Risk: Black Ops - Why Mine Won't Hit eBay

On a (thankfully) lighter note, I mentioned a while back that I'd scored a copy of Risk: Black Ops, a game that just oozes cool out of every one of its tiny cardboard pores. I had a chance to play it a few weeks ago, and I was suitably impressed. This game is engaging, fast, light, and fun. It still maintains the general mechanics of Risk that will be familiar to anyone who's ever turtled in Australia, but it puts some significant spins on those mechanics and adds a few new tweaks. The result is - well, frankly, it's excellent. What I've found interesting, though, is the small number of copies that have started to hit eBay. I've been following the auctions, mostly out of a sense of curiosity but perhaps with an eye towards persuasion - what price would copies of this command, given that there are a mere 1,000 in existence? And would it be enough to convincer me to part with mine? Well, I wasn't disappointed - the first round of auctions closed over the weekend, with each one ending over $500. Two months ago, if you'd have told me that I'd be holding in my hands a copy of Risk valued at over $500, I'd have probably laughed at you, but here we are.

Still, mine won't hit the auction block, at least not yet. I'm enough of a collector to know that if I dump this copy, then I can forget about ever getting my hands on one again. And I do think it's worth keeping, even if Risk has been long surpassed by others on my list of favorite games. This version is simply stunning visually - it has an ultra-modern, minimalist approach that just works.

Ok, so it looks fantastic - how does it play? As I've already mentioned, it's an overwhelming improvement over original recipe Risk. If you've ever played the game, you're probably familiar with some of Risk's characteristic problems - it's too random, it's too dependent on dropping cards for a big army, it's too easy to get eliminated, and overall, it's just too long. I'm happy to report that the new version fixes many of these flaws. The big changes:

• Objectives: Objectives are probably the biggest change. There are eight objectives available for each game, ranging from things like "Conquer North America" to "Control two of your opponent's capitals" to "Capture at least ten territories in one turn". Completing an objective will award you with a bonus, such as an extra die for attack or defense or a free movement during your turn. Also, completing three objectives wins the game.
• Capitals and Cities: Cities are placed randomly at the start of the game. When determining the number of troops that are drafted at the beginning of a turn, each city counts towards the total territories controlled (in other words, it's now territories plus cities instead of just territories). This essentially doubles the strategic value of territories with a city. Also, each capital adds one to your total (in other words, capitals count as three territories for determining number of troops). This means that every game will be different because the map changes by virtue of city and capital placement.
• Cards: Cards now show either one or two stars. No more collecting sets - you can trade cards in at any time, receiving an amount of troops proportional to the number of stars on the cards. This means that there's no longer a strategic advantage to being the last player to turn in cards.

The net effect of these changes is to make the game much more aggressive. Players will have to attack and take territories, and the rewards for doing so are significant. More aggressive play, plus the addition of the objectives, results in a much tighter, fast-paced game that can realistically be played in 60-90 minutes.

A new retail version will be published this summer using these same rules. If you're at all a fan of Risk, and especially if you've played and enjoyed any of the variants (2210, Star Wars, etc), then I recommend giving this one a try - even if you can't get your hands on the uber-cool Black Ops version. For my buddies and I, it's transformed Risk from a game that would always get preempted by something more meaty to something that can serve as a quite satisfying warmup to, say, War of the Ring. Risk is finally back in my rotation.

Technorati Tags: games, risk black ops

I'm back - what an insane couple of weeks. Thanks to everyone who shared thoughts and prayers - it was appreciated, even if I haven't been in the frame of mind to say so. We're starting to get back to normal, or at least a semblance thereof. I don't think that we'll ever quite be the same after this. Two weeks ago I had one of the worst experiences of my life, and I suppose that what's starting to happen is that I'm adapting my perception of normal.

Well, anyway - enough about that. We still have questions that need to be answered; we don't even know the baby's gender yet. Hopefully we'll have those in the next few weeks and gain at least some sense of closure around this whole mess. It's been utterly surreal - two weeks ago we were still trying to decide on names.

It's been a long week. We learned Tuesday that we lost the baby. We're in complete shock - there was no indication that anything was wrong. I'll be away from the blog for a bit - please pray for us in this difficult time.

Entertainment and the Suburban Condition

Finally (!) delving back into Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone, I want to dig into a phenomenon that Putnam argues is the most significant shaping influence in terms of social capital in modern American life - namely, electronic forms of entertainment and, specifically, television. This particular chapter of the book is both enlightening and depressing, if not entirely surprising. Putnam offers devastating analysis and commentary that relentlessly links television with civic disengagement in measure after measure. In conclusion, he writes:

Americans at the end of the twentieth century were watching more TV, watching it more habitually, more pervasively, and more often alone, and watching more programs that were associated specifically with civic disengagement (entertainment, as distinct from news). The onset of these trends coincided exactly with the national decline in social connectedness, and the trends are most marked among the younger generations that are...distinctively disengaged. Moreover, it is precisely those Americans most marked by this dependence on televised entertainment who were most likely to have dropped out of civic and social life - who spent less time with friends, were less involved in community organizations, and were less likely to participate in public affairs. (p. 246)

I suppose I should be clear that what Putnam is discussing here -and in the book generally speaking - is not in any way isolated to suburbanites. Obviously the influence of electronic media pervades all demographics and communities in our society. Putnam, in fact, relates a story from a town in northern Canada where, due to a topological anomaly, television signals were unavailable until the mid-1970's. This community was studied alongside two neighboring communities that had ready access to television signals. Once television became available, this community demonstrated an immediate, measurable decline in residents' participation in community activities. The other two communities were used as a control to demonstrate that the only variable in play was, in fact, television.

But my concern is specifically with the way in which electronic media interact with suburban culture. I'm convinced that there is a reciprocal relationship between the isolating effects of suburban geography, the counter-competent effects of chronic outsourcing, and the demotivating effects of electronic entertainment. Put simply - these three elements of suburban life reduce the ability, desire, and personal connections needed to make meaningful change in ourselves and our communities. An example perhaps will help to clarify what I mean - take sports, basketball for instance, something that I used to play regularly with friends in high school and college. I haven't played basketball in years, and if I thought of starting again, I'd face three hurdles: it's easier to get my basketball "fix" by flipping over to ESPN, lack of play has atrophied my skills (such as they were), and I don't know anyone else in my neighborhood who would like to get together for a few hoops. There it is - isolation, outsourcing, and entertainment all combine to keep me off the courts. And if I wanted to translate this into the area of Christian faith - well, I don't think I'd have much difficulty, would I?

But here's what I'm currently starting to wonder - would a change in one of these categories be enough to overcome the inertia that keeps me in a rut (in any particular area of my life, but faith in particular) and push me forward towards action? That's the question that I want to take up next.

Technorati Tags: Bowling Alone, suburbs, entertainment