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Comment by legitster | Hacker News Reader

There was an amazing profile of the Diplomacy competitive scene: https://grantland.com/features/diplomacy-the-board-game-of-t...

Although I find the fallout has been rather overstated. I'm certain it can end badly for unsuspecting participants - but I've played lots of Diplomacy (and even hosted games with a cash pot for the winners) and it has never ended in fallout. Just make sure everyone knows what they are getting into.

It's a really, really fun game that more people should try at least once.

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Agreed that Diplomacy is tremendous fun, as long as you have 7+ hours to spare and a house with lots of separate rooms for private conversations to take place in. But the important thing to keep in mind is that the only way to win the game is by first making alliances with other players by promising you would never betray them, and then second by strategically betraying your allies before they can betray you. If everyone goes into the game knowing that betrayal is the point of the game and that they will be stone-cold lied to by their dearest friends, then there's no hard feelings. But if you're a brand new player and this metagame isn't properly expressed to you, then it's natural for fallout to ensue.

> 7+ hours to spare

It only takes this long if you don't use a round timer and you don't allow shared victories. Even with new players we usually wrap up the game in 4-5 hours (people will start getting eliminated around hour 2 - so usually we have a "loser room" with other games and stuff to do).

You can also do it online with a turn a day (I ran an office Diplomacy League this way).

It's worth noting that you can play the game completely openly and honestly. We have had complete victories where the winner never once backstabbed anyone (he was just a very shrewd negotiator). It's just pretty rare because the more honest you are all game, the more reward you will get for a well placed backstab.

Also, my advice, have a cash pot. Even if it's just $20 a player. You'll only get players who are actually competitive. Also, weirdly, fewer hard feelings - I guess knowing you got betrayed for money stings less than knowing you got betrayed for fun.

Do you allow negotiation over how the pot is split for shared victories? Like can a weak player help the leader win in exchange for a small cut of the winnings?

Exactly.

Usually I set it up like "The pot is $350. The game is over as soon as all remaining players can unanimously agree on how to split it up."

It also adds much more drama to the end game. If you are down to a small couple of territories and basically out of the game, you might still have a lot of power to negotiate your way into the winner's circle.

Are there games similar to Diplomacy that you can play in 1-1.5 hours, over discord video chat?

There are a lot of negotiation/tactical games (Game of Thrones board game comes to mind), but they all can be equally long and none have the simplicity of Diplomacy.

IMHO, the fun of Diplomacy is sneaking in little side conversations and hiding in a corner to tell a secret. In person, it's very fun. A better approximation online would be to play asynchronously (like a turn a day) via a website.

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