Risk at Aaron’s

Funny that I wrote a message earlier today entitled ‘MM at Risk’, because I went to play Risk at Aaron’s house today. This is a true Midnight Message again; it’s currently 12:39 AM.

After waking late and eating waffles, I went to Costo with my dad to pick up the frames for my new glasses. Then we went to Kaiser to order the lenses. To save money, we had decided to get the frames elsewhere, but still get the lenses from Kaiser because part of the cost is covered by insurance. We had lunch at home, and then I talked with Aaron online. (I’d forgotten the link to his blog, but I typed ‘Aaron Lin’ into Google Blog Search and found it straightaway.)

We worked on Web /PHP Stratego / Strategere for a couple hours, and I watched a little ‘Fear Factor’, and then I did some work before going to his house at 4 pm for Risk. I met Tim, Sam, and Larry, and we played a great game. Tim brought pizza, but I was impressed / surprised by how clean everything is at Aaron’s house. We ate the pizza in the kitchen and took a break from the game because we didn’t want to get anything dirty.

Secret Mission Risk was the mode of play due to the fact that it takes less time than World Domination. My mission was to conquer the continents of Africa and N. America – a mission I’ve often had in the past. So, technically I’m quite good at that mission now. I started in a good position: with some holdings in both N. America and Africa. I split roughly evenly between the two, with more emphasis on Africa because it is smaller with fewer entrances and therefore easier to conquer and defend.

Things didn’t go so well for me, but the other players were all new (other than Aaron). So they made many silly (or, less than perfect) decisions that I would have made differently. Risk really has a very strong element of strategy in it. Not only that, but I’ve increasingly noticed the aspect of Social Engineering. Yes, you have to influence the other players to win. Particularly in Secret Mission Risk. Perhaps I shouldn’t be posting this here: it’s giving you a tip in case you ever play against me. But hey, that’s part of the game. You can slip subtle hints and helpful suggestions to other players in many more ways than you would ever imagine. I think I’m somehow particularly good at this. Combined with the fact that I played, in my opinion, a flawless strategy and never made what I could call a ‘mistake’, my chances of winning any game of Risk are considerably higher than anyone else’s (not to boast). Those who think Risk is a game of luck are newbies: luck in fact is far smaller aspect than most people assume.

Needless to say, I won the game, but it was more difficult than might be anticipated. While other players made less-than-perfect moves (and certainly could have prevented me from meeting my goals, although whether they could have won themselves or would have just dragged the game on longer is questionable / debatable), they still stood strongly and put up a good opposition. I really like Risk. It just seems so conducive to my personality. And I think Duane would agree.