A web version of the classic Diplomacy board game
The popularity of Poker experienced a colossal boost, mainly after the introduction of its online counterpart. This enabled poker enthusiasts to play from the comforts of their own home, in lieu of simply following the game via television. Undoubtedly, this has proven useful as a result of the indefinite closure of a plethora of casinos […]
Continue ReadingOK, so 1901 (or, in some variants, the first year of action) is only the first year of the game. Make a mistake here and there is still time to correct it. Games are seldom completely won or lost in 1901. Fair enough, as far as it goes, but 1901 is your springboard into the […]
Continue ReadingShould I play a Mentor Game? Plenty of people learn Diplomacy just by playing. You don’t NEED a mentor game to learn. In the mentor game, you will have an experienced player to ask questions of and get advice. I think that can help shorten the learning curve. In my games, I also have a […]
Continue ReadingSo… when the game is over… is that it? In a face-to-face game, calling the game is hardly the end. That marks the time to head out to the pub for a pitcher and kibitz over what just happened. Frankly, that is my favorite part of playing in-person! Do we lose that when we play […]
Continue ReadingIn Chess and games like it, the end-game is when there are few pieces left on the board. In Diplomacy, pieces aren’t removed so that is not an applicable definition. I call the end-game the period of the game when one power is near 18 SCs or one interest group (either a single power or […]
Continue ReadingLooking to join another game? Consider checking the game status box: “Active” and taking over for a surrendered power. This is a nice thing to do for your fellow gamers. If just a third of our players picked up 1 surrendered position for every game they started, surrenders wouldn’t be an issue. We all just […]
Continue ReadingLet’s not mince words: cheaters are idiots. What exactly is the point? And what could possibly be more boring than pushing pieces around in a game that you have fixed to win? Cheaters at PlayDip get caught. There are A LOT of volunteer resources and IT tools that go into making sure of that. Cheating […]
Continue ReadingPlayDip is the largest Diplomacy site in the world with (IMHO) the best interface and by far the best forum, but we have limited resources. This is a hobby site. Nearly all of the effort to run the site is from volunteers. Things can go wrong. Here is what you need to know to deal […]
Continue ReadingThese next few lectures are about PlayDip a bit more than Diplomacy. Today I will start by pointing out a few features of the game interface. 1) PlayDip has a house rule that there cannot be draws in the first four years of a game. However, recently the site has begun a trial allowing draws […]
Continue Reading“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one that is most responsive to change.” – Charles Darwin A common mistake, applicable throughout the game, is worth emphasizing in the mid-game: * Don’t be inflexible. Too often players get to the mid-game with one ally (or less!) and […]
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