How to Play Risk

Choose your army's color and count out your starting army. This number will be different depending on the number of players. For example, you'll need 20 armies when playing a six-player game, but 35 if there are only 3 players.

Roll the dice to see who will place armies first. High roll wins.

Begin placing your starting armies, one at a time. Place a single army per territory, and only one army per turn. Continue placing armies until every territory has been occupied. Try to occupy whole continents as you receive army bonuses during your turn for complete ownership.

Reinforce your territories by placing up to 2 additional armies in them, one at a time in turn order. Some players vary this step by simply placing their armies where they wish to accelerate the setup process.

Roll the dice again to see who goes first during game play. Again, high score wins.

Begin your turn by taking reinforcements. You earn 1 army for every 3 territories you control, as well as for owning entire continents (multiple territories of the same color). You may also choose to turn in territory cards at this point for additional armies.

Choose a territory to attack, and choose from where you plan on attacking it. Once chosen, move your combatant armies into the enemy territory.

Roll to determine who wins the battle. High number always wins, and ties are awarded to the defender.

Stop or continue attacking as long as you have enough armies to press the attack.

Play until 1 player has conquered every territory. That player is declared the winner.

Visit the Boardgame Geek website to purchase Risk or find helpful strategies (see Resources below).