RISK the board game...

Home / Education / Personal-FAQ / ISSI page

How can Risk be educational one may ask? Well Math, History, and most importantly Geography all play a part.

Math: How does math play a part of the game. Simple counting is extremely important in this game. One needs to know how many soldiers one is fighting against. One needs to know the likely hood of winning a battle (hence why I have dice rolling odds). A player must count all territories he/she has in order to collect the amount of reinforcements they may receive. Math is needed to understand who one the battle since battles are one by who has the highest. If the defender ties the attacker loses since he has more dice to roll giving him a better chance.

Geography: Geography like Math are important to this game. But unlike Math it isn't a prerequisite to play the game. In fact this is the way I learned Geography. Learning by doing can be applied here. You learn proximities of the world. Such as Asia's China is the worst place in the game to be. Why is it the worst you ask? Because someone can attack you in seven different directions. Asia is the most valuable place but also the most vulnerable. Not only do you learn the seven continents and Oceans but you also learn about over looked islands like Madagascar, Ice Land, and Greenland. These islands tend to be huge hotspots and important places to hold.

History: The other two might be pretty straight forward. History however is not. To understand any historical significance of Risk one needs to understand the cards and the time period Classic Risk tries to replicate. The time period is late 1700's. The hints are placed on the wardrobe of the solders on the cards. These cards show "red" solders kneeling. These solders could be British solders fighting the Americans in the Revolutionary War. People like Napoleon started to come into power and wanting to expand their power in Europe, the same way England wanted to extend their power over unto the New World. Expansionist views dominated all cultures but the raise of Empires only increased the urge to extend. Risk isn't the first game or only game the plays off Expansionist thought, Axis and Allies has to do with World War II and Hitler's rise and fall while Monopoly is the business version of Risk. As most people know the name of the game is to get the most property and make the most cash.

I can only assume that he is British

copyright 2003

best viewed at 1024 by 768