn
• End of Turn
  • FALL! — You only rolled Danger on your last die roll
  • BOOST! — You have set all 6 dice aside (in one or more rolls)
  • REST! — You've chosen to end your turn voluntarily
• End of the Game

Game Components

• 1 Mountain board
• 16 Climber tokens (4 in each of the 4 colors)
• 6 dice

Overview and Object of the Game

In High Risk, take the lead in an expedition during the golden age of mountain climbing. On your turn, roll the 6 dice in search of the Ascension symbols you'll need to advance one of your climbers.

A Weather symbol isn't of much use to you, but is much less dangerous than a Danger symbol. If you get nothing but Danger symbols your lead climber will fall, getting further away from the summit.

Will you be satisfied to advance safely but maybe too slowly? Or will you try to move as fast as possible at the risk of falling far down the mountain? Bring all of your climbers to the summit and victory will be yours.

Game Elements

Mountain board

The Mountain board represents the mountain that you're trying to climb. The board is divided into several zones:

• The Basecamp is all the way at the bottom of the board, at the foot of the Mountain. The Climber tokens begin the game in this zone.
• The Summit is all the way at the top of the board. Your Climber tokens must reach this zone for you to win the game. Multiple Climber tokens can be in this zone at the same time.
• Bivouacs are the 3 wide zones. Multiple Climber tokens can be in these zones at the same time.
• Cliffs are the 6 round zones. Only one Climber token can be in each of these zones at one time.

Climber tokens

The Climber tokens represent your expedition. They are roped together, and can keep their teammates from falling all the way down the Mountain. Their goal is to reach the Summit before the other teams.

Dice

The dice are all identical and have 3 different symbols:

• DANGER (x3): Your highest-up Climber token is at risk of falling.
• ASCENSION (x2): One of your Climber tokens of your choice can advance.
• WEATHER (x1): Nothing happens.

Set Up

1. Place the Mountain board in the middle of the table.
2. Place the 6 dice next to the Mountain board.
3. Each player chooses a color and takes as many of that color's Climber tokens as indicated by the table below. Place them in the Basecamp. The unused tokens are returned to the box.

Number of players	2	3	4
Climber tokens	4	3	2

4. Pick a first player at random and give them the 6 dice.

Gameplay

A game is played over an unlimited number of turns, until all of one player's Climber tokens reach the Summit.

A Player's Turn

On your turn, follow these steps in order:

1. If this is your first die roll this turn, roll all 6 dice.

   If this isn't your first die roll this turn, pick up all the Danger dice that you rolled last time and re-roll them.

2. Set the Ascension and Weather dice aside.

   • If you only got Danger on your dice during step 1 of this roll, move on to END OF TURN: FALL!
   • If all 6 dice have been set aside this turn (in one or more rolls), that is to say you have only Ascension or Weather, you must immediately move on to END OF TURN and then play another turn: BOOST!
   • Otherwise, you can choose to either:
     • Move on to END OF TURN: REST!, or
     • Return to step 1.

End of Turn

Your turn can end in 1 of 3 ways: FALL!, BOOST!, or REST!

FALL! — You only rolled Danger on your last die roll

Move your highest token (that is not already at the summit) down the Mountain, stopping at the first open zone below your next Climber token (a Bivouac, the Basecamp, or an unoccupied Cliff). If this Climber token is your only token to have left the Basecamp it falls back to the Basecamp.

If all of your Climbers are in the Basecamp, nothing happens.

Pass all 6 dice to the player on your left. They begin their turn.

Examples: The blue player rolls the dice that they haven't yet set aside and gets only Danger on this roll. Their highest Climber that has not yet reached the Summit falls as shown in the examples on the page (illustrated in the original rulebook).

BOOST! — You have set all 6 dice aside (in one or more rolls)

Proceed just as in REST!, with the following exception: don't pass the dice to the next player. Keep them and immediately play another turn.

REST! — You've chosen to end your turn voluntarily

Advance one and only one of your tokens (that is not already at the Summit) toward the Summit as many zones (occupied or not) as Ascension symbols set aside (which may be 0).

A Climber token can reach the Summit even if its movement would have carried it further. The rest of the movement is lost.

If this Climber token ends its movement on a Cliff that is already occupied by another Climber token (even one of your own), the token that occupied that Cliff falls to the next open zone (a Bivouac or an unoccupied Cliff).

Pass all 6 dice to the player on your left. They begin their turn.

Example: The yellow player has already rolled the dice once, getting 3 Danger, 1 Ascension, and 2 Weather. They set aside the last 3 dice and decide to continue, re-rolling the 3 Danger. For these 3 new dice, they get 2 Ascension and 1 Weather. Having no more dice to re-roll, they must end their turn. They got a total of 3 Ascension and 3 Weather. They move the yellow Climber 3 zones upward, ending that movement on a Cliff currently occupied by a blue Climber. This blue Climber then falls down to the next open zone.

Once all of your Climber tokens reach the Summit, move on to END OF THE GAME.

End of the Game

If all of your Climber tokens are at the Summit, the game is over and you win.