14/05/2026: The Armistice Party!
The Armistice Party has been announced for 23/5, read all about it here!:
The Armistice Party! – Athens Diplomacy Club
13/05/2026: Round 4 and Draws!
Hello everyone! Only 9 sleeps to go until WDC 2026. I hope you’re excited.
I am writing to you with a slight update to the tournament structure, and to introduce the ‘Athens draw method’ which will be debuting this tournament.
We had previously advertised that round 4 will include a team round for those not on the top board. This has been changed, and there will be no team round. Instead we are going to have round 4 operate as effectively a “championship round’’. There is more detail below, but the tl;dr is that the top 49 final standings in the tournament will effectively be determined by the games in round 4. There will still be a top board.
In addition, WDC 2026 will be in the inaugural use of the ‘Athens Draw Method’. Again, we have more delta below, but they key takeaways are:
- You do not need a TD to facilitate a draw vote
- Players will call for a draw, then continue to negotiate, and vote for the draw by submitting their draw card in the box at the same time as their orders.
- If the draw passess, orders are not read and the game ends. If the draw does not pass, orders are read and the game continues.
We hope you are as excited as us by these tweaks. We are keen to make this WDC the best it can possibly be, and this includes really thinking in depth about the best way to support the greatest Diplomacy players in the world (you) to play their very best!
Thanks, and see you all very soon
Jamal – Tournament Director
Round 4 details
Round 4 (Sunday morning) will include the top board. The top board will determine the top 7 places in the WDC. The top board seeding and tie breaks will be determined by Paris method.
The 4th round will be seeded and score differently from rounds 1-3. It is worth thinking about rounds 1-3 as qualifying rounds, and round 4 as the ‘championship round’. Placements in the final standings will be determined by round 4.
The structure of round 4 will be as follows:
- The top 49 players after round 3 will be seeded into a ‘Top 7’ boards, based on their placement order.
- I.e top board will be filled by ranks 1-7. Board 2 will be ranks 8-14 etc.
- If any player in the top 49 does not play round 4, they will automatically start round 4 in 50th place, and everyone else will move up a ranking. If multiple players do not play, all these players will drop to places 50 onwards and players who do play will all move up a ranking to fill their spots.
- Each board in the Top 7 will determine countries and tie breaks by Paris method.
- The ranking of each board will determine the ranking in that bracket.
- I.e whoever wins board 2 will place 8th, 2nd place will place 9th etc. The winner of board 3 will place 15th…
- Thus the top 49 will all be determined by the Top 7 boards.
- For places 50 onwards, these players will play normally seeded and scored boards. Places 50 onwards will be determined by total score across all rounds, with the maximum place that someone in this ‘normal bracket’ being 50th
- For clarity, as an example, imagine a scenario where a player who comes 51st gets a solo in round 4 and a player in 9th gets eliminated. Even if the 51st player ends the tournament with a total score across rounds higher than the player who came in 9th they player in 9th will come no lower than 14th, and the 51st no higher than 50th.
- We expect this system to mean that published scores will not be accurate for the final placements until a manual update can be made. This will be done as soon as possible, but is unlikely to be done immediately on the Sunday of the Tournament
Athens draw method
This tournament will use a new draw method. This draw method does not require a Tournament organiser to be present. Boards are expected to run their own draws, and only call a TD if there is an issue or point of contention. The rules are as follows:
- All Draws are done on the clock. No time allowance is given for a draw vote.
- A draw must only be called when all players are present at the board. The natural time to request a draw vote is immediately at the start of a turn.
- While draws can be called at other times, a draw vote cannot be used as a reason to force a player to return to the board.
- When a player requests a draw, a moment is given for any open vetoes. If none, the draw vote proceeds
- The players then nominate the draw facilitator.
- The suggested way is that the Austrian player is the automatic facilitator, if they are eliminated or unwilling, then the English player and so on alphabetically.
- The draw facilitator then hands out all draw cards (one yes and one no) to each other player.
- Negotiations then continue as normal until the end of the phase
- At a time of their choosing (when submitting order is natural) players place their preferred draw card facedown in the box. This must be done prior to the deadline.
- The non preferred draw card is placed underneath the box.
- In adjudication, before orders are read, the draw facilitator publicly shuffles all draw cards in the box – facedown without any looking at them, in public view of all other players
- The draw facilitator then reveals all draw cards
- If there is a single vote against the draw, orders are read and the game continues.
- If a draw is unanimous, then it is passed, the orders are torn up and not read, and the game ends.
If there have been 2 failed draw votes, draws become public, instead of waiting until adjudication to reveal votes, all players simply place their chosen card facedown on the table and simultaneously reveal their vote.
11/05/2026: Just published!:
A small guide to food in Greece. What and how
05/05/2026: Just published!:
A small guide to very local, non-touristy things to do in Athens
03/05/2026: Pretournament Activities Payment Links
Having finalized who would like to do what from our pre-tournament activities, I am now sending out personalized payment links for the cost. The total cost is broken down to components, so you can easily check if everything is correct before making the payment. Please arrange the payment at your earliest convenience, and certainly not later than 15/5 End Of Day. It will be increasingly difficult for the organizing team to handle money matters as we are getting closer to the Convention. Thank you!
Spyros
02/05/2026: Hobby Meeting!
Traditionally, but also as dictated by the WDC charter, a Hobby Meeting is taking place as part of a WDC.
The Charter dictates that, at this meeting, the bids for WDC2028 should be presented and voted upon. Also, if there are proposals to amend the Charter, this is the place where they should be presented and the amendment process begun.
Hereby, we announce that the Hobby Meeting will take place on Saturday 23/5, 15:15, at our main venue, Chlois 1, Saronida, and we call for bids for WDC2028 as well as proposals for WDC Charter amendments to be submitted.
Please submit to us any bids or proposed agenda items by 5pm Athens time on 15 May.
As they come in, we will use all our communications channels (email, whatsapp groups, discord, WDC site’s announcements section) to make sure that all members are notified of the proposals that will be presented.
Apart from these two explicitly defined agenda items, if there are other topics or matters that
members believe that should be presented and discussed by the wider hobby, people are also invited to submit them. Not everything will make the agenda of course, either due to time constraints or because we may have to decline a specific item as not appropriate for this meeting. Extra items are beyond the scope of what the Charter dictates for this meeting, but we feel that we shouldn’t miss the opportunity to raise matters that are important enough to be discussed in such a wide assembly of the hobby. We will apply our judgement about this and we will make sure to communicate transparently about any items that we believe are not able to make the agenda.
Looking forward to receiving your bids and proposals, either publicly or privately.
Spyros and the WDC2026 organizing team
28/04/2026: Change of embarkation point for Hydra!
Got the following message from Hellenic Seaways regarding the departure point of our fast ferry to Hydra:
ΚΙΝDLY BE INFORMED THAT THE HIGHSPEED VESSEL AERO & FLYINGCAT FROM 01.05.26 UNTIL 31.05.26 SAILINGS WILL DEPART FROM GATE E9 (INSTEAD OF E8). THE NEW GATE IS ACCESSIBLE BY VEHICLES UNTIL THE EMBARKATION POINT.
28/04/2026: Edi’s Tournament Diplomacy Play Guide!
Edi Birsan, who will be with us in Athens for WDC2026, shared with us a guide for Tournament Diplomacy Play to assist players newer to tournament play with what to expect and how to approach the eventual challenges of a multi-round event.
You (we) are all newer to tournament play than Edi, so you may want to take a look at what wisdom he has to offer ;). Spyros
28/04/2026: Olympic Scoring System Calculator!
Toby sent us an email asking what would the scoring system produce for various scenaria, so I have created an Olympic Scoring System Calculator Spreadsheet for your reference. Toby’s scenaria are in there, but you can test your own “playing” with the green fields. Enjoy! Spyros
Update: Chris Brand reminded me that there are several examples in DiplomacyTV, where the tournament will be run on
https://diplomacytv.com/game_scoring/olympic
24/04/2025: Acropolis Tickets!
IMPORTANT!
The ticket sale for the Acropolis has just opened for 21/05! If you want to participate to our Acropolis visit on 21/05, please go ASAP to the official page of Acropolis Tickets here:
https://hhticket.gr/tap_b2c_new/greek/tap.exe?PM=P1P&place=000000002
and purchase your tickets!
Our time slot is 08.00 – 09.00.
This is the most popular time slot and tickets may go fast.
Please do not delay it if there is not some serious reason.
Kindly, please inform me with a direct message, email or any other means that you have secured your tickets, I will monitor this closely to make sure that we do not have someone left out.
Thank you!
Spyros.
18/04/2025: Tickets to Hydra!
Hello all! People who have signed up for our Hydra trip on 20/5 (and those considering it) are advised to book their ferry tickets the soonest! You can do it through ferryhopper.com or any other portal you may prefer. These are the trips we will use:
The total cost per person, after the discount we will get for using the same ship in and out will be 75.5 euros:
Please note that there will be an extra cost for transport from Saronida to Piraeus and back, it will be finalized once we have the final headcount.
Please contact me with any questions you may have!
Spyros
16/04/2025: Tournament info, scoring system and more!
Hello everyone! Jamal, your Tournament Director here. Please see in this link some very exciting announcements about the tournament, the scoring system, and more!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1f7RtCXd5BjM_U3P_obR5NDXlSpYyrPqq6KSg7O6j7As/edit?usp=sharing
All registered players should receive a copy of this via email too in the coming days.
Enjoy! 🙏
More info:
A small guide to very local, non-touristy things to do in Athens