I played Risk a long time ago, more than twenty years back, when I was an Erasmus exchange student in Norway.
What always drew me to it was the what-if. What would the world look like if one power ended up controlling all of it?
Risk lets you play out that scenario in a harmless way, while you slowly take territory from the friends sitting around the table.
I have good memories of it. I just haven’t played it in a very long time.
That pull is worth keeping, and it is a common one. Risk is where a lot of people first met the idea that a board game could have a strategy in it: not just a track and a dice roll, but a map, a plan, and somebody across the table trying to stop you.
What usually does not survive is the clock. A Risk game asks for an evening, and a lot of that evening goes into carrying out fights you had already decided to pick.
So this is not a list of lighter games. Every game here is a strategy game. They just get to the strategy faster.
What you are actually looking for
Before the list, it helps to name what Risk gives you, because the replacement has to give you the same thing.
- A map you can read at a glance. You look at the board and you know who is winning and where the pressure is.
- A plan that survives more than one turn. You commit to a direction early and spend the game paying it off.
- Somebody in your way. The other players are not just scoring next to you, they are taking the thing you wanted.
- A position that gets stronger. Turn ten feels bigger than turn two.
What costs too much is the resolution. In Risk, the decision is made in a second and then takes ten minutes to carry out. Every game below flips that ratio: short turns, long consequences.
The shortlist
Player counts and play times are the publishers’ own figures.
| What it keeps from Risk | Play this | Players | Play time |
|---|---|---|---|
| A shared map, and the conflict your group brings | Carcassonne | 2 to 5 | 30 to 45 min |
| Territory, plus a race | Ticket to Ride | 2 to 5 | 30 to 60 min |
| Territory, plus deal making | Catan | 3 to 4 | 60 to 90 min |
| A position that compounds | Splendor | 2 to 4 | 30 min |
| A plan you commit to early | Azul | 2 to 4 | 30 to 45 min |
| Pure strategy, zero luck | Santorini | 2 to 4 | 20 min |
| A real decision every turn | Sushi Go Party! | 2 to 8 | 30 min |
If what you want is territory on a map
These three put a board in front of everyone. They are the closest thing here to the Risk evening, though how much you actually fight over the board is not the same in all three.
1. Carcassonne
Keeps: the map. Every tile you place changes the board everyone else is playing on, though whether that turns into people getting in your way depends on the table, not on the game.
You draw a tile from the bag and add it to a growing map of roads, cities and fields, then decide whether to claim what you just built with one of your figures.
Good for you if: You liked owning a region. A big city can flip the score, and it can absolutely be contested, as long as somebody at the table decides to contest it.
Skip if: You are counting on the game to supply the aggression for you. It gives people the opportunity and some of them will simply not take it.
My take: the pieces look simple, cardboard tiles and wooden meeples, and the end game tension is anything but. Two to four players is the sweet spot with just the base game.
What gets me every time is the second half, when I am trying to close a huge city and I genuinely do not know whether it is going to happen. The first few times, for me, it did not.
In my games, Carcassonne has two kinds of players.
Some just want to build their own city, their own part of the puzzle, and do nothing else.
Others are there to win, and if that means blocking someone else’s city, they will do it without a second thought.
So how much conflict you get depends less on the game and more on who is sitting at the table.
FOTO: el mapa a media partida, muy expandido
2. Ticket to Ride
Keeps: the map and the land grab, without the dice. You take the route you need before somebody else does.
You collect train cards by colour and spend them to claim routes between cities, connecting the destinations printed on the tickets in your hand.
Good for you if: You want a board that tells a story as it fills up, and a real sense of somebody cutting you off.
Skip if: You wanted to attack people directly. The worst you can do here is take a route first.
My take: I only recently bought the physical copy, but I have played dozens of games, especially on Board Game Arena with my partner. The United States map is where I have lost the most.
Something I did not expect: I travel the map in my head while I build it. When I claim the two train cars between New York and Boston, I am picturing that trip. It is why the map stays with me after the game is over.
3. Catan
You settle an island, collect the resources your settlements touch, and trade with the other players for whatever the dice did not give you.
Good for you if: You want the closest replacement for the whole Risk evening. A map, expansion, negotiation, and a winner that is not obvious until late.
Skip if: Speed was the point. At 60 to 90 minutes this is by far the longest game here, and the base box is listed for 3 to 4 players, not more.
My take: still the reference point. I have only played it on Board Game Arena, never with a physical set of my own, so I will not tell you how the pieces feel.
Board Game Arena is what turned Catan into the game keeping my partner and my best friend connected while living half a continent apart.
If what you want is a position that gets stronger
No map in these two. What they keep is the other half of Risk: the feeling of turn ten being much bigger than turn two.
4. Splendor
Keeps: the snowball. Everything you buy makes the next thing cheaper, so an early plan pays off for the whole game.
You collect gem tokens and spend them on cards, and those cards act as permanent discounts on the cards you buy later.
Good for you if: The part of Risk you liked was building up until you could afford the move you had been waiting for.
Skip if: You want conflict. Nobody takes anything from you here except the card you were saving up for.
My take: simple to learn and surprisingly hard to find a winning strategy for. I have played dozens of games with my partner plus a good number on Board Game Arena.
When I pay close attention to the nobles I seem to lose, and when I forget they exist it goes better.
FOTO: un imperio de cartas a media partida
5. Azul
Keeps: commitment. You choose a shape for your board early and then spend the game trying to actually get there.
You take coloured tiles from shared displays onto your own board, completing rows without picking up tiles you cannot place.
Good for you if: You liked the long game. The rulebook pays 2 points per completed row, 7 per completed column and 10 for each colour you place all five of, and all of that lands at the end.
Skip if: You wanted to see the whole battlefield. Everyone builds their own board and only the shared displays connect you.
My take: calm, elegant and easy to teach. It has been in my collection for years and it is a sure winner when very different people are at the table. It still gets competitive if the players are inclined that way.
If what you want is pure strategy with no luck at all
This is the one to reach for if your real complaint about Risk was the dice.
6. Santorini
Keeps: the head to head, with the randomness removed entirely. There is no hidden information and nothing to roll.
Two players build a Greek island upward, block by block, each trying to get one of their builders onto the third level.
Good for you if: You want the shortest game here that still makes you think properly. Roxley lists 20 minutes.
Skip if: You need to seat four or five people and keep them all involved.
My take: a game I am still waiting to play in person. I have only played it on Board Game Arena, against strangers, so I will not comment on the physical components. The god powers seem counterintuitive at first and essential a few turns later.
If what you want is a decision every single turn
Risk has long gaps where you watch other people resolve fights. This one has none at all.
7. Sushi Go Party!
Keeps: the pressure of choosing, minus the waiting. Everyone picks at the same moment, so there is no turn order to sit through.
You keep one card from your hand, pass the rest to your neighbour, and repeat. The dishes you collect score in different ways at the end of each round.
Good for you if: The people you play with drift off during long turns. Nobody drifts off here.
Skip if: You want a plan that lasts the whole game. This one is decided in short bursts.
My take: the game that almost never fails. My own original copy is actually Sushi Go, my brother’s version. Most people fall for the little dishes and never notice they are drafting at all.
What I deliberately left off this list
Three of the ten games on this site are not here, and it is worth saying why rather than padding the list.
- Codenames and Dixit are excellent, and neither is a strategy game. They are word and image games. If that is what you are after, they are in the beginner hub.
- Munchkin has the conflict, but Steve Jackson Games lists one to two hours for it, so it does not solve the problem this article is about. I also do not own it and have not played it.
Start here if you only buy one
- You want the Risk evening, done better: Catan. It is still the long one, but every minute of it is a decision.
- You want a map and you want to be home by ten: Ticket to Ride for a calm race, or Carcassonne if your group is the sort that will fight over the same ground.
- Your real problem was the dice: Santorini. No luck in it at all.
- You mostly play two players: Splendor or Azul.
What to read next
- Easy board games for beginners, the main hub, with all ten games in more depth.
- What to play after Monopoly, if the people you play with have the opposite complaint: too much luck, not too much time.
- Carcassonne in the hub, the closest thing here to a shared map.
- The best Carcassonne expansions, once the base game stops being enough.
How this article was written
Player counts and play times come from the publishers. Where I could not confirm a detail in a rulebook or on a publisher page, I left it out.
I own physical copies of Azul, Carcassonne, Splendor and Sushi Go Party!, and I have played all four with real people. I also own Ticket to Ride, but the box is still unopened and I have only played it on Board Game Arena.
Catan and Santorini I have only played on Board Game Arena, never on a table in front of me. Munchkin I do not own and have not played at all.
My own history with Risk is at the top of this article. The short version is that it was more than twenty years ago, so nothing here leans on my memory of how Risk actually plays.
Using the Amazon links in this article helps me keep working on Board Game Newbie, at no extra cost to you.