Diplomacy Games

With just a month until the first World Diplomacy Championship in Asia we catchup with organisers Andrew Goff and Lei Saarlainen about WDC Bangkok 2023, plus lots more. Intro The guys introduce their drinks and tonight’s venue (0 mins 10 secs) They discuss why Italy doesn’t open more often to the west and some crazy openings (5 mins 35 secs) Interview about WDC Bangkok with Andrew Goff and Lei Saarlainen They introduce the interview today with Lei Saarlainen and Andrew Goff about WDC 2023 in Bangkok (14 mins) We discuss what’s planned (16 mins 40 sec) They discuss how language is approached at the tournament (20 mins) Andrew and Lei discusses what makes this WDC different to previous tournaments (25 mins 10 secs) Kaner asks about what Bangkok is like for visitors flying in and what to do. Andrew gives some tricks to remember for visitors (29 mins 45 secs) Lei also mentions there is a side tournament being held a week later in Siem Reap in Cambodia including visits to the Angkor Wat temple complex. Andrew als

Kaner & Amby catch up to discuss the upcoming new official board game rules, their game with podcast listeners and much more. Intro The guys introduce their drinks and tonight’s venue (0 mins 5 secs) New board game rules & face to face They talk about the proposed board updates and rule changes from Renegade, the new publisher (7 mins) Amby discusses the beer taps before they move onto the last 2 rule changes (25 mins 40 secs) They discuss whether any of the upcoming tournaments from August on, including WDC, will be playing against the rules (33 mins) The guys talk about their plans for WDC in Bangkok (43 mins 40 secs) Amby discusses timing for their next face to face game in Brisbane (45 mins 10 secs) Around the grounds Kaner and Amby in the last episode talked about playing the Nine Dash variant with podcast listeners. This has now happened and can be found at vDip. The guys give a shout out to all listeners/players in the game  (47 mins 20 secs) They talk about the interesting aspects of this va

Lots of stuff been happening in the guys' lives, so they catch up to discuss the game. Intro The guys give some context for the delay in podcast episodes (0 mins 10 secs) Kaner gives Amby his belated Christmas gift (1 mins 50 secs) They discuss their face to face game in January, their first game since Covid. They discuss having another game in mid-April (5 mins 20 secs) The guys move onto discussing ChatGPT and using it for a Diplomacy game. Kaner discusses the jail breaked version (10 mins 30 secs) They realise they'd forgette to introduce the bar and their drinks (13 mins 45 secs) Amby talks some more about ChatGPT and what it knows about our podcast (16 mins) Amby asks Kaner about circular movements in Diplomacy. Kaner uses as an example a Classic Britain game. They go onto discuss the dynamics of how England got off Great Britain (25 mins 30 secs) They discuss the two new variants at vDip: Cold War Redux (a 4 player version) and Nine-Dash Line. They discuss creating a password protected game for our list

The guys interview Noam Brown from Meta about all the things you don't know about Cicero. Plus a good old Diplomacy chat. Intro The guys introduce the show and venue. Amby explains his screw up pre-recording (0 mins 10 secs) Amby asks for listener's feedback on the Christmas show and they discuss their drinks (6 mins) Interview with Noam Brown from Meta The guys start introducing today's interview with Noam Brown from Meta about the work they've done teaching their artificial intelligence (AI) agent Cicero into playing a very strong communicative game of Diplomacy (10 mins 30 secs) Amby mentions where you can learn more in other videos about Cicero: DBN, Meta's own videos and CaptainMeme's Diplostrats first and second videos (12 mins 30 secs) The guys begin the interview with Noam and discuss his early days experience with the game (14 mins) They discuss why Diplomacy was chosen to explore with AI (17 mins) Noam talks a little more about his pitch as a Meta employee and what benefits he put forward to the or

The guys celebrate the festive season with Round 2 of Diplomacy Trivia, some Christmas gift giving and much, much more. Intro The guys introduce the show, venue and drinks. They throw in a bit of weather talk (0 mins 10 secs)   The guys introduce the 2022 Christmas Diplomacy Trivia game and contestants: reigning champ Markus Zijlstra/CaptainMeme, 3rd place 2022 WDC player Peter McNamara, variant extraordinaire David E. Cohen and podcast Patreon supporter and well known player Hal Schild (7 mins 30 secs) The trivia contest kicks off (8 mins 45 secs) The first question starts (11 mins) The visual for which country was not altered in the very last prototype of Realpolitik before it became Diplomacy is: (20 mins 30 secs)   The next visual question relates to this board (23 mins) The contest round up with the winner declared (1 hr 5 mins) The guys return and give their thoughts on the contest (1 hr 7 mins) Christmas gifts and Diplomacy chat Being Christmas the guys exchange gifts (kind of) (1 hr 12 mins) T

The guys interview Stephen Agar, creator of the Diplomacy Archive for zines and the Variant Bank, on getting back into the hobby. Plus the guys talk cheese and languages. Oh and their games too. Intro The guys introduce the show, venue and drinks. They grab some lunch and then return (0 mins 10 secs) Interview with Stephen Agar The guys start setting the scene for their interview with Stephen Agar, creator of the Variant Bank and collector of Diplomacy zines around returning to the hobby (4 mins 15 secs) The interview begins with Stephen talking about running postal Diplomacy back in 1976 and his progression initially with the hobby (4 mins 30 secs) He starts talking about creating in 1999 Diplomacy Archive and Variant Bank. He goes onto discussing how he received 1000's of UK Diplomacy zines and how he's looking at providing them to the British Library (11 mins) He discusses rediscovering  aspects of the game from rereading and cataloging zines and how only about 10% of all zines are online (15 mins) Stephe

The guys interview Kestas about his suggested options for how vDip and webDip could better work together or possibly merge. Plus how their games are going. Intro The guys introduce the show, venue and drinks (0 mins 10 secs) Interview with Kestas on vDip and webDip Kestas is welcomed back to the show and starts by discussing his thoughts on how vDip and webDip could possibly work better together (4 mins 30 secs) He outlines some of the challenges for vDip and how webDip may be able to assist (9 mins) Kestas describes how he's testing the water with the community for their thoughts and feedback (15 mins) Amby gives a clarification on "vDip is dying", which was mentioned on the site in the context of its forum (17 mins) Kaner asks about if vDip and webDip were closer, could rapid variant development start again (24 mins 30 secs) Amby asks how would variants be brought across. Kestas discusses the options available (34 mins) They discuss if merges happened what needs consideration for vDip players who for one r

The guys interview BlueDog, an old school Diplomacy player who got back into the game after many decades. Plus Diplomacy chat, entering the Australian Podcast Awards and more drinking. Intro The guys introduce the show and an ongoing apology for the break in episodes. Before they go onto discuss what Kaner's reading, the venue and their drinks (0 mins 15 secs) Interview with BlueDog The start discussing the interview today with BlueDog, an ally of Amby's in a WWIV sealanes game. Amby talks a little about Rulebook press (9 mins 30 secs) BlueDog discusses how he got started playing Diplomacy in the 1970's and only got back into it this year (2022 at time of recording) (14 mins 30 secs) They discuss having the parent-child dynamic changed (17 mins 30 secs) BlueDog discuss how his father, a World War 2 veteran and uncle got into the game (19 mins 30 secs) He goes onto discuss his experience with the online Diplomacy sites and his thoughts pre-internet about the game opportunities he envisaged (22 mins) BlueDog d

The guys interview Traci Brown, leading expert in detecting deception using body language. Plus two new variant maps are making the rounds. Kaner keeps on winning. And Amby screws up the tech. Intro The guys introduce the show and an apology for the break in episodes. Before they go onto the venue and their drinks (0 mins 15 secs) Interview with Traci Brown The start discussing the interview today with leading deception detection expert Traci Brown (2 mins 30 secs) The interview begins with Amby framing the context of today's discussion on body language and detecting fraud and lying (5 mins 30 secs) Amby asks Traci how she got into being a body language expert with Traci discussing her earlier cycling career (7 mins 45 secs) He goes onto ask what are the basic things someone should be looking for (12 mins 20 secs) Traci dispels some of Amby's thoughts on body language. Traci discusses the importance of establishing a person's baseline (15 mins 45 secs) Kaner asks how do you establish the baseline of someone'

The guys interview Joren, one of the Diplicity app's incredible map creators. They talk all things Diplomacy maps. Plus all the cool updates over at webDiplomacy will blow your mind. And Kaner picks on Amby's 1066 variant. Intro & webDiplomacy awesomeness The guys introduce the show, the venue and their drinks. They then go through how the show will run this episode (0 mins 15 secs) Kaner introduces a new games engine introduced to webDiplomacy: a great new click interface, against bots and no account needed! You'll find it at play.webdiplomacy.net Thanks Andrew Goff for the hot tip (8 mins) Amby talks about his experience giving it a go (10 mins 45 secs) They discuss why vDip has interactive interface options but webDip didn't (18 mins 15 secs) They talk dumbed down bots before the batteries dies (20 mins secs) Interview with Joren on Diplomacy maps They start introducing their interview with Joren from Diplicity, one of their incredible cartographers (22 mins 20 secs) The interview starts with Amby ask

The guys interview Tejas Patel, who is DARPA's the project lead for SHADE: an AI research initiative using Diplomacy to better understand the nuance of communication intent behind actions. Plus the guys games and how does a famous UK Diplomacy player get himself a novice rank in Australia's Diplomacy association. Intro The guys introduce the show, the venue and their drinks (0 mins 15 secs) They discuss getting how to get a French fleet into Tunis. Hint hint, they're wrong! (Spring 1901 MAR-GOL, PAR-MAR, NAP-TYR; Fall 1901 Convoy MAR-TUN (2 hrs 45 mins) Interview with Tejas Patel from DARPA The guys introduce their thoughts on the interview with Tejas Patel from DARPA - Defense Advanced Research Project Agency - and why our podcast wanted to talk to him (5 mins 35 secs) The interview begins with Amby asking Tejas why DARPA chose Diplomacy for the SHADE project and what the project is about (9 mins 10 secs) Amby asks how Tejas first discovered Diplomacy and when he realised Diplomacy could be used for what DA

The guys get into the new Bourse game, talk Amby's happy little accident, games and much much more. Intro & Diplomacy talk The guys introduce the show, the venue and their drinks (0 mins 15 secs) Bourse 2022 Kaner kicks off discussions on the new Bourse game he's adjudicating and Amby is playing. Kaner reminds listeners if they missed previous shows what a Bourse game is (5 mins 45 secs) They discuss pumping up the value of currencies (9 mins) Amby discusses how he's previously approached the start of earlier Bourse games and how his opening strategy has changed (11 mins) Kaner reflects on Amby having a commanding position in the Bourse game (21 mins 30 secs) After ordering some more drinks, Kaner shares with Amby about the adjudication and checking who bought what (22 mins 30 secs) Around the grounds & more Diplomacy talk Amby discusses the outcome of his Youngstown World War II game as Japan where he didn't expect at all to win, but somehow did (31 mins 45 secs) He goes onto reflect his strategy t

The guys discuss Amby's attendance at PoppyCon in Melbourne with round the table interviews, tournament results and a live Wilsonian game of Diplomacy. Intro & Diplomacy talk The guys introduce the show, the venue and their drinks (0 mins 15 secs) They give a quick run down of how today's episode is going to work this episode, and Kaner provides a pronunciation correction for the Mayans. Amby shares a partial Arkansas update, with the Twitter pic he shares from @TerribleMaps with Kaner  (4 mins 30 secs) They start to introduce Amby's experience at PoppyCon this year (10 mins) PoppyCon The round table begins, with a brief discussion on scoring systems and Jamal Blakkarly's board solo (14 mins) They talk about playing on multiple boards at once (18 mins 30 secs) Allan discusses what's changed in the way players approach the game compared to 30 years ago and a discussion on draws (22 mins) Amby asks about people's thoughts on the new players to the game (27 mins 30 secs) The conversation merges into a gen

The guys interview face to face Macca, a local vDiplomacy player over a drink about all things Diplomacy. Intro & Diplomacy talk The guys introduce the show, the venue and their drinks (0 mins 15 secs) They discuss being involved in the most recent DBN Deadline News as guests in a panel discussion about Diplomacy variants (3 mins) Amby recently got Covid and talks briefly on that (4 mins 40 secs) He goes onto discuss his excitement about attending PoppyCon this weekend (10 mins 50 secs) The guys clarify that they have a guest joining them at some stage during the show (11 mins 30 secs) Kaner asks Amby if there's a country he'd like to play at PoppyCon (12 mins 15 secs) Interview with Macca Kaner & Amby welcome Macca to the show, and bring him into the conversation around alliance combinations (14 mins 50 secs) Kaner asks Macca how he got into Diplomacy (18 mins 50 secs) Kaner then asks Macca about his favorite variant at vDip (22 mins) They discuss stalemate lines (23 mins 30 secs) Kaner asks Amby ab

The guys invite Kestas back onto the show to discuss webDip's partnering with Facebook. Plus lots of Diplomacy chat, including variants and Kaner's great game result. Intro & Diplomacy talk The guys introduce the show, the venue and their drinks (0 mins 15 secs) They reflect on last episode where they misheard what was happening in Ukraine at the time (4 mins) Interview with Kestas Amby welcomes Kestas back to the show after an absence for 4 years on the podcast. He asks about some of the latest developments at webDip and the artificial intelligence collaboration with academia and Facebook (5 mins) Kaner asks about the system and approach to redacting personal identifiable information (12 mins 45 secs) Amby asks about the technical aspects of how the data is used and what will a player experience as a result (17 mins 30 secs) They touch on the bot games briefly ceasing a year ago before Amby asks about covering costs for the hardware upgrades (21 mins 30 secs) Amby reflects on some discussions he and Kan

With flooding forecasted and too long between episodes, the guys catchup online to talk PoppyCon, Ukraine, What the Dr Recommended and lots of Diplomacy talk. Intro & Diplomacy talk The guys introduce the show, their drinks and their situation for the evening. They talk about concerns about flooding and pooh-pooh it, only for a couple of days later (after recording) for the rain to start bucketing down and flooding locally (0 mins 15 secs) They touch on interviews that were planned and haven't yet happened (3 mins 15 secs) Amby says he plans to go to the PoppyCon tournament, with Kaner shortly later saying he'd like to go too (4 mins) They then go to onto discussing about attending WDC 2023 in Bangkok (8 mins 45 secs) Around the grounds Kaner asks how Amby's games are going. Amby begins talking about a Modern Diplomacy game he bought into and won. But there's disappointment in Amby's voice when he discovers its unrated so doesn't count (10 mins) Kaner does share there is a positive aspect of the ga

We interview Mrs Kaner and Mrs Amby about being Diplomacy wives. Plus we talk current games. Intro The guys introduce the show, their drinks and tonight's venue (0 mins 15 secs) Interview with Mrs Kaner & Mrs Amby The guys introduce today's interview: their partners (6 mins 50 secs) The interview starts with Kaner starting to talk detail about a game which quickly turns to him asking Mrs Kaner what she thinks when he talks about his games, before they ask Mrs Amby the same question (7 mins 30 secs) Mrs Amby talks about when Amby has to record an interview and her understanding of the game (11 mins 10 secs) They talk about Mrs Amby's mother's theory about Kaner (13 mins 40 secs) They talk about the bars the guys visit (17 mins) Kaner asks the ladies about their thoughts about players travelling to play the game (18 mins 30 secs) They talk about the guy's personalities and how it leads them to Diplomacy (22 mins 30 secs) They wrap up the interview before the guys discuss their thoughts afterwards.

We interview tobi, who saved vDiplomacy. Plus we celebrate Christmas and discuss our games. Intro The guys introduce the show, their drinks and tonight's venue (0 mins 15 secs) Interview with tobi The guys introduce today's interview. Tobi is a developer who saved the day when vDiplomacy ground to a halt. Even if you're not on vDip, there's still some lessons here for other Diplomacy sites (3 mins 50 secs) The interview starts although Kaner didn't turn up. They begin by looking at what went wrong with vDip and how it relates to other Dip sites (5 mins) Tobi talks about his skillset developing and applying it to Diplomacy websites. They talk about going live into production without full user acceptance testing (12 mins 45 secs) Amby asks about with the upgrade to vDip using webDip code, whether any webDip functionality is in, or will be added to vDip soon. They also discuss tobi getting in touch with Oli and what came out of discussions (19 mins 45 secs) They move on from the tech talk to discuss how t

The guys interview game designer, World Boardgaming Champion and CEO Matt Calkins about his love of Diplomacy. Intro The guys introduce the show, their drinks and tonight's venue (0 mins 15 secs) Interview with Matt Calkins The guys introduce today's interview (6 mins 30 secs) Amby asks when Matt first got into Diplomacy and which aspects of the game's design he likes (7 mins) They discuss some of the board games Matt has commercially published and their relationship with the game. Matt's games include the award winning Sekigahara (the most similar to Diplomacy), Tin Goose and Magnet (10 mins) Matt talks about the World Boardgaming Championships (12 mins) Amby asks about the cross-overs between gaming and the business world (15 mins) Photo credit: Forbes Magazine Kaner asks about creating board games and Matt's favorite country to play in Diplomacy (16 mins) Amby asks about Matt's favorite board games in his library in the photo taken in Forbes magazine (23 mins) Amby asks how Matt uses board gamin

The guys celebrate their 100th podcast by inviting Andrew Goff, Brandon Fogel, Brother Board and CaptainMeme on to play their Diplomacy Trivia Extravaganza. Intro The guys introduce their 100th show, their drinks and tonight's venue, including a story or two (0 mins 15 secs) They start introducing the Diplomacy Trivia Extravaganza with Andrew Goff, Brandon Fogel, Brother Bored and CaptainMeme as contestants. They also mention if you join the Patreon feed, next week's bonus episode is the guys coming up with the questions (6 mins 40 secs) The Diplomacy Trivia Extravaganza Amby is acting as the game show host and begins by introducing the players and some of their Diplomacy background. Kaner is the adjudicator (7 mins 50 secs) They begin the questions (11 mins 50 secs) After a score update, the game moves onto the lightening round (34 mins 15 secs) The lightening round concludes and we move back onto the normal set of questions, followed by another score update (47 mins 45 secs) Goffy does a promo for P