The Game of Life

[Baak]

OMG - that is the exact version we had! w00t!!

If you check out the photo (I've copied it so it won't vanish), you can see several other things I'm not sure were in later versions:

(1) Those are *real* cards - one of the photos I saw with plastic pieces almost looked like it had flimsy paper cards - yikes!

(2) Couple of things I remember from the map: the numbers around the edges show the armies received for controlling the "continents" - Asia was 7 - funny South America only 2!

(3) I remember those dolphins! Always thought the orange one was cool. It fits with the aqua one because of the SA and Africa colors.

(4) Not sure if this was the case in future versions, but didn't each card have either the Soldier, Calvaryman, or Cannon on it? And weren't there two "wild cards" that just had the three images on it? Cool to see them again.

(5) In the lower right you can see the multi-colored x10 pieces! Dang, if only we had a Blade Runner photo zoom device...

(6) Would be interesting to add Antarctica with connections to SA, Africa and Australia - worth 2 perhaps?

(7) Pink pieces were odd - always wanted purple pieces...

Fun stuff! Thanks for finding the photo VR!

[vinylrake]

Well, I don't have a TV technology quality photo zoomer that can increase the resolution of a photo beyond it's original resolution, but I did find this picture of the wood and newer plastic game pieces Apparently the wooden pieces are still available in the Euro version?

re: South America being only 2 troops - I was really thinking the values must have changed over time (maybe when they went from wood to plastic?) as I am almost positive the continent values for the smaller value continents were Australia=2, SouthAm=3, Africa=5, NorthAM=7(?), Europe ? and Asia was I think 9 - BUT I can't find any evidence of that and the little info I can find supports the SouthAm=2.

re: wild cards, yes. the set I knew had the wild cards (proof)

Oh, and just in case this coversation hasn't gotten geeky enough, here's some info about mathematical probabilities in Risk battles AND some interesting Risk "variations.

[Two Saks]

GREAT STUFF guys!!! Thank you both for the pics and comments. Love it.

The thing I remember about Risk was, a defender who was reasonably outnumbered (say 2-1) could get very HOT rolling 6's and take down the attacker pretty quick. It *did* fit the old must have at least 3-1 to safely be the attacker.

Those pink pieces were funky. When we played, It was the equivelent of wearing the scarlett letter if you got stuck with them ( we would play huge risk games every Thanksgiving with cousins, creating future tyrants no doubt) I do remember one such game where the pink player was kicking butt, and how strange it looked to see a sizeable part of the world ruled in pink.

Did either of you ever play AXIS and ALLIES?

It's a little risk like but a bit more complex, but still no where near the complexities of "squad leader" etc...

TS

[Baak]

VR!! You found a pic of the x10 wooden piece - OMG!!

Wow... I also glanced at the first RISK rules link you sent and there are some slightly different rules in there from when I played - including those new pieces (pictured above) that are Infantry, Calvary, and Artillery - each with values that you must use to interchange (funk!). And some neat game variations.

However, when trying to see how many armies bonus per continent, they refer you to a chart on the board itself - which is impossible to read! DOH!

But... if you refer to the "risk_uk.pdf" link you just gave, you'll see inside the number of bonus armies for South America is 2... But it could have changed between versions! (see first link below for History of RISK versions!)


Ok - I just had to see if there is an internet version of this game. I found one that looks a bit rough around the edges, but still neat to see (also it's a PC-only version) here (I'm always fascinated by finding stuff like this, especially since this link is in the Netherlands!).

But in the process I found the following links which are pretty cool (especially the last one):

History of RISK Versions
Comparing RISK to European games
RISK 2210 AD


TS: I think I played Axis and Allies just once. Was it played on a board that covered an entire table (a series of board sections like Squad Leader?). I seem to recall it used the classic square press-board pieces showing armies, but these were bigger than the ones made by that other game company (man, I want to remember the name of that company!!)...

You know, we can start separate threads in this Non-Myth Games category for each particular game. I'm planning on advertising this forum soon(tm) with additional public announcements, so we're likely to get much more traffic over time.


FLASH!! I did in fact find another PC game: RISK II

[vinylrake]

VR!! You found a pic of the x10 wooden piece - OMG!! :D

Yeah thanks to my l33t net skillz. ;)

Ok - I just had to see if there is an internet version of this game. I found one that looks a bit rough around the edges, but still neat to see (also it's a PC-only version)

Couldn't you just whip up a platform independent multiplayer net version in php? Maybe we could play it this weekend instead of playing Myth.

Actually - I went looking and found an (apparently) free Cross-platform risk game (called Lux) - you can try it out at http://sillysoft.net/download/. Maybe those of us on dialup who can't practically play Marathon online could play Risk on Marathon nights. ;) Old sk001 games r0kz!

press-board pieces showing armies, but these were bigger than the ones made by that other game company (man, I want to remember the name of that company!!)...

I remember Avalon Hill did a lot of strategy games back in the day, as did Games Workshop and I think FASA & Mayfair did too - the last two names are familiar but I can't think of anything they did offhand.

btw, there used to be a Mac network version of Risk floating around somewhere, a coworker and I used to play on the corporate LAN during lunchbreaks back in the early 90's. (1990's, not 1890's smartass)

And one more link for your game information addiction http://www.gamecaravan.com/boardgamesSearch.asp

[Lone Dorf]

VR, haven't you heard about all the Chess variants that fans of the game developed to make it more interesting?

My favorite is Pawn Snatch. It requires one of those wooden chess boards with the hinge in the middle, you know - the kind that lets you carry all the pieces inside. Basically, you turn the board upside down so half the board is flat on the table and the other half is at a 45 degree angle (in sort of a clamshell configuration). You put a pawn inside and the other guy has to try and snatch the pawn as quickly as possible. Your job is to snap the case shut before he can withdraw his hand. If you snap the case shut on his hand you win. If he fakes you out and you snap the case shut _before_ his hand enters the case, he gets to hit you on the side of the head with the wooden board. Once you've taken a couple hits to the side of the head it gets increasingly difficult to time your reactions, but it sure beats having a mangled hand like my friend Denny's.

A trick we used to play on newbies was to put a small dab of Super Glue on the bottom of the pawn and put in place, then we'd explain the rules real slow, just enough time for the glue to set, then start the game. Fun times.

[sillek]

Get on GR and play this with me O:
http://www.gameranger.com/games/?47


Lux sucks. ):

Deathground -published by Freeverse- was fun.

[vinylrake]

heh, never did play "Pawn Snatch". Other than playing "Chess Chicken" (2 players stand 8 paces away on either side of a chessboard and take turns throwing their chess pieces at the other person, after each person throws 2 pieces both players takes a step toward the chessboard(and each other). The first person to draw blood or get the other person to flinch or duck wins) The only variant I know (not being a very chess inclined person is an anti-chess variant we made up with in college to mess with my chess playing roommate's head. It worked because it used to drive him crazy - especially when we had our week long anti-chess tournament with brackets and leaderboard and everything.

Of course he was the kind of person who though Dr. Who (with Tom Baker) was "cheesy" so it wasn't too dificult to annoy him.

[Baak]

Heh - ask HedgeSnake about QuadraChess some time.