The Embassy

Lying and betrayal play an integral part in Diplomacy.  How, then, can there be any ethical or moral concept to the game?  Isn't this a game without ethics? It's certainly true that a game of Diplomacy will feature lies, half-lies, omissions and betrayal.  It's difficult to imagine a game that wouldn't involve these.  When the box the game came in used to feature the slogan " Destroying friendships since 1959" nobody should be surprised by this! But, in reality, experienced players understand that you get more success in Diplomacy by being honest most of the time.  It's a game about building trust.  There is always going to be a point where that trust is going to be broken if you are to win games, but dishonesty isn't going to be rewarded. There are some aspects of the game that do require a certain degree of morality and ethical appreciation, therefore.  There are players who will tell you that if you can get away with something, then it'...

There are many different tournaments if you want to play Diplomacy more competitively, both Face-to-Face and Remotely.  Here, I'm going to look at how playing in a tournament affects a game of Dip. Face-to-Face Tournaments Let's start at the top - the World Diplomacy Championship .  This is hosted at World DipCon with the 2019 tournament being held in Marseilles, France.   There were 38 competitors for this prestigious competition, and it was won by Gwen Maggi .  WDC has been held on 29 occasions.  In 2020 it will be held in Dover, Vermont, USA. Because Gwen is French, I'm going to go to Europe next and the European Diplomacy Championship .  This is hosted at EuroDipCon and was, this year, shared with World DipCon, so it isn't surprising that Gwen holds both titles right now.  Possibly because of this a separate event, the European Open Championship  and was won by Andrew Katcher. National championships are held in UK (Midcon) , Fr...

Diplomacy  can be played in one of two formats: Face-to-Face (FTF) or Remotely. Face-to-Face This is the way the game was designed to play and that isn't surprising given that the Allan B Calhamer was developing Diplomacy in the 1950s.  FTF play is around a table with all the players present.  They don't always stay at the table, though; it's usual that, during the Negotiation phase players will disappear into little nooks and crannies to discuss strategy in secret. House Game There are a number of ways to play FTF games but Calhamer had only one way in mind, really, what you might call a House Game.  This is a group of people playing Dip for fun as a one-off game.  Nothing else, no distractions caused by scoring or outside pressures... well, other than the time taken to complete it. Tournament Play A more competitive way to play arrived when tournaments arrived.  These would be organised, open to players to compete against each other in a ...