| Manufacturer | Philmar, Ltd. |
| Year of Release | Unknown (between 1971 or 1972 and 1976) |
| Release Notes | Often incorrectly called an Intellectual Diversions edition |
| Map Style | Political |
| Pieces | Plastic bullets (armies), elongated 5-sided polygons (fleets) |
| Piece Colors (AEFGIRT) | Red, Pink, Blue, Black, Green, Purple, Yellow |
| Description: Philmar, Ltd. licensed the rights to Diplomacy from Games Research after Intellectual Diversions. Interestingly, the early Diplomacy games from Philmar came in Intellectual Diversions boxes (see the description for the 1971 (not 1961) Intellectual Diversions edition for details about the appearance of the box). It is possible that they had a supply of old Intellectual Diversions boxes left to consume, but given that they put out more than one variation with this lid (see several variations below), I think it is more likely that they decided to keep printing the old ones rather than take on the cost of designing a new box for the printing machinery. As you can see, unlike the Intellectual Diversions editions, this edition came with a plastic tray to hold the pieces. The tray came with a clear cover stapled onto it (since lost in the set below, and therefore not shown). The tray cover was just a flat round piece of plastic making it relatively useless once removed.Despite the fact that this edition has an Intellectual Diversions box, this edition is listed as a Philmar edition because Philmar’s name is on the back of the rulebook. Because the lid is marked “From Intellectual Diversions”, and has a Games Research copyright, it is particularly hard to identify this as a Philmar edition at first glance. Although Philmar was a licensee of the game, they didn’t actually change anything that would revise a copyright and put it in their name. The gameboard was still copyright Intellectual Diversions, and since they were using Games Research’s rulebook, the rulebook was still copyright Games Research. Because Philmar didn’t identify themselves by name on the box, you have to go out of your way to find the connection to them — the company’s name and address is on the back of the rulebook, where one is not likely to notice it simply by looking through the contents of the box. The same is true of later Philmar variations shown below. I have seen numerous copies of Philmar variations and they are almost never identified as being Philmar editions by the seller. This edition and the next three variations are often incorrectly identified as being Intellectual Diversions editions because that’s the name on the box lid. | |
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| Manufacturer | Philmar, Ltd. |
| Year of Release | Unknown (between 1971 or 1972 and 1976) |
| Release Notes | Often incorrectly called an Intellectual Diversions edition |
| Map Style | Political |
| Pieces | Plastic 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. The one difference is that the color of the tray has been changed from green to white. The other minor change is that the rulebook has changed in appearance slightly (gray cover changed to white, use of red for the word “Diplomacy” on the cover changed to black), but it is still the same version of the rulebook. Since the box lid and for this variation is the same as for the previous one shown above, and since the rulebook is the same, there is no sure way to date the two variations. It seems to make sense that this one comes here chronologically, since it is the same as the previous one except for one change, and the next one is the same as this one also except for one change. | |
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| Manufacturer | Philmar, Ltd. |
| Year of Release | Unknown (between 1971 or 1972 and 1976) |
| Release Notes | Often incorrectly called an Intellectual Diversions edition |
| Map Style | Political |
| Pieces | Plastic 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. The only difference is that the cardboard insert inside the box has changed from blue to white. As with the previous variation, there is no sure way to date this variation. The next variation has the same white cardboard insert, but a different color tray, so this variation “fits” neatly between the next one and the previous one. | |
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| Manufacturer | Philmar, Ltd. |
| Year of Release | Unknown (between 1971 or 1972 and 1976) |
| Release Notes | Often incorrectly called an Intellectual Diversions edition |
| Map Style | Political |
| Pieces | Plastic 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. The only difference is that the color of the tray has again changed from white to green (not matching the first edition shown at the top of this page, but closer to khaki). As with the previous variation, there is no sure way to date this variation. However, the next variation below, by virtue of a change in the box, can be dated with certainty as having come after this one. And since this one is the same as the previous one other than the change in color for the tray, and since the color of the tray in the next variation matches this one, it is reasonable to infer that this one came after the previous one. | |
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| Manufacturer | Philmar, Ltd. |
| Year of Release | 1976 |
| Release Notes | Often incorrectly called an Avalon Hill edition |
| Map Style | Political |
| Pieces | Plastic bullets (armies), elongated 5-sided polygons (fleets) |
| Piece Colors (AEFGIRT) | Red, Pink, Blue, Black, Green, Purple, Yellow |
| Description: This variation is similar in appearance to the previous one, but differs in several important respects. This variation was the first one that Philmar put out after Avalon Hill acquired the rights to Diplomacy in the United States. In the midst of Philmar’s history, they went from licensing the rights to the game from Games Research to Avalon Hill. Thus, it was no longer possible to keep reusing the 1971 Intellectual Diversions box lid because that box was marked with a Games Research copyright on the side. They were now forced to change the box. Therefore, this box now sports a “(c) 1976 Avalon Hill Game Company, Baltimore, Maryland” on the side of the lid, replacing the earlier Games Research copyright. Having been forced to revise the box lid anyway, Philmar logically got rid of the “From Intellectual Diversions” on the side. They also changed the text on the top of the box to “The Top Game of International Intrigue” with the word “Top” replacing the word “New” on the previous lid design. After all, it was now 13 years after the game first came out in the U.K. and in the gaming community the game was no longer thought of as new.Although the box lid was revised to include an Avalon Hill copyright, Philmar chose not to add its own name anywhere on the updated box. As with earlier Philmar variations, this one and the next one only identify Philmar on the back of the rulebook where it is easy to overlook. This one is often misidentified as an “Avalon Hill” game, since that’s the only company mentioned on the box lid.The tray for this set uses is identical to the tray for the previous one and the next one, except for the color, which is green instead of white. At first glance, one might expect the two sets with white trays to have been one after the other chronologically. However, this set with the green tray can be dated as later than the previous one because of the box changes mentioned above. It can also be dated as being earlier than the next one because this one uses the same elongated 5-sided polygons for fleets as all preceding variations, whereas the next edition is the first one to have used new ship-shaped pieces for fleets. | |
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| Manufacturer | Philmar, Ltd. |
| Year of Release | Unknown (sometime between 1976 and 1978) |
| Release Notes | Often incorrectly called an Avalon Hill edition |
| Map Style | Political |
| Pieces | Plastic bullets (armies), ships (fleets) |
| Piece Colors (AEFGIRT) | Red, Pink, Blue, Black, Green, Purple, Yellow |
| Description: This edition very similar to the previous one, with two differences. One difference is that the tray is white, rather than green. The second difference is that Philmar replaced the elongated 5-sided polygon pieces used for fleets with little plastic ships. The new fleet design, unfortunately, is not easily seen in the image below. The ship-shaped pieces were used in all subsequent U.K. editions of Diplomacy. | |
Images: |
| Manufacturer | Philmar, Ltd. |
| Year of Release | Unknown (sometime between 1976 and 1978) |
| Release Notes | Often incorrectly called an Avalon Hill edition |
| Map Style | Political |
| Pieces | Plastic bullets (armies), ships (fleets) |
| Piece Colors (AEFGIRT) | Red, Pink, Blue, Black, Green, Purple, Yellow |
| Description: This variation is quite similar if not identical to the one shown above, except for the tray. Instead of being divided into seven identical compartments for holding pieces as seen in the previous variation, this tray has a round compartment in the center of the tray which holds one set of pieces, surrounded by six identical compartments for holding the pieces for the other powers (see below). Also, whereas the lids for the trays in the previous edition shown above were just round circular pieces of plastic and were not good for much once removed, this lid was an actual cover for the tray that had a plastic lip which would allow it to snap on and off of the tray.There are no differences in any of the printed dates that would date this edition against the previous one. But again by inference, it makes the most sense to place this one after the previous one–because the sets that precede this one had the same tray, it makes sense that they were released one after the other (with the earlier of the two definitely coming before this one because it has an earlier box lid). | |
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