Fun is the name of the game at the 2002 Risk Tournament. Keith, the GM, enthusiastically greets the crowd and encourages a good time be had by all the players. Keith wears his well-known purple hat and the new addition of a
Maryland tie tied around the hat.

Attendance is up over 50% as Risk hits a new record of 45 players.We see the return of Steve Dickson, the 2001 WBC champion and Craig Melton, the 2000 WBC Champion. Finalists from previous years, Tom Agustino, Matt Evinger, Alan Hayes, Tito Lightburn, Bill O'Neal, and Bill Place, return for another shot at the wood. The first heat sees five boards with six players each and one with five players for a total of 35 wouldbe conquerors. The second heat sees two boards of six players and four boards of five for a total of 32. Due to the large turnout, only players with at least one win and who play in both rounds have a chance of advancing to the final. Turn order options in the final were seeded according to tournament advancements. Finalists were also given color choices and a selection of a stack of Risk cards for initial troop placement according to tournament seeding.

The final consists of Scott Fenn with two wins in the preliminary heats, Tom Stokes advances with a first and second, Robert Paul, James Long and Phil Rennart all advance with a first and third. Bill Place becomes the only returning previous finalist to advance twith a first and fourth.

Scott starts the final off by sweeping through Africa, capturing the continent and securing it with about four armies on the borders. James sweeps through South America and guards the borders with five armies. Thomas has a large force of all his armies in China and just takes one territory for his Risk Card. Phil has one large force in Central America and takes one territory. Robert lays claim to Australia and guards the border with twelve units. Bill has one large contingent of troops in Alaska and takes one space. Players stress friendly moves and attacks so as not to make enemies too quickly.

In the second round all players take one territory and those with continents reinforce their borders. In Round 3, James negotiates peace with Phil along the Central America and Venezuelan borders of North and South America. This negation gives Phil the freedom to sweep through North America and holds the borders of Alaska with six, Greenland with two and Central America with two Armies. Thomas negotiates peace with Bill, who now has his one large force of twelve in Yakutz. Bill attacks Robert in Irtursk, rolling poorly and loses extra forces.

In Round 4, James renegotiates his peace treaty with Phil saying Phil has to commit more forces to defend Central America in order for him to hold up his end of the peace treaty. Robert turns in the first set of cards of four armies and places them with his other troops in Siam giving him 22 armies. He decides to attack Thomas in China in an attempt
to remove him from the game. He is successful and takes Thomas' four cards for a total of five cards. Bill turns in the second set so he is not a target for the other players and receives six armies. Bill moves what forces he has left to Siberia to try to stay out of everyone's way.

In Round 5: Scott turns in for eight armies and reinforces the Middle East and Southern Europe. James turns in his set for ten armies and reinforces Great Britain. James with a large force in Great Britain and in Venezuela decides to ignore
Phil who is quietly amassing large forces in North America by getting five extra armies per turn. Phil just takes one territory for a card. Robert turns in a set for twelve armies and decides to eliminate Bill. Robert rolls below average and Bill rolls incredibly well, fending off Robert's attack, but leaving him with only nine armies. In Round 6, Scott decides to try to finish what Robert started. Bill again rolls extremely well on defense and Robert just barely eliminates him with only two armies to spear. Phil trades a set for 15 armies. places them in Alaska with his other forces and proceeds to take Robert out of play. He gets three cards for his booty.

Scott turns in the next set for 20 armies in Round 7. He places some of his new forces in the Ukraine in an attempt to break the North America continent from Phil, but fails because he split off too many of his initial extra forces in Afghanistan. James turns in a set for 25 armies. Heavy negotiations take place amongst the three remaining players.
Phil agrees to not use his forces to attack James but instead will use five forces to attack Scott and will try to break the African continent as well, if James leaves North America in Phil's possession. Again, James mistakenly decides not to attack Phil. Phil has a matched set and turns in for 30 armies plus 13 more for his board position. Phil thinks he will be unable to remove Scott from the game, breaks the agreement with James and does not attack Africa.

Scott takes one territory in Round 8. James plans hinge on whether Phil has a matched set amongst his four cards. Again James does not attack Phil. (Three times a charm, I always say.) Phil does have a matched set of cards and turns in for 35 plus eight for board position and places all his men in Kamchatka. Scott is the object of all this attention. Scott rolls very well in the initial battles, but Phil's armies overpower him. With Scott's four cards, Phil now has six. In the final round James decides to try and remove as many of Phil units as possible. (A little too late now I would think.) On Phil's turn he reveals two-matched sets for 85 armies were he to turn them in. James concedes the game to Phil and spares them both carpel tunnel injuries from the resulting dice battles that would ensue.

For a dedicated weekend of RISK play, check out the official RISK championships at http://www.risktoc.org