Preamble

WDC is the premier tournament of the Diplomacy community. Buoyed by the recent renaissance of face-to-face Diplomacy play around the globe, we, the organisers of WDC 2026, are aspiring to offer a memorable, once in a lifetime experience to all who grace us by coming to participate.

The venue and the location y have been chosen so that they highlight the character and lifestyle of Athens and Greece. We aim to set a *total miles travelled* record for any Diplomacy tournament in recent history, bringing players from all around the globe to Greece for this amazing event. Athens 2026 will be your best chance to meet and play with the people you have met online, whose games in other tournaments you have watched on youtube, whose stories you read in newsletters and zines. We also aim for this tournament to be a showcase of the Diplomacy community as a whole, illustrating why so many have fallen in love with the game and the group of people who play it. 

This tournament should be a wonderful experience for all, even if you (like the vast majority of players) do not end up competing for the title. In the end, the participants make the tournament and shape the experience. We are striving to make this WDC a real World  Diplomacy Convention, the community from around the world will gather and celebrate the hobby and its values.  The rules that follow have been drafted to set the tone, the vibes and the character of the tournament. They prioritise the safety and well being of the attendees above all else (see “Application of Rules” section). 

In summary, this tournament will run on a zero dickhead tolerance principle. 

Please read and understand the Rules and the Code of Contact. Please be respectful and polite towards all other players, the organisers, volunteers and staff of the venue. Do not be the one negative aspect of the tournament for others, and try to ensure that what you leave on the sands of Greece is a wonderful experience for the others at the event. 

Help us make WDC2026 epic!

Application of Rules

When considering these rules, it is most important to understand the hierarchy of importance that motivate them, and all of our decisions for this tournament:

Highest: The safety of attendees (and other people we may share the space with).

Second: The community of Diplomacy players at large.

Third: The fairness and competitiveness of the event. 

While we understand that this is a World Championship, even still, we will unashamedly prioritise the safety and wellbeing of all attendees above any notion of competition. We will do everything in our power to ensure that the fairness of the tournament is not compromised, but in the rare case where the organizers must choose between someone’s safety and a ‘pure’ interpretation of fairness, we will choose safety first. The ethos of this is simple. Everyone cannot fairly play and compete unless they have 100% confidence that they will be safe and looked after, in as much as we can do so.

Please pay attention to Rule 34. While these rules are laid out for clarity and fairness, fairness is a third-order consideration. The tournament director will not hesitate to override any or all of the rules if it is to ensure a safe environment and the safety of attendees.

Rules

1. The 6^th Edition rules of Diplomacy as published by Renegade Games apply except where otherwise noted.

2. Game turns will be 17 minutes in Spring and 15 minutes in Fall. This will be managed by a central clock – or a ‘local clock’ (a central clock for a specific area, in the case that one part of the tournament can’t feasibly hear the central clock).
   This time includes order writing, reading and adjudication, retreats, centre counts, and adjustments (which is why Spring turns are longer than Fall turns). Deadlines are not “drop dead” – they are “drop to sleep” – orders will be accepted after the deadline, and lenience will be given to newer players to let them finish writing their orders, however negotiations must promptly stop.
   1. If you feel that a player on your board is unfairly using this leniency to gain an advantage, please contact a tournament organiser who can impose a drop dead deadline on your board if they feel it necessary. 
   2. Delaying the game is frowned upon. Complete your retreats and builds promptly, and read orders in a timely manner. If a player is stalling, call the tournament director.

3. The tournament has a number of wellbeing advisors. Their only role is to support and enable the safety and wellbeing of attendees. They are not the tournament director, and cannot make any decision. All decisions are made by the tournament director or their delegates, but wellbeing advisors can and will make recommendations to the tournament director. The wellbeing advisor has the authority to pause the tournament at any time where the safety of any attendee is perceived to be at risk.
   1. If you feel you are at risk for any reason, please approach the wellbeing advisor or tournament director who will take appropriate action. This may include pausing play, replacing players, or addressing the factor that is putting you at risk. See preamble: player safety is paramount. Please also take care of yourself – remember to stay hydrated and eat, and remember that this event is for fun and challenge, not punishment.

4. Games will end either:
   1. When a player achieves an 18-centre victory.
   2. After the Winter phase of the pre-declared end year for that game. 
   3. If the tournament director determines a game must end for safety reasons.
   4. When all players who still hold a centre agree to a draw.
      1. The method for agreeing to a draw is that players will be given two cards. They will discard one card face down, and return the other card to the person officiating the draw. 
      2. Players will be told if the draw passed or failed, and how many votes there were of each type. 
      3. After 2 failed draw attempts, draws will then become public voting only. This will be done by a generalised consensus that is officiated by a tournament organiser. 

5. This tournament is governed by a Code of Conduct. If a player is in breach of the code of conduct then a range of penalties are available to the tournament director, ranging from a gentle warning to expulsion from the tournament.
   1. Where possible in game penalties are preferred. Examples of this may include refusing orders if submitted after deadlines, hyper-critical interpretation of orders, and other passive interventions that materially hurt the player’s position.
   2. More serious breaches, particularly around safety, will result in more serious penalties. All penalties are at the sole discretion of the tournament director. 

6. From time to time players may need to be replaced in a game. The most common causes of this are:
   1. A player has a life emergency occur.
   2. A player is being placed in an unsafe situation and should not continue.
   3. A player is placing someone else in an unsafe situation, and their removal would allow the other player to continue.
   4. A player has informed the Tournament Director of another commitment that limits the time they can play the game for (If this is your situation, please let the Tournament Director know as far in advance as possible).
   5. A player walks away from the game.

When such a situation arises, the Tournament Director will replace the player with an appropriate substitute. The substitute will not be an eliminated player from the same game, but may be a player from another game or a tournament organiser. In the event of a substitution, the substitute player will score the game as if it were a regular game for that player (unless the Tournament Director declares it otherwise). 

Leaving a game for reason “e” is very poor sportsmanship, even where you are in a losing position. Please discuss this with a Tournament Organiser before doing so.

7. Each game board will have a ‘box’. Orders are considered submitted when placed ‘in the box’. No player may touch another player’s orders at any time, and only the player who submitted a set of orders may retrieve them from the box if they wish to do so before the deadline has passed. 

8. Where possible, orders will be interpreted as leniently as possible. If it is reasonable to interpret an order in a way that provides the writing player with a valid move, do so. The only time misorders should be adjudicated as such, is when there is clearly ambiguity in the possible move (i.e Edi-Nor), where a coast has not been specified and needs to be (I.e Mao-Spa), or where the written province does not bare any resemblance to a reasonable order in any language (i.e Bul-Mtw). Province names given in languages other than English are acceptable, if consistent with the normal use of that province name in that relevant language. 

9.  If a unit receives more than one valid order, the last written order is considered the unit’s order. If a unit receives multiple orders but one is a valid order and another an invalid order, the valid order is considered to stand. 

10. Where possible games will be sandboxed in Backstabbr. Where there is any discrepancy between the board and the sandbox, the board state will prevail. If you notice a discrepancy with sufficient time in the turn, please contact a tournament organiser and attempt to correct it before the turn ends. 

11. For the sake of speed and timing, each board should nominate one order reader, one piece pusher and one sandboxer. Boards are allowed to share the order reading duties if they wish, but this is not required, and priority should be given to clear and speedy order reading (at a pace supportive of the sandboxer). The order reader should read their orders first, then randomly each other set of orders. They should place orders faceup and visible to all other players once read and other players are free to check the interpretation of the reader.
    
12. Respect your fellow players. Respect the tournament organisers and wellbeing advisors and any assistants or venue staff. 

13. Play to maximise your score within the spirit of the game and these rules. Winning is hollow if you cheat, and ghastly if you need to ruin the event for even one other person to do so.
    1. This tournament will look very harshly on any bending of the accepted rules for the sake of advantage, even if not technically cheating by the letter of the law. For example, if a player is caught attempting a ‘flying dutchman’ or messing with another player’s orders, these will be treated as in breach of priority 2 and punished accordingly. 
    2. The use of any kind of intimidation (explicit or implicit) is not an acceptable negotiation strategy. If you see a player intimidating another player please inform an organiser or wellbeing advisor immediately. 

14. The tournament director’s rulings are final. Even if they are wrong they are right. They may consult with any other people they want to reach a ruling at their sole discretion. 

34. The tournament director may change any of these rules or invent new ones at any time in order to better assure the motivation of the rules is achieved (see preamble).

Tournament structure

1. The tournament will be played across three days, with four rounds of play. These rounds will be:
   1. Friday evening – 5pm 
   2. Saturday morning – 9 am
   3. Saturday afternoon – 4pm
   4. Sunday morning – 10 am
      
2. The Sunday morning round will include the top board and team round. The top board will determine the top 7 places in the WDC, and the team round will be played for both tournament score and a separate team competition.
   
3. Each round will start as close to the scheduled time as possible. Players must attend a roll call for the round 30 minutes before the round starts. If a player is not present at roll call, they may not be able to play that round. If anyone is unable to attend roll call, they should let the tournament director know via message as soon as possible.
   
4. Each round will end in the Winter phase of a designated game year. That game year will be announced at the start of the round, but will not be known prior. Rounds may end on different game years.
   
5. All rounds will count towards a player’s tournament score. There will be no drop rounds.
   
6. After the first three rounds, the 7 highest ranking players will qualify for the Top Board, to be played on Sunday. The winner of the Top board will be crowned the World Diplomacy Champion.
   1. Power selection of the top board will be done by Paris method
      
7. The Team round will also be played on the Sunday. This round will count for players score, and determining all positions from 8th onwards. The rules of the team round are as follows:
   1. Players will self select in to teams of three, and register their teams with the tournament organisers prior to the roll call for round 4
   2. The top 2 individual scores from all three players will be tallied and combined to provide a team score
   3. The team with the highest total team score, will win the team round and associated prize.
      
8. At times, players may need to sit out of rounds to ensure that numbers are appropriate. In this case, players will be asked to sit out in the following order:
   1. Any players who wish to volunteer to sit out the round
   2. Players who have not yet sat out a round 
   3. The players who have traveled the least geographic distance from their usual home to attend 
   4. Players who have played the greater number of WDC tournament games prior to this event.
      
9. No players will ‘double board’ (play two boards simultaneously). The tournament organisers intend to have some reserve players, who will play only if required to fill board numbers. This may be the tournament organisers if necessary. 

Scoring System And Awards

The Scoring System for this tournament will be ‘Olympic’.  TL/DR: Try to get as many centres as possible and be as far in the lead as possible. Do everything you can to avoid getting eliminated and to prevent an 18 centre by someone else.

Scoring system detail 

TBC

Awards

1. The final ranking of the top board will determine the top 7 positions of the tournament. Ties are broken by the Paris method.
   
2. Best country awards will be awarded based on the best performance of a country by a player, both as measured by score, as perceived by other players in the game, and as perceived by the tournament director. For example, a 2 centre England that was attacked all game but battled to the very end and managed to survive may beat a boring 10 centre England in an EFG, especially when the 2 centre power was a joy to play with while the 10-centre power was horrible to the other players.
3. The “World Champion Shane Cubis” award will be awarded to the player who most embodies the spirit of Shane Cubis. 
4. There will be a number of other awards as designated by the Tournament Organisers. 

World Diplomacy Convention Code of Conduct

Section A – Application

This Code of Conduct (henceforth Code) governs the behaviour of attendees at the  World Diplomacy Convention 2026 (WDC), including but not limited to the tournament. This Code will be applied by the Organisers/Tournament Director throughout the duration of the event.

1. The WDC means any event run under the banner of WDC 2026, or accepted by the WDC organisers as a sanctioned event. The event itself includes all preparation for an event (i.e meetings to organise a tournament) and also includes any time people are gathering for the purposes of the event (i.e waiting for tournament rounds to start, lingering at the event venue between or after rounds).

2. Some functions and events may occur adjacent to an WDC recognised event – i.e., a social dinner before a tournament. Unless otherwise specified, these functions are not formally part of the WDC.

The Code should, at a minimum, be included in any copies of the Tournament Rules, announced at the beginning of the tournament, and made available at the event.

The Tournament Director may add provisions to Section B at any time. 

For the purposes of WDC 2026, the ‘Tournament Director’ means Jamal Blakkarly. ‘Tournament Organisers’ mean Spyros Dovas, Georgina Dovas, and any other individuals designated by the three named people above.

Section B – Code of Conduct

The WDC is committed to providing a safe and welcoming environment for all players, volunteers, and friends associated with every event. 

The WDC recognises that Diplomacy is an emotional game. Tensions may run high and betrayal may happen. Nevertheless, there exist some norms of behaviour that must be respected at all times, on and off boards. At all times for the entire duration of WDC, whether during games or not, every participant must:

1. Treat everyone with respect, regardless of race, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, age, or any other category of personal identity;
2. Refrain from discriminating against other participants on the grounds of race, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion age, or any other category of personal identity;
3. Refrain from behavior that disturbs the ability of other participants to enjoy themselves or that disrupts activities unrelated to the competition. This includes but is not limited to verbal abuse, threats of violence, unwanted physical contact, and any form of sexual harassment or unwelcome sexual attention;
4. Make good faith efforts to support the safety of other participants, the community as a whole, and to follow the rules.

Players are encouraged to report any believed violations of the above provisions to the Tournament Director or a designated representative. All communications will be handled confidentially. The Tournament Director or their representative will mediate in good faith and take whatever action they deem appropriate to resolve the situation, including pausing a game, censuring players, adjudicating orders in ways that are unfavorable to a player, or requiring players to leave the event without a refund. 

Diplomacy often involves some level of on-board player contest. Players are free to choose who they do or do not work with for any reason – however this should always be done in line with the Code, and must not be on the grounds of an individual’s identity in any way. Choose your allies based on how they play, not who they are. 

Any attempt to abuse the Code  in order to gain advantage in any competition will be considered a serious violation and should be referred to the Tournament Director or their representative for review.

All violations of the Code will be reported by the Tournament Director to the WDC organisers for review.  Egregious or serial violations may result in additional action by the WDC.  Event attendees may report concerns about Code violations, whether by the Tournament Director or other attendees, directly to the Tournament organisers

Section C – WDC Community Standards Protocol

The WDC has ongoing expectations of community standards, in line with Section B. This includes, that players act with respect, and in the spirit of the Code at all times. 

Any violations of the Code may be referred to the tournament organisers for sanctions. 

The sanctions available are:

1. Expulsion from the WDC 2026
2. A limitation of a players involvement in WDC 2026
3. In game or in tournament sanctions (i.e orders must be in the box by deadline or given holds; orders cancelled for a turn; a player denied from playing one or more rounds). 
4. A written warning;
5. A written statement of zero tolerance for further bad behavior;
6. A suspension of attendance at WDC sanctioned events
7. A recommendation to future organisers for a players suspension of attendance at future WDC sanctioned events (for any amount to time)

Section D – Enforcement 

During the event, enforcement of the Code is at the sole discretion of the Tournament Director, with support by other organisers. If a Code violation is reported, the Tournament Director will assess if it requires immediate action. If so, they will confer with at least 2 other tournament organisers, and come to a decision. This decision will be attempted to be made by consensus, however if this is not possible the Tournament Director will be the sole decision maker. Any sanctions may be communicated in writing or verbally by the Tournament Director and are applicable immediately. 

If a violation is considered after the event, the organisers of the WDC will form a committee, and come to a decision on any sanctions by majority vote of that committee. 

More info:

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