Scrabbleshipopolyrisk
Scrabbleshipopolyrisk (or Scrabbleship-Riskopoloy) is a combination game that is itself composed out of two other combination games: Riskopoly and Scrabbleship. It is a relatively untested game, made for reasons (because we could) and featured in one of our early comics. It is also probably a huge waste of time, and, like most wastes of time, improved by alcohol. We'll go over each of these games (Riskopoly and Scrabbleship) and then talk about how to combine them.
Riskopoloy
It turns out someone else thought of this at some point in the past and attached some sort of copyright to it. Or something. We are pleased to say that we came up with this idea independently but (as is so often the case) so did someone else, and quite a few years back too. Having looked over the game of Mr. Daniel M. Haley, we are further pleased to find that his game is, as Cody may have put it, not hardcore enough, by which of course he means "too simple." You may of course play Mr. Haley's version, and you may use his version as the respective component of ScrabbleshipRiskpopoly. It will be easier to some degree, especially if you only have one Risk board and one Monopoly board. But our flavor of the game is, while probably only slightly more complex, makes for a longer, more ridiculous, more absurd game, the kind you might find if you were to read one of our earlier documentations of one such an evening.
Players set up both the Risk board and the Monopoly board as usual, as if each player were playing both a game of Risk and a Game of Monopoly. For convenience, set the boards up side-by-side on a smooth playing surface.
Players play a round of Monopoly, in which each player takes a turn, and then play a round of Risk, then a round of Monopoly, then Risk, etc.
Refer to each game's respective rules to govern disputes, except where Riskopoly rules contradict them.
For the Monopoly board, instead of rolling a 2d6 for movement, a player may elect to roll 2d10 instead, or pay $20 to roll 1d20 for this turn only, and only once.
You may not, no matter how much you pay, roll additional dice in a turn, and you cannot pay for re-rolls, you dirty cheater.
Note that rolling higher will get you further around the board, but may not get you specific properties.
The two games interact as follows:
During each player's Monopoly turn, that player may, in addition to making deals concerning all things on the Monopoly board, make deals with all things concerning the Risk board. Anything goes.
Also during each player's Monopoly turn, and only then, that player may purchase armies on the Risk board.
1 army costs $10.
Armies may also be traded in for $5, backwards, during the Risk turn, and only then (therefore you cannot liquidate your armies to pay a tax or something on your Monopoly turn, but you could, I suppose, do it pre-emptively).
Each time a player passes Go, that player collects an additional $5 for each territory he controls, and 10 times his "continent bonus" (for example, a player who controls all of Asia receives an additional $70, just as one who controls South America would gain $20. If a player controls three or less territories, that player instead collects currency at the following rate:
3 Territories - $50
2 Territories - $75
1 Territories - $100
And that's pretty much it.
Technical Notes: Anything that puts a limit on purchasables (number of armies physically available, number of houses or hotels available, etc., is totally bull and should be ignored. You are encouraged to purchase and maintain as many houses and hotels you can afford, and as many armies as you can make.
Income tax doesn't factor in the net worth of your armies.
Victory conditions:
1) A player who conquers the entire Risk board, or up to 4/5ths of the Risk board, is considered the global ruler and assumes ownership of all financial realms, i.e., the Monopoly board, and is considered the winner.
2) A player who, via the Monopoly board, bankrupts all other players has removed all funding from the military and gains total financial rule over the entirety of the world, and is thereby considered the winner.
A player who loses his last territory no longer has presence on the Risk board, but retains his Monopoly pieces and currency.
A player who becomes bankrupt on the Monopoly board loses his presence on said board, but may continue to utilize his Risk pieces. However, having no financial backing, he no longer receives reinforcements of any kind, even ones that would be given out solely by the Risk board itself. That player may then play his remaining forces out across the board, but once he loses them, he is defeated from the Risk board as well.
Once again, deals of ANY KIND may be honored, no matter how strange or crazy they may see. This extends to the point that, for example, a player who has lost all his presence on the Monopoly board and plays solely on the Risk board may be "hired" as a mercenary by a financial power on the Monopoly board, and the Monopoly player may award the Risk player ownership of one or more pieces of property, thereby returning that player to the Monopoly game. This is an example of how players who have been defeated on one board may return to play, and works both ways between both boards.
Team play is possible, though un-tested as of now.
Scrabbleship
Scrabbleship is an extremely simple game in principle, though the setup is tricky and we have not found a perfect way to do this.
Basically, players need to key their Scrabble board and Battleship board to one another, so that the Scrabble board and Risk board are synced, as far as grids are concerned. The simplest way is to "shrink" the size of the Scrabble board so it matches the grid of a Battleship board, but it makes for a far more enjoyable game to create a custom Battleship board somehow that is as big as a Scrabble board. Especially in the latter case, we feel it is best to deal out extra Scrabble tiles and extra ships, but this part is very much untested.
Players take turns building words on the Scrabble board. Each time a word is put down, each opponent checks his Battleship board to see if the created word overlaps any of his ships in any way. For each square overlapped, put a "hit" on each Battleship underneath.
Basically, you shoot at the Battleships by laying down words over them in the Scrabble realm. Yes, this does mean it will be possible to take out entire ships or multiple ships at once.
Two exceptions to normal Scrabble play:
You do not NOT need to place Scrabble words staring on the center, nor do any placed words need to be connected. You're trying to hit battleships. You CAN connect Scrabble words, but you could just as soon place a word somewhere else on the board, unconnected by any other words.
Second, if you spell "SCRABBLE," you gain $500.
This is pretty simple.
Putting It All Together
So now it's a simple matter of showing how Scrabbleship is related to Riskopoly. Set up both of these hybrid games next to one another.
Play Riskopoly as normal, taking a Monopoly round, then a Risk round, but then take a Scrabbleship round, and then repeat. Inactive players (who aren't doing anything during other player's turns) are encouraged to prepare their words so that the Scrabbleship round goes quickly.
Alternatively, you may have players take all of their turns in a round: Player 1 takes a Risk turn, then his Monopoly turn, then his Scrabbleship turn; then player 2 takes all of his turns, etc. This makes for a much longer, much more boring game, but can work with a small number of people.
How Riskopoly and Scrabbleship work together:
At the end of each Scrabbleship turn, place a marker for each of your Battleships on the Risk board. Place them anywhere on the map, but place them off-shore, and designate a territory that they are "aiding." (We use the Axis-and-Allies battleships, but you can use pen-and-paper cut-outs too)
That battleship will be laying down fire on that area, providing a bonus die in combat, both offensively or defensively.
You can target a territory you control; the battleship will provide a bonus die on the defense if that territory is attacked.
You can target a territory you don't control; the battleship will provide a bonus die to your offense if you were to invade that territory.
Note that this is a bonus, and not something the ship does on its own. If you have no armies on that territory, the battleship cannot somehow attack on its own.
Note also that though the battleship provides dice, it never actually becomes part of the combat, so it can't be destroyed by opposing Risk pieces. It's merely a bonus to the designated area.
You can destroy the battleships by way of Scrabbling, though.
So that's basically it.
In a nutshell, you play Riskpopoly and attempt to meet the Riskopoly win conditions, but you use battleships to help give you the edge in Risk combat. If you want to sink the other person's ships and deny them that bonus, then you best be makin' some words on the Scrabble board.
It seems overwhelming a bit at first (maybe), but should provide hours of enjoyment and nonsense (literally, hours, maybe days, depending on your group's general savviness.
This game is recommended for three to five players. More than that, we don't know.
Feel free to alter and tweak these rules, as they are extensively un-tested and for the sake of ridiculosity rather than balance.
An example of a house rule employed in the comic version was,
"Each time a player passes GO, he takes a shot."
Have fun! We would love to hear any feedback or experiences you've had from playing this game. Drop us a line on social media, or email us!
It turns out someone else thought of this at some point in the past and attached some sort of copyright to it. Or something. We are pleased to say that we came up with this idea independently but (as is so often the case) so did someone else, and quite a few years back too. Having looked over the game of Mr. Daniel M. Haley, we are further pleased to find that his game is, as Cody may have put it, not hardcore enough, by which of course he means "too simple." You may of course play Mr. Haley's version, and you may use his version as the respective component of ScrabbleshipRiskpopoly. It will be easier to some degree, especially if you only have one Risk board and one Monopoly board. But our flavor of the game is, while probably only slightly more complex, makes for a longer, more ridiculous, more absurd game, the kind you might find if you were to read one of our earlier documentations of one such an evening.
Players set up both the Risk board and the Monopoly board as usual, as if each player were playing both a game of Risk and a Game of Monopoly. For convenience, set the boards up side-by-side on a smooth playing surface.
Players play a round of Monopoly, in which each player takes a turn, and then play a round of Risk, then a round of Monopoly, then Risk, etc.
Refer to each game's respective rules to govern disputes, except where Riskopoly rules contradict them.
For the Monopoly board, instead of rolling a 2d6 for movement, a player may elect to roll 2d10 instead, or pay $20 to roll 1d20 for this turn only, and only once.
You may not, no matter how much you pay, roll additional dice in a turn, and you cannot pay for re-rolls, you dirty cheater.
Note that rolling higher will get you further around the board, but may not get you specific properties.
The two games interact as follows:
During each player's Monopoly turn, that player may, in addition to making deals concerning all things on the Monopoly board, make deals with all things concerning the Risk board. Anything goes.
Also during each player's Monopoly turn, and only then, that player may purchase armies on the Risk board.
1 army costs $10.
Armies may also be traded in for $5, backwards, during the Risk turn, and only then (therefore you cannot liquidate your armies to pay a tax or something on your Monopoly turn, but you could, I suppose, do it pre-emptively).
Each time a player passes Go, that player collects an additional $5 for each territory he controls, and 10 times his "continent bonus" (for example, a player who controls all of Asia receives an additional $70, just as one who controls South America would gain $20. If a player controls three or less territories, that player instead collects currency at the following rate:
3 Territories - $50
2 Territories - $75
1 Territories - $100
And that's pretty much it.
Technical Notes: Anything that puts a limit on purchasables (number of armies physically available, number of houses or hotels available, etc., is totally bull and should be ignored. You are encouraged to purchase and maintain as many houses and hotels you can afford, and as many armies as you can make.
Income tax doesn't factor in the net worth of your armies.
Victory conditions:
1) A player who conquers the entire Risk board, or up to 4/5ths of the Risk board, is considered the global ruler and assumes ownership of all financial realms, i.e., the Monopoly board, and is considered the winner.
2) A player who, via the Monopoly board, bankrupts all other players has removed all funding from the military and gains total financial rule over the entirety of the world, and is thereby considered the winner.
A player who loses his last territory no longer has presence on the Risk board, but retains his Monopoly pieces and currency.
A player who becomes bankrupt on the Monopoly board loses his presence on said board, but may continue to utilize his Risk pieces. However, having no financial backing, he no longer receives reinforcements of any kind, even ones that would be given out solely by the Risk board itself. That player may then play his remaining forces out across the board, but once he loses them, he is defeated from the Risk board as well.
Once again, deals of ANY KIND may be honored, no matter how strange or crazy they may see. This extends to the point that, for example, a player who has lost all his presence on the Monopoly board and plays solely on the Risk board may be "hired" as a mercenary by a financial power on the Monopoly board, and the Monopoly player may award the Risk player ownership of one or more pieces of property, thereby returning that player to the Monopoly game. This is an example of how players who have been defeated on one board may return to play, and works both ways between both boards.
Team play is possible, though un-tested as of now.
Scrabbleship
Scrabbleship is an extremely simple game in principle, though the setup is tricky and we have not found a perfect way to do this.
Basically, players need to key their Scrabble board and Battleship board to one another, so that the Scrabble board and Risk board are synced, as far as grids are concerned. The simplest way is to "shrink" the size of the Scrabble board so it matches the grid of a Battleship board, but it makes for a far more enjoyable game to create a custom Battleship board somehow that is as big as a Scrabble board. Especially in the latter case, we feel it is best to deal out extra Scrabble tiles and extra ships, but this part is very much untested.
Players take turns building words on the Scrabble board. Each time a word is put down, each opponent checks his Battleship board to see if the created word overlaps any of his ships in any way. For each square overlapped, put a "hit" on each Battleship underneath.
Basically, you shoot at the Battleships by laying down words over them in the Scrabble realm. Yes, this does mean it will be possible to take out entire ships or multiple ships at once.
Two exceptions to normal Scrabble play:
You do not NOT need to place Scrabble words staring on the center, nor do any placed words need to be connected. You're trying to hit battleships. You CAN connect Scrabble words, but you could just as soon place a word somewhere else on the board, unconnected by any other words.
Second, if you spell "SCRABBLE," you gain $500.
This is pretty simple.
Putting It All Together
So now it's a simple matter of showing how Scrabbleship is related to Riskopoly. Set up both of these hybrid games next to one another.
Play Riskopoly as normal, taking a Monopoly round, then a Risk round, but then take a Scrabbleship round, and then repeat. Inactive players (who aren't doing anything during other player's turns) are encouraged to prepare their words so that the Scrabbleship round goes quickly.
Alternatively, you may have players take all of their turns in a round: Player 1 takes a Risk turn, then his Monopoly turn, then his Scrabbleship turn; then player 2 takes all of his turns, etc. This makes for a much longer, much more boring game, but can work with a small number of people.
How Riskopoly and Scrabbleship work together:
At the end of each Scrabbleship turn, place a marker for each of your Battleships on the Risk board. Place them anywhere on the map, but place them off-shore, and designate a territory that they are "aiding." (We use the Axis-and-Allies battleships, but you can use pen-and-paper cut-outs too)
That battleship will be laying down fire on that area, providing a bonus die in combat, both offensively or defensively.
You can target a territory you control; the battleship will provide a bonus die on the defense if that territory is attacked.
You can target a territory you don't control; the battleship will provide a bonus die to your offense if you were to invade that territory.
Note that this is a bonus, and not something the ship does on its own. If you have no armies on that territory, the battleship cannot somehow attack on its own.
Note also that though the battleship provides dice, it never actually becomes part of the combat, so it can't be destroyed by opposing Risk pieces. It's merely a bonus to the designated area.
You can destroy the battleships by way of Scrabbling, though.
So that's basically it.
In a nutshell, you play Riskpopoly and attempt to meet the Riskopoly win conditions, but you use battleships to help give you the edge in Risk combat. If you want to sink the other person's ships and deny them that bonus, then you best be makin' some words on the Scrabble board.
It seems overwhelming a bit at first (maybe), but should provide hours of enjoyment and nonsense (literally, hours, maybe days, depending on your group's general savviness.
This game is recommended for three to five players. More than that, we don't know.
Feel free to alter and tweak these rules, as they are extensively un-tested and for the sake of ridiculosity rather than balance.
An example of a house rule employed in the comic version was,
"Each time a player passes GO, he takes a shot."
Have fun! We would love to hear any feedback or experiences you've had from playing this game. Drop us a line on social media, or email us!