One of my favorite games as a kid was RISK. It’s a classic board game that beautifully mixes skill and luck with one goal in mind: World Domination!
I played it a ton when I was younger, usually with my buddy Gary. He had two older brothers and a basement full (we’re talking floor to ceiling!) with board games. So he even had one of the original versions with wooden pieces!
Allie and I recently bought RISK for Jason and while we haven’t had time to play it too often, he definitely likes it. Recently, however, I was contacted by one of the coolest video game companies in the world: PopCap. The makers of the hilariously awesome Plants vs. Zombies game have come up with a spinoff to beat (or is that “eat”?) all spinoffs.
Yep, it’s RISK: Plants vs. Zombies Collector’s Edition. And as the box claims, it’s “The Game of Suburban Domination.”
I told Jason about it this new mashup of two of his favorite games and I honestly don’t remember him squealing with so much delight! So when it arrived the other day in the mail, it was tough to hold both of us back!
I put my cans of Sprite Zero aside and ripped open the box! We couldn’t wait to pop out the pieces and see what was included!
How cute are these playing pieces?!? Each side has a 1 and a 3-unit piece. Personally, I think the bucket-headed zombie steals the show.
There’s all sorts of cards and tokens to use in the game too. My favorite are these little ReMINDer tokens, so you can remember which plant or zombie just attacked. It took me a minute to get it, but come on, that’s pretty darn clever!
The instructions are fairly detailed and explain the three styles of play nicely. There’s also loads of cartoony artwork and jokes that continually crack me up, like the suggestion of a pancake-making car!
If this game was just RISK with Plants and Zombies it’d be cool. But it’s actually so much more than that! There’s three different ways to play: Mission Objectives, Total Domination, and Tower Defense.
What makes this extra cool is that the board is double sided! One side is a huge brain-shaped map of Brainsborough. This plays just like regular Risk, where you need to take over territories as you kill off your opponents troops. There’s bonuses for how many territories you own, what you’ve taken over this turn, how many units you have, etc. There’s also cards that offer special abilities, or that can be used to “purchase” powerful Upgrade Cards.
The flip-side of the board is seriously a brilliant move. You can play “Front Yard Skirmish Mode” (the Tower Defense style of play), which lets you use RISK-like rules to bring the video game itself to life!
Obviously this is the style Jason wanted to play first, so we did. He grabbed the planets while I led the army of the undead zombies!
Just like the video game, the Zombie objective is to make it to the front porch. The plants need to stop them. If one zombie makes it over, it’s game over! If the plants destroy every one of your zombies, it’s a victory for the green. In this version, both sides start with 30 units.
The game started off slowly as I built up my undead army and slowly made my way towards the front porch. It took Jason and I a few rounds before we got the hang of of the overall gameplay. But once we did, it was a snap and loads and loads of fun.
Here you can see I’m getting closer and closer to the front porch and to finally be able to attack one of his pea shooter plants!
You can see that Jason’s been picking off my zombies one by one. I have some on the board and only a handful left in my reserves section on the bottom right of the board. But I’ve slowly been building up upgrades, like Newspaper Zombie who gives me an extra action each turn. Plus, I get to look at his underpants and laugh.
Of course Jason has his own upgrades and special abilities. Thankfully he never got the Shovel card or I would’ve been toast before the game even got going!
After losing most of my troops I FINALLY made it next to one of his pea shooters. That means a ground attack! Just like RISK, it comes down to the roll of the dice. Or in this case, a one on one die roll!
Bam! I actually beat him on this roll so bye bye, Pea Shooter, and hello last space before the front porch! Unfortunately, on Jason’s turn, his Threepeater blew me away.
In fact, for most of the game, Jason was knocking me off one zombie at a time. Ultimately, it came down to one last, lone zombie against more than a dozen plants. Jason clearly kept his emotions in check at this point.
And yeah, it didn’t take long before he wiped me out for good. So sad.
This Front Yard Skirmish Mode was a total pea-shooting blast! It really does an awesome job of mixing the PvZ gameplay with the battle style of RISK. There’s certainly strategy involved too in terms of where to place your troops, how to maneuver them and when to upgrade cards and use special abilities. Same goes for the regular RISK style game on the flip side. Can’t wait to play that one next!
Plants vs. Zombies Collector’s Edition of RISK:
This completely customized take on two-player RISK offers a double-sided gameboard and three head-to-head ways to play: Tower Defense, Mission Objective, or Total Domination. With a detailed map of the original town of Brainsborough on one side and the familiar Plants vs. Zombies backyard from the video game on the other, players opt to be plants or zombies and then pick their battlefield. Fighting for their very survival, players engage in skirmishes, battle for three different victory conditions, and play the classic RISK game mode, vying to take over the whole board.
In this mulchifying take on the traditional RISK game, armies have been replaced by Peashooters and Threepeaters who attempt to prevent the consumption of human brains everywhere by the ever-approaching Brown Coat Zombies and Zombie Mobs. The 2-player RISK: Plants vs. Zombies Collector’s game is for ages 10+ at a suggested retail price of $29.99. It is available now at PvZStore.com and Amazon, and will arrive shortly at Kohl’s, Go! Games, ThinkGeek and other North American specialty retailers.
If you’re a fan of RISK or of Plants vs. Zombies, well, why are you still reading this? Go buy this crazy, cool awesome collector’s edition now! Lots of licensed games are nothing more than a slight name and graphics change. This bad boy, however, is a complete overhaul from brain to pinky toe bone!
The rules can be a little complex, so if you have younger kids (under 10) who love the video game but never played RISK, you definitely will need to sit down and play a few games with them to really understand it. But seriously, hats off to Hasbro, USAopoly and PopCap for putting together a truly fun and interactive mashup that works perfectly for adults as well as kids!
I may’ve gone a little overboard, though. I probably should’ve stopped Jason from playing so much because, well, see for yourself…
Buy RISK: Plants vs. Zombies Collector’s Edition
Win RISK: Plants vs. Zombies Collector’s Edition
(MSRP: $29.95)
Giveaway ends on November 5, 2013 at 11:59 p.m. The 1 winner will be chosen at random and announced on this site. Giveaway is open only to legal residents of the fifty (50) United States (including District of Columbia), who are at least eighteen (18) years old at the time of entry. The 1 Winner will be notified by email and has 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen.
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How long does it take to play the game? I can’t find a playing time anywhere on the internet?
It depends which version you’re playing. It could take as little as maybe 30 minutes or so. Or it could take hours for a full-on RISK game. It’s definitely not a quick game.
Hi Andrew,
Thank you for the post about this game. My sons grandma got it for him for Christmas. Wish you would do a Google Hangouts or Video for game instruction. Maybe I just gave you a cool idea?
Hah! Yeah, it’s a little confusing, right? I played the PvZ version of the game with Jason and that was similar to the video game, but a little tricky. If you’ve never ever played RISK before, I suggest playing that first just to understand how that gameplay goes.
RISK? Ok It’s Uncle time! Haha!
I love P vs Z one of my all time favorites! Great review, I might be buying this.
It’s really pretty awesome. I haven’t even played the “regular” RISK-like version yet!
Pea shooters and garlic
I would find a place to hold up and gather as many weapons as possible, medicine, food and blankets. You might not be able to get out for a long time.
I’d have to find a quiet place with a lot of food/water and items to defend myself with until someone figures out how to save the day.
Gasoline- lots!
Mythbusters suggested an axe is your best bet, so I’d take their advice!
I would feed them the neighbors I don’t like to buy myself some time LOL Jk
I would use guns & fire.
aim for the head!
i’ve been watching walking dead so i know what to do, i am going to shoot them in the head with an arrow.
Knife or fire!
Maybe acid?
I’d take off to an island
I’d stave off zombies with fire.
A fast car, cause I am not hanging around. Someone else would have to handle’em.
I’d stave off a zombie invasion with bacon. Surely bacon is the key.
Guns and free brains.
In the mountains, with guns.
i would stave off a zombie invasion with tons of garlic
Wallnuts and peashooters, lots and lots of wallnuts.
for my cousin!
I would takeover a prison and protect the ones I love in true Walking Dead super fan style, of course! 🙂
I would stay in my attic.
We would stash away things that we need and hide out until it was safe to come back.
jweezie43[at]gmail[dot]com
I would have my son for them because they would run away very quickly.
I would try to stay in a safe place and ride it out.
I once saw a picture where they surrounded the house with treadmills… I would totally surround my house with treadmills! let them try to get in then!
I would sic my pit bull on them!
I would build a bunker to save my family, build an army of robots to attack the aombies, and then wait it out!
underground bunker
I would have my nephew give me his strategy.
I would find a castle and build an army and work from there
I would grab my family and go to my dad’s house to hunker down for the long haul! When Zombies come for us we fight them with Dad’s arsenal of power tools and such. We won’t go down without a fight!
I live in the woods and have a fully stocked bunker. Also have enough Gatling Gun ammo for a serious horde to be dropped in seconds. LOL. Bring it on. Lol
Find a boat and head out to sea!
Ionic disrupters.
I would get out my defense system and actively make sure no one comes near our home!!
I would stave off a zombie invasion buy stockpiling supplies, citizens, and building up a homebase and minibases of defense.
We would hide from the Zombies in the mountains! Of course, I have no brain anymore so they probably wouldn’t follow anyway. :-p
Hmmm Laser beams!!
I would find an island and protect it! There are plenty around.
Thanks!
Fortify a small town
I would offer to cook for them and they would run for the hills.
Being such a Waking Dead fan, I would head to the nearest prison.
My kids and I love this game on the computer and we all love zombie movies. Every Sunday night we watch The Walking Dead together. How would we survive a zombie horde? With guns, of course! Lots of guns, plywood on the windows and a Berkey water filtration system that we can use to filter out all contaminates, even icky zombie juices…lol The real questions is : How would the zombie horde survive my family? Haha.
Probably just pretend to be a zombie. HAH! If that failed, make a wall out of all my books.
a crossbow,whiskey,tbone steak , and a fire moat around my house
The fire moat’s a nice touch!
I would be a wimp. I would run, hide…. and cry for my mommy:)
Hah! The first honest answer! 🙂
Stocking up on supplies & living on a large boat.
I would hide to survive the zombie invasion or maybe just join them.
My cat doesn’t have a big enough brain to be an attractive target for a zombie, so I would have her guarding the entrance. She’s not much of an attack kitty, but she’s sure to get under their feet and trip them.
I’m old, fat, and lazy; so I’d be one of the first victims… If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em, right?
I would probably run, then try to figure out how to get rid of them
Hum. I actually have a huge plan that involved my sisters boat until she decided to sell it. I will grab the kids and dogs, any weapons and canned goods and head to my parents house to meet them and my husband. Hopefully my sis will do the same. Then caravan to the beach house. Then look for a boat and head north, where Yetis will eat the zombies.
Awesome plan, Erin. Except… once the Yetis have done their job, how do you beat them???
I would enlist my nephew’s help because he knows all about zombies!
a walled in compound with lots of supplies!!
Nothing that a battery operated weed whacker cannot handle.
I would run as far away from the city as possible.
I would find one of those preppers from the tv shows and live with them.
With guns food and a bomb shelter.
shoot em all!
I would love to win this prize.
Shotgun and machete to remove heads to inactivate zombie action, backup of daylight lum spotlights.
I have no idea!! Run and hide lol. I need to ask my boyfriend for tips. He loves zombie stuff 🙂
Good question. I’ll have to think about that one. Run and hide for sure!!
We would shoot them!
With lots of fire!
Go in a boat. Just saying it would be harder for them to get me in a boat.
I would run and hide!
climb up a tree
Lots of cardio, and I would train my dog to kick butts! Haha.
Go to the moon.
I think I would rely on my 3 year old Grandson to deal with the zombies, he has quite a temper! Thanks for the great giveaway opportunity. Keep up the terrific blogging.
Gatling gun
I would stock up on food for years and go underground!
22-250
After I stockpiles weapons and supplies, I would start feeding off annoying neighbors to the zombies to create distractions/escape opportunities.
Load up on supplies and escape to the hills of Virginia
I would offer them chocolate chip cookies!
I’d hide- behind my husband. lol
I am hiding in the basement 🙂
build a bunker and make sure to have lots of food and weapons
i would probably cower in the attic
I would stay in my boarded up house. Definitely need to get some weapons 🙂
Board up all of the downstairs areas and then hide upstairs!
Build an underground escape to hideout.
Run and hide.
I would hide…lol
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I’d get together a group of ppl and fly to a remote island with lots of supplies and people so we can live peacefully. Now before that we’d have to use any weapons we could to get to the airport and grocery stores for supplies so we’d have to load up on guns, knives and chainsaws lol BUT FIRST we’d have to either go to the local history museum and get a suit of armor or raid the high school locker room for football pads/gear so we can’t get bit!!! If all else fails we’ll just go to the mall and lock ourselves in lol
I’m a shotgun or bat kind of girl, but I would run away and lock myself in something for safety.
hide!
I’d buy a castle and lock myself away from them!
I’d keep them at bay with some cabbage-pults!
I have no idea how I’d stave them off. I’d probably be too scared to even move!
find somewhere to hole up for 90 days and let the laws of thermodynamics take over
Grab a bunch of supplies and steal a yatch and just live out on the ocean 🙂
I would get a bunch of potato mines. (I love those little guys)
I’d let my husband and sons fight them off while we lived off the stockpile I’ve collected. 🙂
We would cruise over to my friend’s house down the street, they have plenty of fire power and a house that would be great to turn into a huge fort!
I’m afraid to say, but I’d probably be one of the first to get bitten, so I’d be in the herd of zombies heading your way. thinking about it, I’d have plenty of arrows to shoot them in the head, my daughter that is a zombie nut would tell you her elaborate plan if she was to enter this.
My dog is annoying enough he would easily drive them off. So: handled.
I would disguise my house as a pile of split wood.
I would keep feeding them fried chicken until they exploded from being so full!
I would find a big empty plant that had gone out of business and try to set it up kinda like on Walking Dead. Get all my family and close friends there.
We would head to the local prison – my husband works there. The walls should offer protection. We would just need to clear out any within the prison.
Stave them off? No way – bring ’em on. We’ve already picked out the best sniper windows.
Nice! But what if a herd shows up?!?
Well I have a lot of animals, so I think id be safe for awhile..i could let one out at a time? LOL! Kidding, id send my spouse first!
I LOVE plants vs zombies. Its the only game i play on a regular basis.
Trisha! I”m honored you’re entering one of my giveaways! 🙂 But oh, your poor poor husband.
I would hire a boat a sail away 😉
Take car. Go to Mum’s. Kill Phil – “Sorry.” – grab Liz, go to the Winchester, have a nice cold pint, and wait for all of this to blow over. How’s that for a slice of fried gold?
I ‘d starve off a Zombie invasion by throwing my neighbors at them. I’m not too found of them anyway! LOL
I’d find a way to take over the county jail that’s about half a mile away. It has security and enough food for awhile.
I have no clue how to stave off a Zombie invasion, but the men in my house think about it frequently. I suppose I’ll have to leave it up to them.
My favorite Risk pop culture reference is when Hurley, Sawyer, and John are playing Risk and Sawyer tells Hurley that Australia is the key to the whole game.
We would probably have to own a flame thrower I think. It would be hard to keep those zombies at bay!
I would starve off a Zombie invasion by digging a deep hole and hiding in the backyard.
I would stave off a Zombie Invasion by making our house a fortress and blowing away anything that even tried to come inside.
Sadly I would most likely find the deepest,darkest cave and hide out until it passes, that or set sail to some island in the middle of nowhere. 😉