UK Diplomacy Archive

Intellectual Diversions Editions

ManufacturerIntellectual Diversions, Ltd.
Year of Release1962
Map StylePolitical
PiecesPlastic bullets (armies), elongated 5-sided polygons (fleets)
Piece Colors (AEFGIRT)Red, Dark Blue, Light Blue, Black, Green, White, Yellow
Description:
This edition was the first edition of Diplomacy published outside of the United States. The gameboard is copyright 1961 by Games Research Inc., and the rulebook is copyright 1962 by Intellectual Diversions Ltd. As can be seen below, the rulebook is different from later rulebooks from Intellectual Diversions, plain in design, but the same rules. The gameboard is a completely different design from the Games Research design available at the time in the U.S., with bright colors reflecting the political divisions among powers. It is interesting that this gameboard was only used for one year. By the next year, Intellectual Diversions released a redesigned edition with the more familiar colorful gameboard used for over 30 years in all subsequent U.K. editions of Diplomacy.Unlike most U.K. editions of Diplomacy, this edition has white pieces for Russia (to match the fact that Russia is white on this gameboard, unlike later editions where Russia was purlple on the gameboard). This edition used the same bullets and 5-sided polygons for pieces as did later U.K. editions, but these were made out of a hard shiny plastic rather than the more ductile matte-finished plastic used in subsequent U.K. editions. The pieces of paper shown in the image are used to wrap up the pieces, and were probably part of the original set.
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ManufacturerIntellectual Diversions, Ltd.
Year of Release1963
Map StylePolitical
PiecesPlastic bullets (armies), elongated 5-sided polygons (fleets)
Piece Colors (AEFGIRT)Red, Pink, Blue, Black, Green, White, Yellow
Description:
Although there is no image of this set, I believe that the box and gameboard, and probably the rulebook, look identical to the one for later Intellectual Diversions editions of Diplomacy. (Although the rulebook was likely redesigned, I believe the rules themselves did not change.) The purple box design is familiar to many players in the U.K. hobby, as the basic design would go on to be used (with minor changes) for about the next 15 years, even by the two companies that took over licensing of Diplomacy after Intellectual Diversions. The gameboard for this edition used the same basic map as the previous one, but whereas the previous edition only used colors to denote the territories for the seven powers, this map design had a lot more color to it, and now included coloring for neutral territories. This gameboard went on to be used for over 30 years in every U.K. edition of Diplomacy that followed this one.Like the previous edition, and unlike all later U.K. editions of Diplomacy, this edition also had white pieces for Russia. The box top says “The New Game of International Intrigue” and the side of the box says “From Intellectual Diversions”. I mention these things specifically because there are ten or more U.K. editions in purple boxes (from three different companies) and these are among the details that help identify them.
Images:
None available, but it probably looks the same as the edition at the bottom of this page other than the white pieces for Russia.
ManufacturerIntellectual Diversions, Ltd.
Year of ReleaseUnknown (between 1963 and 1971)
Map StylePolitical
PiecesPlastic bullets (armies), elongated 5-sided polygons (fleets)
Piece Colors (AEFGIRT)Red, Pink, Blue, Black, Green, Purple, Yellow
Description:
This variation is identical to the previous one except that the color for the Russian pieces was changed to Purple. Intellectual Diversions evidently still had rulebooks already printed when they made the change to purple pieces, because if you look in the rulebook where it mentions the color for the seven powers, there is a piece of paper inserted in the rulebook to cover where it used to say white (for Russia), now indicating that the color for Russia is mauve.
Images:
None available, but it probably is identical to the next variation below other than the correction in the rulebook.
ManufacturerIntellectual Diversions, Ltd.
Year of ReleaseUnknown (between 1963 and 1971)
Map StylePolitical
PiecesPlastic bullets (armies), elongated 5-sided polygons (fleets)
Piece Colors (AEFGIRT)Red, Pink, Blue, Black, Green, Purple, Yellow
Description:
Once Intellectual Diversions ran out of rulebooks that listed white as being the color for Russia, subsequent batches of the rulebook were printed to correctly correspond to the change in color. Thus, the rulebook itself indicates mauve for Russia, and no longer has the corrections inserted. The back of the gameboard for this variation is red. The rulebook has gold print on a dark blue cover.
Images:
ManufacturerIntellectual Diversions, Ltd.
Year of ReleaseUnknown (between 1963 and 1971)
Map StylePolitical
PiecesPlastic bullets (armies), elongated 5-sided polygons (fleets)
Piece Colors (AEFGIRT)Red, Pink, Blue, Black, Green, Purple, Yellow
Description:
This variation is identical to the previous one except that the color of the back of the gameboard is now black instead of red, and the back of the gameboard has an embossed crest.
Images:
ManufacturerIntellectual Diversions, Ltd.
Year of ReleaseUnknown (between 1963 and 1971)
Map StylePolitical
PiecesPlastic bullets (armies), elongated 5-sided polygons (fleets)
Piece Colors (AEFGIRT)Red, Pink, Blue, Black, Green, Purple, Yellow
Description:
This variation is similar to the previous one, though it lacks the embossed crest on the back of the gameboard and has a rulebook with dark blue print on a light blue cover rather than gold print on a dark blue cover.
Images:
ManufacturerIntellectual Diversions, Ltd.
Year of ReleaseUnknown (between 1963 and 1971)
Map StylePolitical
PiecesPlastic bullets (armies), elongated 5-sided polygons (fleets)
Piece Colors (AEFGIRT)Red, Pink, Blue, Black, Green, Purple, Yellow
Description:
This variation has the same gameboard and rulebook as the previous one. Rather than having cardboard indentations to hold the game pieces, a tray has been added. The color of this tray is a light shade of blue.
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