13 votes

Mathematician and game enthusiast Marcus du Sautoy discusses the iconic game of Risk

Posted by cfabbro
Tags: board games, risk, strategy, mathematics, topology, probability, dice, matrices.stochastic, markov chain, matrices.transition, interviews, marcus du sautoy, author.brady haran, videos, numberphile
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdooKXXcWWc

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Title
The Game of Risk - Numberphile
Authors
Numberphile
Duration
10:32
Published
Feb 6 2024

4 comments

  1. [4]
    NonoAdomo
    Link
    I saw this video this morning. It confirmed what we all already knew: Australia is super OP. No region should have one ingress like that. It really needs a second point of entry to balance it out.

    I saw this video this morning. It confirmed what we all already knew: Australia is super OP. No region should have one ingress like that. It really needs a second point of entry to balance it out.

    2 votes
    1. [3]
      cfabbro
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      ? He specifically said that "because of its isolation and the small number" Australasia is "never a good continent to occupy".

      ? He specifically said that "because of its isolation and the small number" Australasia is "never a good continent to occupy".

      7 votes
      1. [2]
        NonoAdomo
        Link Parent
        In a two player game, yes. In a multiplayer game? It's bonkers strong. It allows you to take advantage of the attackers bonus almost recklessly as you don't really have anywhere else to go and it...

        In a two player game, yes. In a multiplayer game? It's bonkers strong. It allows you to take advantage of the attackers bonus almost recklessly as you don't really have anywhere else to go and it makes you incredibly hard to root out

        2 votes
        1. cfabbro
          (edited )
          Link Parent
          "you don't really have anywhere else to go" is precisely the problem, I think. You only have one avenue of attack, whereas every other region has more connections, so the players there get more...

          "you don't really have anywhere else to go" is precisely the problem, I think. You only have one avenue of attack, whereas every other region has more connections, so the players there get more opportunities to take advantage of the attacker bonus.

          I imagine it is a bit situational though. If no other players hold a whole continent, and one player holds Australasia and a decent portion of Asia, that player probably does have a tiny advantage over everyone else. But unless that player can consolidate Asia before the other players consolidate any of the other continents, then they'll be at an overall disadvantage.

          4 votes