Risk Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Object of the Game
• Equipment
• Setup
• Sequence of a Turn
  • 1. Reinforcements
  • 2. Attacking
  • 3. Fortifying
• Risk Cards
• Winning

Object of the Game

Conquer the world by occupying every territory on the board, thereby eliminating all your opponents. (Shorter games can be played to a secret mission in the Mission variant; the standard game is world domination.)

Equipment

• Gameboard: a world map of 42 territories grouped into 6 continents.
• Armies in several colors (Infantry = 1, Cavalry = 5, Cannon = 10, used as denominations).
• 2 to 5 red attack dice and white defense dice (attackers roll up to 3, defenders up to 2).
• A deck of Risk cards (42 territory cards, each showing Infantry, Cavalry, or Cannon, plus 2 wild cards).

Setup

1. Each player picks a color and takes the starting number of Infantry armies based on the number of players:

   Players	Starting armies each
   2	40
   3	35
   4	30
   5	25
   6	20

2. Claim territories: roll to see who goes first; then, in turn, each player places one army on an unoccupied territory until all 42 are claimed.

3. Reinforce: continuing in turn, each player places one additional army onto any territory they already own, until everyone has placed all their starting armies.

Shuffle the Risk cards and set them beside the board. (Note: the "2-player" game uses a special neutral-army variant; 3–6 players use the rules above.)

Sequence of a Turn

On your turn you do three things in order:

1. Get and place reinforcements.
2. Attack (optional).
3. Fortify your position (one move, optional).

1. Reinforcements

At the start of your turn, count the territories you occupy and divide by 3, rounding down — this is your base number of new armies, with a minimum of 3. (E.g., 11 territories = 3 armies; 14 = 4.)

• Continent bonus: if you control every territory in a continent, add its bonus armies: North America 5, South America 2, Europe 5, Africa 3, Asia 7, Australia 2.
• Trading in cards: see below.

Place all reinforcement armies on territories you already occupy, wherever you like.

2. Attacking

You may attack any adjacent enemy territory (some are linked by sea routes shown on the board). You are never required to attack.

• To attack, announce which of your territories is attacking which enemy territory. You must have at least 2 armies in the attacking territory (one must always stay behind).
• Roll dice: the attacker rolls 1, 2, or 3 red dice — but always at least one fewer die than the armies in the attacking territory (so you may roll 3 only with 4+ armies). The defender rolls 1 or 2 white dice — 2 only if they have at least 2 armies in the defending territory.
• Compare: match the highest attacker die against the highest defender die, and the second-highest against the second-highest. For each pair, the lower roll loses one army; ties go to the defender. Removed armies come off that territory.
• You may keep attacking the same or other territories as many times as you like.

Capturing a territory: when the defender's last army in a territory is destroyed, you capture it. You must move in at least as many armies as the number of dice you rolled in the winning attack (at least 1), and may move more, but must leave at least 1 behind in the attacking territory.

Eliminating a player: if you defeat a player's last territory, they are out. If they held Risk cards, you take all of them (if this pushes you to 6+ cards, you must immediately trade sets until you have fewer than 5).

3. Fortifying

At the end of your turn (whether or not you attacked) you may make one fortifying move: move any number of armies from one of your territories into one adjacent territory you also own — but always leave at least one army behind. Then your turn ends and play passes to the left.

Risk Cards

At the end of any turn in which you captured at least one territory, draw one Risk card. Each card shows a territory and a symbol: Infantry, Cavalry, or Cannon (two cards are wild).

Trading sets for reinforcements at the start of your turn: a valid set is three cards of the same symbol, or one of each symbol, or any two plus a wild. Turned-in sets award a rising number of armies:

Set traded	Armies
1st set (any player)	4
2nd set	6
3rd set	8
4th set	10
5th set	12
6th set	15
Each further set	+5 more than the last

If any of the three cards in the set shows a territory you occupy, you get 2 extra armies placed directly on that territory (maximum 2 bonus per turn).

You must trade in a set if you begin your turn holding 5 or more cards; you may otherwise hold up to 5. The armies from traded sets are added to your reinforcements and placed during your reinforcement step.

Winning

Play continues until one player controls all 42 territories — that player wins the game and rules the world. (In the mission-card variant, the first player to secretly complete their objective wins.)