Red, Dark Blue, Light Blue, Black, Green, White, Yellow
Description: The design of this edition is almost identical to the last variation of the Avalon Hill bookcase edition (including the same 2nd edition Avalon Hill rulebook). The one substantive difference is that the pieces are the same plastic bullets and ships used in the UK editions, instead of the plastic stars and anchors used in the Avalon Hill bookcase editions (the colors, however, match the AH bookcase edition, not the UK editions). The only other things that distinguish this set from the AH bookcase edition are the Jedko logo on the box lid and back of the rulebook, and a note printed on the box/gameboard/rulebook/basic rules/conference maps indicating that the game was manufactured in Australia by Jedko Games Company with permission from Avalon Hill.
Images:
Brazil
Manufacturer
GROW Produtos Para Recreacao, Ltda.
Year of Release
1973
Map Style
Political
Pieces
Cardboard counters
Piece Colors (AEFGIRT)
Red, Pink, Blue, Grey, Green, Yellow, Purple
Description: Being from Brazil, this game (i.e. the province names, rules, etc.) is in Portuguese. The name of the game on the box is “1914 O Jogo Da Diplomacia” (“1914 The Game of Diplomacy”). Despite the fact that this game is called 1914 and that Avalon Hill had a game called 1914 (which was entirely unrelated to Diplomacy), this game is, indeed, Diplomacy.The box itself is similar in size to the Avalon Hill bookcase editions. The gameboard is comprised of four rectangular pieces that interlock like puzzle pieces (see image below). The map style is very similar to that of the U.K. maps, differing at first glance in the assignment of colors for the various regions on the map. Interestingly, though, on closer examination, there are a few additional discrepancies. First, there is a 35th SC in North Africa making a two-way draw impossible. Second, Edi, Cly, NAO and Nwg meet at a point, so that a fleet in Cly can’t move to Nwg without first passing through NAO or Edi. Lastly, there is a small dotted line — a water border — that extends from Berlin across the water to Denmark, creating a small, unlabeled body of water up against Kiel. Were I not to be familiar with the “official map”, I would interpret that to be an unpassable body of water since it’s unlabeled, which would have the effect of not allowing a fleet to move directly from Kie to Bal (it would have to go through Ber or Den first).A Brazilian player I spoke to told me that some novices also interpret it to be a small portion of Hel extending to the other side of Kie, in which case fleets can move from Hel directly to Bal without stopping in Kie or Den first. In his experience, however, people nowadays are aware of what the official map is and disregard that little body of water, treating that region the way the official map does. Another minor discrepancy between this edition and other editions of the game is that the box for this edition indicates that the game is for 3-7 players, whereas for all other editions of Diplomacy that I know of, if the number of players is mentioned on the box, it is given as 2-7 not 3-7.The gameboard is not the only thing that sets this edition apart from those of other countries. Instead of having “real” pieces to represent the armies and fleets, this edition has cardboard counters for units — 16 armies and 8 fleets for each power. The game also comes with seven small notepads for writing orders, each having a stack of pages with the name of the game at the top, followed by the power’s name. The top sheet of all of the pads is an unmarked yellow sheet, presumably to hide the orders that are written on the pad. And the last thing worth a mention is the fact that the rules for this game have Italy starting out with a Fleet in Rome instead of an army.An interesting historical note is that the Brazilian editions seem to have been bootleg editions in the sense that they were unauthorized and produced without the rights having being licensed from Avalon Hill. The fact that there is not a mention of a copyright date or copyright name (for any company — neither Avalon Hill nor the company that produced this edition) anywhere on the box, rules or gameboard seems to support that statement.
Images:
Manufacturer
GROW Produtos Para Recreacao, Ltda.
Year of Release
1978
Map Style
Political
Pieces
Cardboard counters
Piece Colors (AEFGIRT)
Red, Pink, Blue, Grey, Green, Yellow, Purple
Description: This second Brazilian edition is very similar to the first. There are a number of noteworthy differences, however. The first one is that the game is now correctly called Diplomacia. The box is copyright 1978, but there is still no copyright date anywhere on the gameboard or rulebook. I don’t know whether any of the errors in the rulebook were fixed in this edition, but the errors on the gameboard (supply center in North Africa, Edi/Cly/NAO/Nwg meeting at a point, unlabeled body of water between Berlin and Den) do remain.The box for this edition is similar to a “regular” boardgame rather than a bookcase edition. Although the gameboard has not changed in appearance, because of the change in box shape, instead of having four puzzle pieces to form the gameboard, there are now three interlocking pieces which are laid out side-by-side (see image below). Instead of having separate notepads for each of the seven great powers with its name on it, there is one single (thicker) pad which says Diplomacia at the top, followed by a line labeled “Pais” (“country”) for each player to write his or her country name on. Below that it says “Ordens” (“orders”) with space below to write orders. This edition again has cardboard counters for pieces, but comes with dozens of “counter stands”. These are little black plastic disks with four little pegs sticking up, into which the counters can be pushed to hold them upright.
Images:
Israel
Manufacturer
Kodkod
Year of Release
1992
Map Style
Political
Pieces
Plastic bullets (armies) and ships (fleets)
Piece Colors (AEFGIRT)
Purple, Pink, Beige, Green, Maroon, Orange, Blue)
Description: In this edition, the text on the gameboard/rulebook/conference maps is in Hebrew. The translation of the rulebook contains numerous ambiguities as well as outright errors such as indicating an army as a starting unit in Sev, saying that movement between Arm and Sev is forbidden, and other inaccuracies. Based on the description of the plastic pieces, I assume they are similar if not identical to the ones in the later U.K. editions. The gameboard uses a political map, with different colors for each power, gray for neutral provinces, and black for water provinces. The game also includes small pads for writing orders.