Game Start

You start off by rolling the dice to see who goes first. (The computer does this automatically for you.) After that, each player picks a color to represent their army, and the set-up begins.

Setting Up

At the default table setting, the players will control their own set-up. The players' nameplates will be set in turn order (marked by the number to the left of their nameplate). Your name plate will always appear in the bottom left corner of the screen.

Territory Selection Phase

After the turn order and color selection, players will take turns selecting a territory until all territories have been claimed. When it is your turn to select a territory your name plate will light up. Move the cursor over any unoccupied territory and left-click. That will place one of your armies on that territory. A counter at the bottom center of the map will show how many territories there are left to occupy. Once all territories have been claimed, the Deployment Phase begins.

Deployment Phase

In the deployment phase, players will place their remaining units on territories they occupy. Deployment is done one army per turn and ends when the last player has placed his last army. When it is your turn, move the cursor over a territory you occupy and left-click to place an army; you will see the army number indicator (the circle beside the army icon) increment by one. You may place any number of armies on any of your territories. Once the deployment phase is complete the game begins!

Player Turns

Each player's turn is broken up into 5 phases. Play begins in the turn order decided in the dice roll, earlier. The phases are as follows…

Turn-In RISK Card Phase

In this phase, players will be able to turn in their RISK cards for bonus armies if they either have 3 cards of the same type or 3 cards of a different type. Cards are broken up into 14 Infantry, 14 Cavalry, 14 Cannon, and 2 Wild. Each of the 42 unit cards is attached to one of the 42 territories. In the RISK card phase, if you have at least one card a pop-up will appear displaying your cards. The number of bonus armies to be awarded will be noted at the bottom of the pop-up.

If you do want to or cannot turn in cards, click the X button. To turn in a set of cards, left-click on each card to select them (they will move up slightly) and then click OK. If you turn in cards it will add to your total army count in the Reinforcements Phase.

Note: With the alternate table option selected, players will also get a bonus of 2 armies for each territory they own that appears on the cards they turn in. These special bonus armies will be applied immediately to each of the appropriate territories when the cards are turned in.

Note: A player must turn in 3 cards once he has 5 cards.

Reinforcement Phase

In the reinforcement phase, a player will get army units based on territories they occupy (# of territories divided by 3, with a minimum of 3 armies awarded), plus continents they control (Asia = 7, North America = 5, Europe = 5, Africa = 3, Australia = 2, and South America = 2). If the player turned in cards in the previous RISK Card Phase they will be added to the total.

You will find the number of army units you have at the bottom center of the screen. To place your armies, move the cursor over a territory you occupy and left-click. Continue placing units until there are none left. When you are finished placing units, click on "Reinforcements Complete" at the bottom of the screen. Next is the Attack Phase.

Attack Phase

This phase is where the action plays out. On your turn, during the Attack Phase, you may attack from any of your territories to any adjacent (or line-connected) opponent territories. You may make as many attacks as you like in this phase.

To make an attack, left-click on one of your territories to select it, then move your cursor over the target territory and left-click again. This will initiate the battle and bring up the Battle Screen (if enabled, which it is by default).

The Battle Screen is a representation of the battle initiated on the map. On the screen, you will find the attacking armies on the left and the defending armies on the right. The armies are represented as 1 for each infantry unit, 5 for each cavalry, and 10 for each cannon (up to a limit of 3 cannons). The number of units can be found beneath each set of armies. In the center of the screen dice will begin to roll. The attacking player will roll up to 3 dice (which requires at least 4 units) and the defender may roll up to 2 dice (one dice per unit).

The dice are rolled automatically at the default setting. Each time the dice are rolled, up to 2 units will be eliminated. The attacker gets to use the highest 2 rolls (if he rolls 2 or more dice; it is usually 3) as does the defender. The defender wins ties, but may roll 2 dice maximum. Thus, the attacker has a slight advantage as they roll more dice, but the defender has the benefit of winning tie-breakers. Overall it is better to be on the attack than defense, but anything can happen in RISK.

The attacker may break off the attack by hitting the Retreat button. This will bring the players back to the map screen (Note: only players involved in the battle will see the Battle Screen). Further, the attacker may adjust the number of attack dice at any time by clicking the 1, 2, and 3 dice icons on the bottom left of the screen. This is useful if the attacker wants to move a limited number of units into the captured territory.

If the attacker is reduced to 1 army, he will be forced to withdrawal back to the map screen. If the defender loses all his armies then the attacker captures the territory and must move at least one unit per die rolled in the last attack, up to all his units minus 1. After an attacker captures a territory, a pop-up will appear showing the maximum number of units he could move. Move the cursor left and right to add/reduce the armies to wish to move, and then click OK.

When you have completed all your attacks for that phase, click the Attacks Complete button at the bottom of the screen. This will bring you to the Fortify Phase.

Fortify Phase

In the Fortify Phase, the player gets to move any one set of armies to any other set of armies connected to other territories he owns. When you wish to fortify a territory, first left-click on the territory you wish to draw forces from, then left-click on the target territory. A pop-up will appear showing you the maximum number of units you can have in the target territory. Move the slider to adjust that number. When you are satisfied, click the OK button or X to cancel. Once you fortify a territory the phase is over, and the receiving RISK Card Phase plays.

Receiving RISK Card Phase

If a player captures at least one territory he will earn a RISK card. In that case a pop-up will appear showing the player which card he earned. Note that only the player who won the card will know the identity of his card. The pop-up will time-out and the next player's turn will begin.

Surrendering

Surrendering is an option in the Pogo version of the game to allow a player who is alone against overwhelming odds to give up without losing their tokens earned, rank progress, and jackpot spin. When you or another player is facing an opponent that is sure to win, a pop-up will appear at the beginning of your/ their turn asking if you/ they wish to surrender. If you or they click YES, then the game will be over and the winner will get full credit for a victory.

Game End

Your game continues until there is a victor (through global conquest, meeting table setting requirements of capturing 24 territories, or the turns run out and a player is declared a winner) or who are eliminated will see their end game summary which displays Spoils of War tokens won, jackpot spin winnings (a player gets a jackpot spin for completing a game, win or lose), ending place and tokens awarded (1st through 5th), and rank progress. A player who is eliminated may remain as a watcher.

Note: When the game turns run out, a winner is decided by total number of "points", which are defined by "Total armies + armies awarded for holding territories (1 for every 3, plus continent bonus) + (number of cards / 3 * number of armies for next turn in set)".

The Game Board

The Game Board

The game board is a representation of Earth broken down into 42 territories on 6 continents. You will find that each of the continents is color coded (at the borders of the territories). Although some territories seem to be separated by water, a line between them communicates the ability to attack between them. When a player captures an entire continent, the unit bonus medallion will change to the color of the occupying player. If the player loses control of the continent it will revert to the default color.

Turns Left

At the bottom right of the screen you will find the number of "Turns Left". This will go down by one each time all players have completed a turn.

Bonus Units

Between Africa and Australia you will find the number of "Bonus Units" that will be earned for the next 3 card trade-ins. These numbers change as players turn in cards.

Military Advisor

Between Africa and South America, the Military Advisor will appear for Club Pogo players if the option is enabled.

Alliances

On the bottom left side of the screen, the listed Alliances will appear for Club Pogo players if the option is enabled.

Player Nameplates/ Menus

Nameplates

The player nameplates include the players' names, the number of cards they are holding, as well as their order each turn. Holding the cursor over the nameplate or left clicking in the nameplate will bring up some very useful information as well as the ability to make alliances (for CP players only) and more. When you bring up the menu, you will find the following…

Rank

Club Pogo players will see their small rank icon and rank number. Moving the cursor over the rank area will bring up another window showing your progress towards the next rank.

Military Advisor

You may turn the Military Advisor on/ off if you are a Club Pogo member and this feature is enabled.

Honor Rating

This is a representation of your loyalty rating in honoring alliances. All players start at 100.

Your Alliances

If you have any alliances, these will be communicated through colored squares on the menu.

Your Cards

Your cards will be shown here, face up. Other players who look at your menu will see the cards facing down.

Current Standings

You will see the current standings of all the players which are broken down into army units, territories, and cards held. Note that armies are the most important criteria for who is ahead. To get a breakdown of the units, territories, and cards move the cursor over a player name and it will bring up another window.

Opponent Menus

You can view your opponents' menus the same way you would your own. When you view their menus, you will find a truncated version of your menu, but you will also find the ability to offer an Alliance if you and they are Club Pogo members. This is covered in more detail in the "Club Pogo Extras" section.

Side Chat Area

In addition to the side chat, the side chat area has a few useful buttons…

Sound

You may toggle the sound on and off by clicking the speaker icon.

Stand

You may stand and let the computer play for you.

How to Play

Click on the question mark to access this mini-manual.

View History

Clicking on this button will bring up an html window that shows the moves players have made over the course of the game. This is useful if you are distracted, step away, or join a game in progress.

Switch to Modern/ Classic

Club Pogo Players may switch to an alternate theme by clicking on this button.