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RISK The Game On Google Maps

Posted by samzenpus on from the feeling-lucky dept.

axonis writes "ZenChi has created a Google Maps API project based on the popular board game RISK on Google Maps. While Zen is developing a multi-player version, you can play a game right now with others huddled around your computer."

60 of 241 comments (clear)

  1. Can Google maps get more geeky? by Trigun · · Score: 5, Funny

    Call Newman and Kramer. And can someone program an API to find my keys?

    1. Re:Can Google maps get more geeky? by Cave_Monster · · Score: 4, Funny
      And can someone program an API to find my keys?

      I had a look on google earth and when I zoomed in to the maximum, I noticed your keys are on your front lawn near that little garden gnome. You must have dropped them while walking from your car to your front door :)

    2. Re:Can Google maps get more geeky? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny
      Call Newman and Kramer.

      A game of world domination played by two guys who can barely run their own lives.

    3. Re:Can Google maps get more geeky? by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yes, they can.

      Enter your Google Earth search:
      [ Carmen Sandiego ]

      Your search returned no matches.

    4. Re:Can Google maps get more geeky? by nath_de · · Score: 2, Funny

      You live on the moon?

    5. Re:Can Google maps get more geeky? by corpsiclex · · Score: 2, Funny

      oh noes! i just saw some geeky looking guys with laptops drive up and snag em.

      --

      eBayDig 1s a typo saerch engien
    6. Re:Can Google maps get more geeky? by Legion303 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Your search for "where's waldo" around this map area did not match any locations.

      Suggestions:

              * Make sure all words are spelled correctly.
              * Try different keywords.
              * Try more general keywords.

    7. Re:Can Google maps get more geeky? by boazr · · Score: 2, Funny

      Call Newman and Kramer.

      A game of world domination played by two guys who can barely run their own lives.


      This applied to our world leaders as well, no?
      --
      cat ~/.sig
  2. There goes my life... by DogDude · · Score: 5, Funny

    As soon as this thing gets into online leagues, I'm afraid that my social life will be finished. This rocks.

    --
    I don't respond to AC's.
    1. Re:There goes my life... by Browncoat · · Score: 2, Funny

      What's a social life? Is it when a ton of people stand, sit, huddle and squat around a 15 inch monitor and play RISK? Cause if it is...well...mine's gone.

      --
      "Curse your sudden, but inevitable betrayal!"
    2. Re:There goes my life... by HoboMaster · · Score: 5, Funny

      Being as you're a poster on /., I'm calling BS on your use of future tense.

      --
      Remember kids, tin foil doesn't work, so use LeadHat.
  3. In Soviet Russia... by countchoc12 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Google API Project maps Risk on YOU!

    --
    In Soviet Russia, Soviet Russia jokes make YOU!
  4. Want to play a game, Professor Falken? by Argonne · · Score: 5, Funny

    With all the news about Google's great power these days, I know that when I play this I'll turn on CNN when I sent Alaskan forces against Kamchatka. On second thought, maybe not. I really don't want to have to hear George W. Bush try to pronounce "Irkutsk".

    1. Re:Want to play a game, Professor Falken? by Browncoat · · Score: 5, Funny
      Irk-tusk, Irk-utusk...I can only imagine the possibilities.

      It's WarGames, Google-style! I can see George Lucas' hamster wheel spinning. "The Google Wars"

      --
      "Curse your sudden, but inevitable betrayal!"
  5. That's Friggin Brilliant... by CptTripps · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...now does anyone remember how to play Risk?

    --


    My .sig can beat up your honor student.
    1. Re:That's Friggin Brilliant... by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 3, Insightful
      ...now does anyone remember how to play Risk?

      Yes, courtesy of Lux.

    2. Re:That's Friggin Brilliant... by Zenmonkeycat · · Score: 2, Funny
      Of course I remember how to play; I used to play Risk with my friends all the time when I was younger. First you pick what country happens to be the most "totally awsome." (I happen to prefer "the Russkies" because those guys from down the street always say that they're "retarded" and "gay," and that makes me empathize with the Soviet bloc.) Then, you make up some crazy rules (such as "No, you can't move there, because Australia is stupid,") spend about 30 minutes looking at all the weird cards, and finally get up and play with some GI-Joes, which are of course much cooler.

      In retrospect, my lack of understanding for the mechanics of the game could be attributed to the fact that I was only eight.

      --

      *****
      Dear Mary,
      I yearn for you tragically,
      A.T. Tappman, Chaplain, U.S. Army.

    3. Re:That's Friggin Brilliant... by patio11 · · Score: 4, Funny

      All I remember is owning Australia is key to world domination. You get to deploy your hordes of Crockodile Dundee, Jeff Corwin, and Mel Gibson in his before-he-got-religion period (well, OK, Passion is probably more violent than Thunderdome, but in a different way). And the beatdown commences.

      --
      Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.
    4. Re:That's Friggin Brilliant... by raoul666 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Basically, you just wait until everyone gets tired of it, then you knock down their pieces with yours. Some helpful hints:
      1. Take as long as possible deciding troop placement, using obscure algorithms
      2. To decide where to attack, make a large probability diagram with all possible outcomes
      3. Roll all dice one at a time, saying a short prayer over each one of them. In Elvish, if possible

      Using these, and other patent-pending ideas, World Domination(tm) can be yours!

      --
      When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl
    5. Re:That's Friggin Brilliant... by zxnos · · Score: 4, Interesting

      i always found that having the americas was key. only three avenues to be attacked from. then you can move into europe or africa while fortifying your position in the americas with bonus troops. just stay out of europe at the start if you want a chance.

      --
      always mosh clockwise
    6. Re:That's Friggin Brilliant... by fishbowl · · Score: 4, Informative

      "However, nothing beats the satisfaction of the good old cardboard + plastic style world domination."

      The good old set had counters made of *wood*, youngster.

      --
      -fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
    7. Re:That's Friggin Brilliant... by rjshields · · Score: 5, Funny
      The good old set had counters made of *wood*, youngster.
      Wood? You had wood? When I was a lad our counters were fashioned from dried turd.
      --
      In this world nothing is certain but death, taxes and flawed car analogies.
  6. Now for some robots.... by Roguelazer · · Score: 3, Funny

    Now all we need to do is combine this with giant Internet-guided robots and we'll be all set for World War

    --
    My Systems
  7. School by saskboy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I wonder if this would be a good way to encourage students to learn the geography they are so sorely lacking? What better way to learn where Uzbekistan is, than to invade Iran from it?

    --
    Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
    1. Re:School by Trigun · · Score: 4, Funny

      I hope that you've got luck on your side, because you should never start a land war in Asia.

    2. Re:School by Browncoat · · Score: 5, Funny

      You should also never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line. See? You can learn International Policy and Diplomacy from Princess Bride!

      --
      "Curse your sudden, but inevitable betrayal!"
    3. Re:School by NMerriam · · Score: 3, Funny

      I still think that Kamchatka doesn't exist, and that mapmakers just put it there because everyone KNOWS that's where it is supposed to be.

      --
      Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.
    4. Re:School by Danny+Rathjens · · Score: 5, Funny

      "War is God's way of teaching Americans geography."
                                  -- Ambrose Bierce

    5. Re:School by richdun · · Score: 4, Funny

      What better way to learn where Uzbekistan is, than to invade Iran from it?

      Damn CIA leaks...

    6. Re:School by wizrd_nml · · Score: 2, Funny
      I hope that you've got luck on your side, because you should never start a land war in Asia.

      It's obvious George Bush doesn't play risk, otherwise he would have invaded Australia first.

    7. Re:School by rxmd · · Score: 3, Informative
      What better way to learn where Uzbekistan is, than to invade Iran from it?
      I guess you haven't played enough, then :) Uzbekistan doesn't have a land border with Iran. Not that that's an absolute necessity for invasion, but it's usually considered a good idea. Afghanistan would be a better choice.
      --
      As a state gets corrupt, its laws multiply; the most corrupt states have the most numerous laws. (Tacitus, Annales 3:27)
    8. Re:School by TwistedSquare · · Score: 4, Funny

      Especially if you have troops stationed in Afghanistan already ;-)

    9. Re:School by hachete · · Score: 2

      No. Not Australia.

      "This is supposedly a true story from a recent Defence Science Lectures Series, as related by the head of the Australian DSTO's Land Operations/Simulation division."

      "They've been working on some really nifty virtual reality simulators, the case in point being to incorporate Armed Reconnaissance Helicopters into exercises (from the data fusion point of view). Most of the people they employ on this sort of thing are ex- (or future) computer game programmers. Anyway, as part of the reality parameters, they include things like trees and animals. For the Australian simulation they included kangaroos. In particular, they had to model kangaroo movements and reactions to helicopters (since hordes of disturbed kangaroos might well give away a helicopter's position)."

      "Being good programmers, they just stole some code (which was originally used to model infantry detachments reactions under the same stimuli), and changed the mapped icon, the speed parameters, etc. The first time they've gone to demonstrate this to some visiting Americans, the hotshot pilots have decided to get "down and dirty" with the virtual kangaroos. So, they buzz them, and watch them scatter. The visiting Americans nod appreciatively... then gape as the kangaroos duck around a hill, and launch about two dozen Stinger missiles at the hapless helicopter. Programmers look rather embarrassed at forgetting to remove *that* part of the infantry coding... and Americans leave muttering comments about not wanting to mess with the Aussie wildlife..."

      "As an addendum, simulator pilots from that point onwards avoided kangaroos like the plague, just like they were meant to do in the first place... "

      http://monster-island.org/tinashumor/humor/aussiew ild.html

      h

      p.s. I *know* this story is apocryphal...

      --
      Patriotism is a virtue of the vicious
  8. Shall we play a game? by oskard · · Score: 5, Funny

    Apparently the server was located in Quebec because as soon as I defeated the troops stationed there, the web site crashed.

    Wouldn't you prefer a good game of chess?

    --
    Sigs are for Terrorists.
  9. remember old school risk players by circletimessquare · · Score: 4, Interesting

    always start in australia ;-)

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:remember old school risk players by Malc · · Score: 3

      Nah, it gets boring always winning. Much more fun to try to win from Ukraine or Mongolia.

    2. Re:remember old school risk players by hackstraw · · Score: 3, Insightful

      australia

      Yeah, that was an easy way. However, you had to get a decent number of armies to shield yourself in Australia and grow that number at a constant rate to defend against attacks and store up for the charge across the World (or just be very patient).

      That is definitely the most conservative way to play, but there are many ways of defeating it.

    3. Re:remember old school risk players by fishbowl · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I'm trying to write an AI player for Risk. For placing armies and reinforcing borders, I've started with a heuristic approach that weighs the least number of fronts, the least continental fronts, the continent value, and maybe a continental affinity in the event of a tie. Depending on how you weigh the continent value against the number of continental borders, this always picks Japan or Argentina first, assuming the theatre is the original map.

      I'm thinking there must be a "one true" next correct territory to put a unit, regardless of how many ready units there are, what the current state of the map is, etc. Likewise for attacking. Right now my AIPlayer attacks anywhere he has 3 or mor troop strength regardless of the opposition (very stupid, I know :-)

      Trying to figure out this troop placement thing made me realize I don't actually have a working strategy as a human player. I've always basically just tried to get a connected map wherever my opponents weren't, or else just placed units randomly. But the more I look at it, the more I think the best early strategy is to take and hold South America. Trying to generalize the reasons for that strategy into something that would work for any map.

      --
      -fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
    4. Re:remember old school risk players by rcastro0 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Having played way more games of risk online on the web than Id care to admit I have rationalized the following principles as the usual strategy for playing with/against humans in the "conquer the world" usual rules. I think it describes very well the plot in most games among experienced risk players, and unfortunately for the sake of the fun it also means these games draag until someone loses their patience and either abandons the game right away or does it by breaking principle number 4 below.

      1) Pick a continent and signalize it as being yours, by concentrating troop deployment there. You can choose the region as the one where you have proportionally more starting territories, and where your opponents have few. This usually happens in the first (simultaneous) troop deployment cycle. If you are lucky, you will be the sole player claiming a continent. (this works for all continents except Asia).

      2) Most of the time prefer defense, and patience, instead of offense. If for instance someone else has a troop stack in the region you want, reinforce around it (except a single way out) and wait. Only make sure you grab a territory and a card every turn. The usual exception for the defense rule is opportunistic: if for instance you trade cards and believe you can grab and defend a territory, attack and definitely do it.

      3) When you are attacking (in ealy-mid game), pick one opponent to attack, try not to have two fronts. Do not stop attacking that opponent until he is out of the game, or completely disconnected from you on the map, as he may (being human) hold on only to screw you up at a critical point later. If a second front opens up early, however, consider immediately retreating your forces from your first targets territories, and concentrating all troops in defeding your base-continent.

      4) In mid to late game stages, be extremely careful when deciding to attack. It is very usual for end games to be a stale mate, with troops piling up and up and up among (tipically) three remaining players. In that scenario, the only strategy for winning is trying (hoping, waiting) not to be the first one being attacked nor the first one attacking, since those two will burn their troop piles among themselves leaving the third player with full forces to ride to the victory. If, in turn, you *are* attacked, in that stalemate scenario, then either close your border back, reinforce and wait, or go full force and try to hurt your attacker as much as you can (possibly at the same time opening up room for said third player, as having his favor may mean he will let you be the last one surviving before he conquers the world).

      5) It is interesting that if you are playing for points (and depending on the scoring system) then you can change from a strategy of domination to a strategy of survival, if you see you are falling behind in strength. That may mean putting all of your reinforcements in a single territory, and moving that pile to (usually) Asia. Then just wait and keep reinforcing. People will tend to avoid attacking you if your pile is large enough until the last thing they do in the game. And while they are not attacking you they may be attacking each other so much that they may get weak and leave you some room to aspire for domination. But be happy as you can almost always guarantee being the last survivor before the winner dominates the board.

      That sums it up... How is that for programming an AI Player ?

      --
      Quem a paca cara compra, paca cara pagará.
  10. Uh-oh by kramthegram · · Score: 4, Funny

    If Bush finds this game he'll be calling for an all out assult on the green guys attacking from Mexico, America needs that continental bonus for our troops in Iraq!

  11. Re:Talk about google infatuation by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Talk about a 0.1 alpha version. Give it time.

    GoogleRisk - 2010
    Played in realtime, lifesize, via mobile phone, in one or more major cities in each 'territory'.

    Risk is quite possibly the classic 'world war' game. A few hundred years of seasoning, and it may be equivalent to chess.

  12. Diplomacy by lamasquerade · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'd love to see a version of Diplomacy made to work the same way - that is my favourite boardgame of all time and I believe Risk is based on it. Diplomacy's major strength though is the lack of die - it's all strategy and negotiation, chance plays just about no role (the allocation of countries at the beginning being the only exception).

    --

    // It had been Fat's delusion for years that he could help people. --Philip K. Dick, Valis

  13. Hello Professor by Kortec · · Score: 3, Funny

    Hello Professor; would you like to play a game of Search Engine War?

    --
    "My heart is in the work." - Andrew Carnegie
  14. This would be fun... by Donniedarkness · · Score: 4, Funny
    If I had any friends to actually play with :(

    Isn't the purpose of the computer to replace them?! Then why are there no bots!

    --
    Earn a % of cash back from Newegg, Tiger Direct, Walmart.com, and more: http://www.mrrebates.com?refid=458505
  15. Re:Talk about google infatuation by lamasquerade · · Score: 5, Insightful
    You know I really wonder about comments like these. Is there some sort of negative Slashdot commenter's club that you join or are you guys just a bunch of unhappy people? I mean, someone goes out and creates something pretty cool, he/she announces it on a mailinglist for some feedback, and you just give this incredibly negative why-even-bother type comment. Not criticism either, no real points are raised, just a bashing of the effort. I just don't get it - why, in fact, do you bother?

    For the record I think it looks pretty cool and no doubt will only get better. Oh and as for making it on an API that 'clearly isn't meant to support such a game' - isn't that the hacking mentality? Go out and create something that wasn't even envisioned... just for fun!

    --

    // It had been Fat's delusion for years that he could help people. --Philip K. Dick, Valis

  16. Re:Talk about google infatuation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Not only is it single terminal only, but your forced to play..."

    Me fail English? That's unpossible.

  17. Re:Talk about google infatuation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful
    ...made on an api that clearly isnt meant to support such a game.

    That's exactly why it's cool! Don't you understand hack-value?

  18. GoogleEarth by emjoi_gently · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'd love a more dynamic api for GoogleEarth. At the moment it's fairly static. You can place things on the Earth, but you can't make them move. Too be able to have ICBMs flying between the US and the USSR, with little mushroom clouds....

  19. I'd love to see an Axis & Allies Google API by masterpenguin · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I think Axis and Allies would be another fun version of google maps. Hell if someone did a true to the board game port to Google Maps, it would be more fun than that pc game they put out a while ago (IMO of course).

    Are there any tutorials on how to play with google map's api?

  20. Re:a waste by Soporific · · Score: 2, Interesting

    What I think would be interesting is if you could take a section of say California and play with the city lines of your county or something to that effect. Or any country in the world for that matter. I think if you could incorporate that it might be more worthwhile.

    ~S

  21. That's nice, but I'll stick with warfish.net by Futaba-chan · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Well, it's pretty, and all... but warfish.net has a perfectly functional multiplayer play-over-the-web Risk implementation, using a stylized map, including several variants. The picture on the map doesn't matter nearly so much as the gameplay does....

  22. Crap. by Timewinder · · Score: 3, Funny

    C'mon now, I haven't even managed to finish the last game of RISK I started...

    It's been 3 weeks, dear god someone help me...

  23. Great Free Online Risk like game by mikapc · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Check out globalcombat.com , it is an excellent improved upon version of risk that I've played for years on and off. It is web based and allows multiplayer games of anywhere between 2 and 32 players. Turn rates can be anywhere from 1 minute to 72 hours. Check it out.

  24. Perfect by oncebitten · · Score: 5, Funny

    So now Rimmer can blog his Risk campaign book *and* play at the same time.

    Then again, he's too much of a smeg head to multitask like that.

  25. Hear that? by aspjunkie · · Score: 2, Funny

    What's that awful sound?
    The collective squeal of thousands of nerds in excitement of a Google/Risk mashup.

  26. Gentlemen! Grab your tin hats! by The+Philosophers+Cat · · Score: 2, Funny

    People dont be fooled! This isn't a game. . .

    It's Google's simulation

    . . .for world domination!!

    ARGHHH!!!! Run for the Hills!!

  27. Not very realistic... by areve · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...everybody knows New Zealand isn't on the real map.

  28. Gratuitous by CowboyRobot · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Using Google Maps is totally gratuitous here. Zooming in to get more detailed terrain actually inhibits gameplay rather than enhances it. A really good free, online, multiplayer game of this sort is Conqueror! - which is not Risk, but takes some of the ideas of Risk and Axis & Allies and uses them in the context of Medieval Europe.

    --
    every stain tells a story
  29. I can't resist... by markhb · · Score: 2, Funny

    Wouldn't you prefer a nice game of chess?

    --
    Save Maine's economy: write stuff down. All comments are exclusively my own, not my employer.
  30. Re:Talk about google infatuation by B1ackDragon · · Score: 3, Funny

    Are you familiar with the greater internet fuckwad theory?

    --
    The snow doesn't give a soft white damn whom it touches. -- ee cummings