OBJECTIVE: Be the first player to move all of your climbing meeples to the top of the mountain
NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2 – 4 players
MATERIALS: Mountain board, 16 climber meeples, 6 dice
TYPE OF GAME: Dice game
AUDIENCE: Ages 8+
OVERVIEW OF HIGH RISK
High Risk is a roll and move dice game for 2 – 4 players. In this game, each player is trying to get their entire climbing crew up to the top of the mountain. Movement is determined by the roll of the dice. Choose to play it safe and roll once, or push your luck and roll again to improve your turn. Be careful! Pushing your luck too far can cause your meeples to fall.
WHAT’S IN THE BOX
Out of the box, you get a mountain game board for the meeples to climb. There are sixteen climbing meeples that include four each of four different colors. High Risk also includes six proprietary dice used for movement along the climbing path.
SETUP
Place the mountain game board on the table so all players are able to reach it. Each player chooses which color of climbing meeple they wish to be. The number of meeples they start with depends on the number of players. If there are two players, start with four meeples. A three player game uses three meeples. A game with four players calls for two meeples per person. Finish setup by putting the dice near the mountain game board and choosing who will go first.
THE PLAY
Before beginning, it is important to understand the mountain game board. At the bottom left corner of the board, there is the basecamp. All of the climber meeples begin in this space. Three wide spaces with tents are called bivouacs. More than one meeple can be on these spaces. The six purple circle spaces are cliffs, and only one meeple may be on the space at a time. Players are trying to get all of their meeples to the summit which is the top space on the mountain. Multiple meeples can sit on the summit.
THE DICE
All of the dice are identical with three different sides: danger, ascend, and weather. Danger, denoted by a lightning bolt, means your highest meeple is at risk for falling. Ascend, which is an image of a mountain, means one of your climbers can move up the mountain game board. Weather, a storm cloud, means nothing happens.
TAKING A TURN
There are three phases to a player’s turn: rolls, check for fall, and climb or push on. Roll all six dice to start the turn. If you decide to push on, pick up all of the lightning dice and re-roll them.
After rolling, if all of the dice are lightning bolts, you have just fallen. Move your highest climber meeple down the mountain. That meeple is moved to the nearest bivouac or an open cliff. If the next open space is a cliff, it must be below your next highest meeple. Climbers are tethered together, so if you only have one on the mountain, it falls all of the way to the base camp. Meeples on the summit or the base camp spaces are safe and do not fall.
Climb or push on by setting aside the dice showing a mountain or cloud. Rolling six dice that show clouds or mountains allows you to immediately end your turn with a boost. If there are any dice remaining, you can choose to climb or roll again. Move one of your meeples the exact number of spaces equal to the number of mountains you rolled. Landing on a cliff space with another meeple forces it to fall whether it is yours or an opponent’s. Knocking a climber like this only forces them down to the next available space.
The exact number of mountains is not required to reach the summit. Reaching the summit with leftover mountains has no effect. Extra mountains are not used.
As mentioned, rolling six dice with mountains or clouds awards the player a boost. Rather than pass the dice to the next player, they get an additional turn.
WINNING
Continue taking turns until one player has successfully moved all of their meeple climbers to the summit. The first player to do so wins the game.
- TRIPLE SNAKES - February 15, 2021