What I learned on the way to becoming a RISK Grandmaster!
What I Learned on the Way to Becoming a Risk Grandmaster
The journey taught me more than the rank.
I started playing Risk with friends and realized I was pretty good at it. I enjoyed the strategy and math combined with the social skills it took to win, so I went home and started learning how to get better.
Then I discovered there was a whole world of people playing this game, much like chess. I was hooked. I was also terrible. I thought I knew what I was doing, but wow, did I have a lot to learn.
I watched grandmasters play for months and practiced different formats. Eventually, I reached grandmaster in both one-on-one and six-player ranked play. I know, it's such a nerd thing to talk about. But I love showing people how much goes into a game they thought was just rolling dice.
What I didn't expect was how much of it would stay with me after I put the game down. I thought the goal was becoming a grandmaster. Looking back, becoming the player and person I am today was the real victory.
I don't remember my losses, and that's the lesson.
When I started thinking about this article, I tried to remember a loss that really bothered me. Honestly, I couldn't come up with one. There were plenty. I just hadn't held on to them.
I wanted to learn how to win. Losing wasn't going to stop me from doing that. Why did someone attack me? What did I miss? What could I do differently next time?
It's harder when the thing that doesn't work is personal. You try something with your students, put time into an idea, or have a conversation you thought would go differently. There's more invested than a few imaginary soldiers.
But I want to bring that same willingness to learn into those moments. I don't have to like how something went to learn from it. And I don't have to keep replaying the loss to remember what it taught me.
You don't have to take every opportunity just because it's there.
Comebacks are the best feeling in Risk. Recently, I won a game where I had to figure out how to work my way through all five other players. I started modestly, taking the smallest territory bonus I could without stepping on anybody's toes.
The blue player seemed to understand that I wasn't his biggest threat. He went after someone else, which gave me an opening. I took it. Then I stopped taking things and started preparing for what I could actually defend.
That part mattered. I could have kept expanding and given everybody a reason to come after me before I was ready. Instead, I built up my position until I could finish what I'd started.
I take the big risks when they're the only way to win. I spend the rest of the game trying to make sure I don't need them.
In life, I'm learning to look for the next few bottlenecks. When will time get tight? What resources will I need? Who needs to be involved? An opportunity can be good and still require more preparation than I've given it.
The question that helps me is, if this doesn't go my way, can I survive to try again? Can I pivot? If the answer is yes, maybe it's time to try. I don't need every outcome figured out, but I do need to think beyond the first move.
Your actions have to speak louder than your words.
In Risk, you can leave two troops on a border instead of stacking a huge army there. You're saying, “I want this, but I don't want to fight you.” You can move troops away to show you have no intention of attacking. There is a whole conversation happening without words.
Most players want to see that you aren't greedy and that they still have a chance. If you take away all their room to grow, you shouldn't be surprised when they decide you're the problem.
That's made me more measured in what I ask and expect of people. People often want to support you. But they're also trying to figure out where they fit and whether your growth leaves room for theirs.
You grow with them. You show them you've invested in their growth, too.
As a pastor, I can tell someone I believe in them, but eventually I need to give them an opportunity, let them carry responsibility, and be willing to help them learn. They should be able to see what I mean before I explain it again.
Not everything needs to become a war.
There are times you have to stand your ground and times you have to let something go. In Risk, a measured response can show someone you mean business without costing both of you the game.
Honestly, showing any restraint puts you ahead of a lot of players.
I think about that when a frustrating message makes you want to respond immediately. What are you trying to accomplish? Does this response help, or have you decided winning this one exchange matters more?
You also learn to recognize people who are willing to take both of you down. I'm still learning that part. Some players will make a decision that helps their own position. Others will hurt themselves if it means hurting you. You need to know the difference and avoid giving one person's recklessness control over every option you have.
In ministry, we get to keep helping each other.
In Risk, even a great partnership eventually ends with one winner. In the kingdom, God wins. I believe he already has. My job is to help other people become part of that victory.
Winning, to me, means making another disciple of Jesus.
For 18 years, I've helped people grow, often from the background. Some could do my job. Some have opportunities that pay more or get more attention. I want to celebrate that and keep growing alongside them, right here with the people God has given me to serve.
We don't have to turn on each other at the end. We get to keep building each other up.
When I read the parable of the talents, I'm challenged by the servant who let fear lead him to bury what he'd been given. What am I doing with what God has entrusted to me? Knowing God wins doesn't make every idea wise, but it helps me remember that a failed attempt won't undo his victory.
These days, the time I used to spend playing looks different. From nine to midnight, I'm building websites, writing, editing content, and learning things I don't already know how to do. I'm running, reading Scripture, and looking for ways to pastor my students better. It's go time now.
I'm only 38. I have a lot of learning left.
I started this whole thing thinking I was pretty good at a game. Getting better required finding out how much I didn't know and being willing to stay with it anyway. That experience keeps giving me courage to be a beginner somewhere else.
I still like having goals. I'm glad I reached this one. But I couldn't have named everything the journey would teach me before I started.
I thought I was learning to win at Risk. The whole time Risk was teaching me to win at life.