Monopoly Express has become a bit of a family favourite lately - an ultra portable 'press your luck' dicefest and I had heard good things lately about Risk Express. Only trouble is, can't find a source in Canada. (Note to fellow Canadians - for Monopoly Express or, God forbid, Sorry Express, try Zeller's - I kid you not).

So, ordered from Spirit Games in Britain and got it in 1 week. Not bad.

My son and I tried a few games and I had all the luck skill. Of course, right off the bat this makes it a great game (games that he always beats me at are officially 'stupid kid's games'). So really, what did we find.

All the neat little pieces First of all if you have tried one of the North American 'Express' games the dice bowl is much nicer. It is double-walled and the dice roll in with a still satisfying but much less ear-splitting clatter. The seven dice are attractive and nicely embossed. These symbols will never wear off. The 14 country cards (disks?) are glossy card stock. They are attractive enough and serviceable but I worry about durability. They are grouped by continents, each having its own colour but I would like to see the name of the continent or a distinct symbol for each group as I found my mild colour-blindedness to be a problem between a couple of continents and I am sure others would have a bigger problem. The continent shapes help, of course but can be a little confusing if they are inverted. Each card has from 1 to 4 points on the front and Knizia has done a nice job of matching the difficulty of each country with the point values. The rules were short and clear and we were right into the game.

So how does it play? Roll the 7 dice and select a country where you can fulfill one of the 'battle lines'. Each card has a varying number of these 'battle lines' of varying difficulty. Fill one of the lines with the right number of cavalry, infantry, cannons or generals and roll your dice to fill in another line. Each time you can't fill a line you lose a die. Fill in all the lines to conquer a country and the card is yours. Run out of dice and you have been humiliatingly defeated. Either way, pass the dice to the next player. As the game goes on you may wish to attack a country belonging to another player but you will have to roll an extra general to take it away. Conquer an entire continent and you can turn the group of cards over for extra points and they cannot be taken away! Just like the original Risk, Australia is a great place to start because only 1 card is needed for a whole continent. When all countries have been conquered the game is over - add up the points!

So what did we think? When I was much younger I loved the original Risk but eventually came to the opinion that it was just way too long for the gameplay involved. Even back then I didn't find player elimination to be an attractive game feature. Risk express is certainly a different game but the feel of it is very evocative of Risk. A typical game is about half an hour and you are in the game until the end. On any given turn even near the end of a game the game leader might suffer a big loss. Like Risk, good choices and judging the odds will increase your chances of success but, also like Risk, there are no guarantees when you are rolling dice.

And in conclusion: To no one's surprise this is not a Gamer's Game but we have found it great fun for half an hour's relaxation. It lets me play Risk again without going mad. Depending on the group it can be agressive or not. We will keep this game (and its Monopoly sibling) handy at home and it will go in the car and/or trailer for trips.