Tournaments for the Diplomacy board game have been conducted around the world for decades.
WorldDipCon
During the 1970s, there were very few Diplomacy tournaments outside North America. At that time, the winner of the tournament held at American DipCon was considered by the North American players as a world champion of Diplomacy.
The WorldDipCon (World Diplomacy Convention) was created in 1988 and the winner of the tournament held at this convention becomes the world champion of Diplomacy.
The players taking the top three places in each WorldDipCon tournament are listed below:
The 2020 event was originally scheduled for Dover, USA, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Both the already-selected 2020 (Dover) and 2021 (Bangkok) events were pushed back two years.
Virtual Face-to-Face
Online play with real-time voice negotiations, known as virtual face-to-face, became widespread in 2020, leading to three major annual competitions with global participation.
Virtual Diplomacy Championship (VDC) The VDC is an open tournament held over a single weekend in December. Rounds are scheduled to be convenient to players around the world.
Virtual Diplomacy League (VDL) The VDL is an open league with monthly gamedays and rounds convenient to players around the world. The season culminates in a championship game held in January.
Diplomacy Broadcast Network Invitational (DBNI) The DBNI is an invitational tournament held annually in February. Players earn invitations based on their performance at a wide variety of Diplomacy competitions over the previous year, including in-person face-to-face, virtual face-to-face, and extended deadline online play. The champion receives the title "DBN Diplomat of the Year".
Online Diplomacy Championship
Created in 2015, the Online Diplomacy Championship occurs once every two years, rotating between a number of Diplomacy websites. The winner is considered to be the World Champion of Online Diplomacy, a format in which phases are processed once every one or two days, and all correspondence is sent in written form via the host site. Players in online tournaments typically play under pseudonyms, and accept the title under these names.
The players taking the top three places in each ODC tournament are listed below.
North America
DipCon
The winner of the DipCon (Diplomacy Convention) tournament is the North American champion. The title of North American champion was not given at the beginning, but since 1972 has been awarded to each winner of the convention tournament. DipCon was created in 1966 and occurred each year (except in 1967 and 1968). There was no tournament in 1966, 1969 and 1971.
The winner of each DipCon North American Championship tournament:
North American Grand Prix
The winner of each Grand Prix:
Europe
EuroDipCon
The winner of each EuroDipCon tournament:
European Grand Prix
The winner of each Grand Prix:
Australia and New Zealand
Bismark Cup
The National Tournaments Championship – comprising the perpetual trophy known as the Bismark Cup – is awarded for the best aggregate tournament results at Diplomacy tournaments held during the calendar year. It is an annual (short term) ranking. The exact number of points depends on the size of the tournament and the person's placing in that tournament.
The winner of each Bismark Cup:
Origins of the Bismark Cup
In the early 1980s the Diplomacy scene in Australia was built around several PBM Diplomacy magazines, of which the most significant titles were Rumplestiltskin, The Go Between, Beowulf, Victoriana, The Journal of Australian Diplomacy, and The Envoy. Most of the tournament players were subscribers, players and editors of these magazines. The Envoy, which was published between 1986 and 1991, ran a series of articles which were both popular and influential. Purportedly written by Arthur von Bismark and styled as lecture transcripts, the character of Arthur von Bismark became celebrated among the contemporary Diplomacy subculture in Australia.