How to Play Risk (1980 Rules)

Learn the rules to the board game Risk quickly and concisely - This visually rich video has no distractions, just the rules.

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0:00 – Objective
0:15 – Pieces/ set up
0:43 – Starting places
1:10 – Per Turn
1:25 – Armies
1:59 – Risk Cards
2:48 – Drawing Risk Cards
3:03 – Attacking
3:22 – Attacker & Defender
4:07 – If Attacker Wins
4:27 – Attacking (Cont’d)
4:51 – Eliminating Players
5:11 – Fortify Position
5:30 – End of Turn

The object of the game is to defeat your enemies by occupying every territory on the board. Each turn consists of three steps in this order: First: get and place new armies. Second: attacking. Third: fortifying your position.

At the beginning of your turn, count all your territories and divide it by 3, discarding any fraction, and receive that many armies. You cannot receive less than 3 armies a turn. Additionally. you receive armies as indicated by the legend on the board if you have complete control of a continent. From 7 armies for Asia, down to 2 armies for South America and Australia.

You can also receive additional armies by turning in matching Risk cards. A match is three cards of the same symbol or one of each. There are 2 wild cards that can count as any one symbol when turned in. The first set of risk cards traded in by any player are worth 4 armies. The value of each traded set then increases by 2 armies for each set until 12 armies, then the next set is worth 15 and it is increased by 5 armies for every set after that.

If any of the 3 risk cards have a territory on it that you control, you receive an extra 2 armies for that territory, however, you can only do this once per trade in, so multiple cards with matching territories do not all receive extra armies.

You draw 1 Risk Card at the end of a turn that you had conquered at least 1 opponent’s territory. When a player receives a 5th risk cards for their hand, they must trade in a matching set at the start of their next turn.

After placing your armies, you may attack opponent’s territories if you wish. You may only attack adjacent territories from a territory of yours that has at least 2 armies in it. Dashed lines connect two territories in this way.

To attack, declare the territory you are attacking and the territory you’re attacking from. The attacker may roll 1, 2 or 3 red dice, but you must have 1 more army in your territory than dice you’re rolling. The defender may roll 1 or 2 white dice so long as the number of armies in their territory matches or exceeds the number of dice they roll.

The attacker and defender must declare how many dice they intend to roll before rolling. Then both players roll at the same time. The highest die from both attacker and defender are compared, whoever has the lower number loses 1 army, removing it from the board. If it is a tie, the defender wins and the attacker loses 1 army. If the defender rolled a second die, then you compare the second highest rolls of both players the same way you did the first.

After resolving, if the attacker still has at least 2 armies in the attacking territory, the attacker may continue the attack and both players roll again. If the defender loses all their armies then the attacker moves his armies into the newly conquered territory. The attacker must leave at least 1 army in the original territory and must take at least as many armies as dice rolled in the last battle. Every territory on the board must always have at least 1 army in it.

The attacker may stop the battle at any time. Each territory with sufficient armies can attack multiple times, even to the same space later in the turn. The attacker may attack as many or few territories as he desires in a turn. You cannot attack with more than 1 territory at the same time and you must have sufficient armies in your territory to attack...

[rd-pdxb]

Might be the most succinct and accurate description I’ve ever heard, especially for a game that seems so complicated.

[pondababa]

I played my first game today ever with my wife. Reading the rules became COMICAL it was so convoluted. We laughed, we faught and we played a variation of the game described here. With a few rule tweaks learned from this video, we should be playing REAL Risk games by the end of the week. It's a fun game!!

[PoeLemic]

Love your review. I'm playing on PC now -- THANK GOD, and I wanted to remind myself of how we all played when children. Man, this is such a fun game (even 40 years later). Your review was very quick & clear. Thanks.

[Cmasten]

Pretty well explained but, it’s the type of game you can actually bend the rules a bit to make it more simple. Like we never do the “have to turn in cards at so many” rule, kinda just turn them in for troops whenever you feel like. And whoever could hold off the longest was rewarded with a massive army.

[shook]

Me before watching video: Alright it's a board game, how complicated can it be?

Me after watching video: whit?

[leviathan]

Perfect explanation, I rate it 10/10!

[jayhenderson]

It's really not that complicated folks. Pay attention to what he's saying and give the game a go.

[greatestever]

I have a newfound respect for my mother. She was really good at this and I'm here like "wot"

[AzureRath]

Very good explanation compared to other videos I've seen. Will really make the difference next time I play.

[Edrick]

I went cross eyed watching this video :(

[mattbauer]

I love your video and it really helped 😀 but just one thing… I’m trying to play a two player version of the 1980 risk and I don’t know how 😢 could you please make a second video on 2 player risk for 1980? That would really help

[nipata]

Fantastic video. It's been years since I played, but it's all come back to me now.

[Ggdivhjkjl]

The later versions of Risk have a set trade in value for each combination of cards depending on their symbols. They don't increase as the game goes on.

[gerritfuste]

One last question ;-) Does each player conduct the 3 steps on its turn? Or all players reinforce at the same time? Thanks!

[MaskedDeath_]

I've got to pick risk up again now. I tried to play it quite a while ago, but misread the rules and I don't remember the specifics why but it ended up with a loop of kill units -> opponent turn -> he replaces dead units with new ones -> kills your units -> your turn -> replace dead units with new ones -> repeat forever.

After watching this video the rules seem so simple. Will definitely have to try playing once more.

[retrotoon]

Wow this is a complicated game. Is there a kid version of the kids game of risk?

[mariusbancila]

Well explained. I read the game instructions before, but this clarified all the things that I did not understand.

[Mister_Mr_Man]

I played this all the time when i was a kid but now as an adult ive forgotten how to play and am clueless

[stuna]

Missed a couple concerns, but other than that it was really good. My question is, also not found in the instructions is, when eliminating a player and taking their cards occurs - and assuming you play them right away - does that count as another set trade it e.g. 25+, 30, et troops when it is that deep in the game?

[zareefhuda]

Brilliant video. You should just add one more thing about attacking: the attacker has to move at least as many armies as however many dice they have rolled with into the conquered territory. Best wishes