stabbing.
Where to play E-Diplomacy
As it is not easy to gather seven persons around a table, and as the moves are written on paper, Diplomacy has turned out to be an ideal game to be played by e-mail.
There are many web-sites that offer E-games, but only a few start new games every week. Within a game usually every three days a turn is played, thus allowing time for negociations.
Except for the last of the list, all sites offer games that start almost without any waiting time.
- Diplomatic Pouch
- This is the official Diplomacy web-site, that has obtained from the manufacturer Hasbro the rights to exploit Diplomacy on the Internet. Their e-mail games are all co-ordinated by computers, which complicates a little the signing up and the communication.
- Cat 23
- Cat 23 is the site that organises most E-Diplomacy games. Its games are not run by computers but by human judges (volunteers), which many players find cosier. Many of its games are some variant of Diplomacy.
- Compuserve
A good community to play E-Diplomacy is Compuserve, that apart from Diplomacy organises a great deal of other games by e-mail. Game playing at Compuserve costs 10 $ per month with which you can play 5 hours.
- DeLuxe Diplomacy
- Another site that offers Diplomacy games on-line (without a computer judge) and that looks quite well.
How to play E-Diplomacy
Of the two most popular sites is explained how to register: Diplomatic Pouch and Cat 23. To play without a computer processing the moves is much less complicated and requires no comments. Only playing at Compuserve is quite complex and a good reference to understand its playing mechanics are some explanation pages.
Diplomatic Pouch
To join a game, you have to register at the waiting list at www.diplom.org/DP-cgi/setqueue .
A few days later the Game Master (a person of flesh and blood who supervises the good progress of games and helps new players get along) will send you an e-mail inviting you to a game. Then you have to register as well with the judge (the computer), so that he confirms your presence at the game: www.diplom.org/DP-cgi/confirmq .
Actually, you can register at any judge at any time, but that is a bit useless as long as you do not know which judge will run your game. USIN, USEF and USAL are the most active judges.
After the confirmation of the judge, all communication goes via emails to and from the judge. The Game Master only intervenes when a problem arises. The judge processes all the messages of the players and forwards them as the sender indicates to one or more players.
There are three sites that explain how to register and how to communicate with a judge: two more or less short and one extensive one.
- A Newbie's guide to play by Email Diplomacy
- The most updated and brief of the three.
- The Newbies' Guide to the Judge
- Another brief one, although a little outdated as some handlings of the judges have changed.
- The Newbies' Guide to the Judge (Long form)
- The most complete and extensive version of the three. Also a little old due to lack of updating.
Cat 23
When you enter at Cat 23 to register for a game, they forward you to Egroups (acquired recently by Yahoo) whicch is a site specialised in treating group activities. Only afterwards you have reigstered here, you will be contacted by Cat23 confirming your registration.
The next day a long list of emails comes your way with offers of games, much of them of Diplomacy variations and games looking for replacement players. The bulk of the Cat 23 games has a Game Master only and is not processed by a computer. The players themslves take care of the development of the moves and the game.
Diplomacy Maps
To play E-Diplomacy, it is vital to dispose of a few good 1901 maps on-line, as you can then communicate with other players and watch the situation at the same time.
At various sites a lot of maps are listed, for instance at Diplomatic Pouch; below you can find a black and white map and a colored one.
Until the arrival of the Internet, Diplomacy was a board-game to play around the table for a maximum of seven participants. The game is based on Europe of 1901 and each player rules a country. 
