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Created by , France , Germany , Italy , Austria-Hungary , Russia , or Turkey , in an effort to win possession of a majority of strategic cities and provinces marked as "supply centers" on the map. ''Diplomacy'' differs from most -- no dice are rolled and no cards are shuffled. The result of a move depends on the support or opposition of the units in neighboring spaces, making social interaction and interpersonal skills, the formation and violation of alliances, and calculated lying and Backstabbing , crucial parts of the game play. The game ends when one player gains control of more than half of the continent, or by agreement among all surviving players. ''Diplomacy'' has been published in the United States by Games Research , and Avalon Hill , and Hasbro , and is currently a registered Trademark of Hasbro's Avalon Hill division. ''Diplomacy'' has also been licensed to various companies for publication in other countries. Since the 1960s, ''Diplomacy'' has been Played By Mail through Fanzines , and more recently, through E-mail and on the World Wide Web , adjudicated by computer or by a human gamesmaster. ''Diplomacy'' was John F. Kennedy 's and, supposedly, Henry Kissinger 's favorite game. BASIC SETTING AND OVERVIEW The board is a map of Europe showing political boundaries as they existed at the beginning of the 20th century, divided into fifty-six land regions and nineteen sea regions. Each player other than Russia begins the game with three units (armies and fleets); Russia has four units (two armies and two fleets) to compensate for its larger area and number of neighbours. Only one unit at a time may occupy a given map region. Thirty-four of the land regions contain ''supply centers'', corresponding to major centers of industry or commerce (''e.g.'', "London," "Rome,"). The number of supply centers a player controls determines the total number of armies and fleets a player may have on the board, and as players gain and lose control of different centers, they may build and remove units accordingly. At the beginning of the game, there are twelve "neutral" (unoccupied) supply centers; these are all typically captured within the first few moves, allowing all the powers to ramp up their military strength. Thereafter the game becomes Zero Sum , with any gains in a player's strength coming at the expense of a rival. Players who control no supply centers are eliminated from the game, and victory is achieved if a player controls eighteen of the thirty-four supply centers. For the most part, the regions on the board are named after the general regions (''e.g.'' "Bohemia") or countries (''e.g.'' "Finland"); however, ''home'' supply centers (''i.e.'' supply centers that are occupied at the beginning of the game) are named after the relevant cities (''e.g.'' "Rome," "Vienna"). The exception is that of "Tunis," which despite not being a home supply center is still named after a city. If the convention was correctly followed, it would be labelled "Tunisia", and indeed is on some variant maps. GAME PLAY ''Diplomacy'' is turn-based - movement turns, alternately designated "Spring" and "Fall" moves, by convention begin in the year 1901 . Prior to each movement phase, there is a negotiation period in which players entice, wheedle, bluff, cajole, and threaten each other in an attempt to form favorable partnerships. Secret negotiations and secret agreements are explicitly allowed, but no agreements of any kind are enforceable. After the negotiation period is over, players secretly write orders for each unit and these orders are revealed simultaneously and simultaneously executed. Choice of orders include "move" (to any space adjacent to the unit's current location), "support" (assist the move of a different unit moving into a space adjacent to the unit's current location), or "hold" (do nothing). Armies may only occupy land regions, and fleets may only occupy sea regions and land regions which border the sea. Fleets and armies in combination can execute the move "convoy," which allows transport of an army across either one (or multiple) bodies of water to a distant land square. One Fleet per sea space traversed is required if multiple bodies of water are to be traversed. Since only one unit can occupy any particular game space, conflicts (such as two armies ordered to enter the same space), are resolved according to rules determining how much "support" a unit has for its movement. When two units attempt to occupy the same region, the one with more support wins. The greatest concentration of force is always victorious; if the forces are equal a standoff results and the units remain in their original positions. If a supporting unit is attacked (except by the unit against which the support is directed), the support is nullified, which allows units to affect the outcome of conflicts in regions not directly adjacent. Occasionally these conceptually simple rules result in situations which are difficult to adjudicate, or even paradoxical. Therefore the official rules contain comprehensive details and examples. Also, one person may be designated as Game Master to execute moves and adjudicate disputes, although this is rarely necessary, either in friendly games or in tournaments. After each Fall move, occupied supply centers become owned by the occupying player, and each power's supply center total is recalculated. At that point players with fewer supply centers than units on the board must disband units, while players with more supply centers than units on the board are entitled to build units. Units may only be built in that player's "Home" centers, that is, those centers with which each Great Power begins the game. Therefore, a player may not build units in any captured "neutral" center or in another player's "Home" centers. The boundaries on the ''Diplomacy'' map are from 1914, not 1901, but numbering the years that way makes it easier to count the turns. STRATEGY Because numerical superiority is crucial to success, alliances are vital in ''Diplomacy''. Each country is initially roughly equal in strength, so it is very difficult to gain territory except by attacking with the support of a neighbor. The excitement of the game is less in the tactics than in negotiation, coalition-building, and intrigue. Each player's social and interpersonal skills are at least as important to the game as the player's strategic abilities. ''Diplomacy'' commands a respect among aficionados of multiplayer games similar to the respect accorded to Chess among two-player games. Most multiplayer games can't help but involve coalition-building to some degree, but only in ''Diplomacy'' is the negotiation so critical and so multi-faceted. The game can't be won by going it alone, except in a last mad dash of aggression from a strong position. In the mean time one makes compromises and promises to one's allies while spreading fear and misinformation among one's enemies. And the attacking of one's allies (or the "stab") has a central role in the culture of ''Diplomacy''. A stab can be crucial to victory, but may have negative repercussions in interpersonal relations. All of the countries on the map have a real chance for success if played properly. Each power requires a different style of play. Italy and Austria-Hungary are often thought to be the weakest countries. Austria-Hungary because it has many neighbors and can be eliminated early, Italy because it has a hard time expanding. However, if they survive and prosper through the starting phase of the game, their central position can be a great advantage. England and Turkey are generally considered to be the easiest to defend. Under Calhamer scoring (where an outright victory is worth one point and participants in a draw split the point equally) Russia and France typically score the most points, Italy and Austria-Hungary the fewest. There is a natural buffer of spaces without supply centers between the western and eastern halves of the board. Therefore the first few turns of a game usually break down into fighting amongst the western powers (England, France, Germany) and eastern powers (Russia, Austria-Hungary, Turkey) for dominance in their areas followed by a break out based on the results. Italy is a wild card with a relatively weak position, though if it commits to an alliance in either of the two threesomes, the alliance can be pivotal. In some circles cheating is not only allowed, but also actively encouraged. Players are allowed and expected to move pieces between turns, add extra armies, listen in to private conversations, change other players' written move orders and just about anything else they can get away with. In tournament play, however, these forms of cheating are generally prohibited, leaving only the lying and backstabbing which is prevalent wherever ''Diplomacy'' is played. VARIANTS There have been two commercially released variants of ''Diplomacy'': ''Colonial Diplomacy'' (a map change and addition of a few special rules), and ''Machiavelli'' (map change and many rules changes such as money, bribery, three seasons per year, garrisons, random events such as plague and famine among others). Additionally, many fans of the game have created a myriad of their own variants, using altered rules on the standard map, standard rules on a different map, or both. An index of over a thousand variants is available at the Diplomacy Variant Bank web site (see External Links , below). TOURNAMENTS ''Diplomacy'' is played at a number of formal tournaments. In some cases, each game ends after a specified number of game-years, to ensure that all players can play in all rounds without limiting the tournament structure to one round per day. At other events, a game continues until a winner is determined or a draw is voted. Tournaments in Europe are generally played with a specific end year whereas tournaments in North America more often are played until someone wins or a draw is agreed. Some tournaments are centered on the games and have a highly competitive atmosphere; others have more focus on meeting and socializing with other players from the postal or e-mail parts of the hobby. The World Diplomacy Championship (WDC) is held annually in different places in the world, to determine the World Champion of ''Diplomacy''. WDC was first held in 1988 in Birmingham, England, and was held at two-year intervals before becoming an annual event. WDC's site rotates among three regions: North America, Europe/UK, and the rest of the world. The North American Diplomacy Convention (DipCon) is held annually in different places in North America, to determine the North American Champion of ''Diplomacy''. DipCon was first held in 1967 in Youngstown Ohio. DipCon's site rotates among West, Central, and East regions. The European Diplomacy Convention (Euro DipCon) is held annually in different places in Europe, to determine the European Champion of ''Diplomacy''. Over a dozen other countries hold national championship tournaments. Many of the larger multi-game tournaments, such as the World Boardgaming Championships , Gen Con , and Origins , also host ''Diplomacy'' tournaments. On occasion, WDC or DipCon will be held in conjunction with one of these conventions. OTHER WAYS TO PLAY Unfortunately, it is difficult to organize a full face-to-face game. There must be exactly seven players, as standard-board variants for less than seven tend to be imbalanced and to become stagnant and predictable. Also, there is no set time for the game to finish. Tournament games among experts have lasted twelve hours, but even typical games will last four hours or more. To overcome the difficulty of assembling enough players for a sufficiently large block of time, a vibrant . A great way to get into a game is via the queues available via the Diplomacy Online Resources page or the New Game Openings via the Redscape Forum . A web interface is in development, but there are already many excellent tools to help assist play, such as floc.net game pages and DipTool. A popular web based game place is the DpJudge which hosts several ''Diplomacy'' games, and provides a web front-end for players and games masters on a number of servers. Njudge and DpJudge game results are used to create JDPR , the Judge Diplomacy Player Ranking system. BOUNCED provides an entirely web-based approach with a similar interface. Diplomacy.ca has been running online Diplomacy via a BBS since 1985 and as a web site since 1999. Despite the length of games, there are those that organize ad-hoc games, and there are also various clubs that have annual tournaments. ''Diplomacy'' is sometimes played in High School history classes because of its realistic emulation of events and diplomacy between nations. It helps students better understand the politics involved in World War I and World War II . COMPARISON WITH OTHER WAR GAMES ''Diplomacy'' differs from the majority of War Games in several ways:
HISTORY ''Diplomacy'' was created in 1954 and released commercially in 1959 . It has been published since then by Games Research , Avalon Hill , and Hasbro . Since the 1960s, ''Diplomacy'' has been Played By Mail through Fanzines . The play-by-mail hobby started in 1963 at virtually the same time by John Boardman in New York and Conrad Von Metzke in San Diego independently without either one knowing what the other was doing at the time. Because of this it is truly impossible to know for certain which one came up with the idea first, although Boardman is often given credit as the founder of the play-by-mail hobby because his efforts led directly to the formation of other zines. More recently, it has become popularly played through E-mail , adjudicated by computer. Also many a game is played online with a human game master. ADAPTATION Hasbro released a Computer Game version of Diplomacy in 1999 , without much critical or commercial success largely because of the poor quality programming of the computer run players, generally considered to be worse than that of the 1984 Avalon Hill computer version of the game. There were also considerable flaws in the adjudication routine, leading to errant turn results. Paradox Interactive released a new computer version in 2005 . However, neither of the computer games supported voice chat, thus undermining the possibilities for complicated alliances. NOTES |
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