Diplomacy

Diplomacy is a strategic board game created by Allan B. Calhamer in 1954 and released commercially in 1959. Its main distinctions from most board wargames are its negotiation phases (players spend much of their time forming and betraying alliances with other players and forming beneficial strategies) and the absence of dice or other game elements that produce random effects. Set in Europe just before the beginning of World War I, Diplomacy is played by two to seven players, each controlling the armed forces of a major European Power (or, with few players, multiple powers). Each player aims to move his or her few starting units—and defeat those of others—to win possession of a majority of strategic cities and provinces marked as "supply centers" on the map; these supply centers allow players who control them to produce more units.

Diplomacy in Supervolcano

After the Yellowstone Supervolcano erupted, the erratic electrical power supply made it difficult for Marshall Ferguson to play online games such as World of Warcraft. However, his friend Lucas' father dug out an old game of Diplomacy that he had played in the ancient days when he was in high school. Marshal and his friends would gather at Lucas' house on weekends to play and while it was different from what they were used to, it still was a good game to play. The main difficulty was getting the seven of them together to play a full game but, since none of them had regular jobs, it wasn't as difficult as it might have been.

During one session, Tim pulled out a fat baggie of killer dope. Tim confessed he got it from Darren Pitcavage, the son of the San Atanasio police chief. This greatly amused the other players but Marshall remembered it the next day and reported it to his father, police Lieutenant Colin Ferguson.