April 1999

Volume VII, #4

Whole # 139

Chairperson: Kate R Slaminko, 14708 56th Ave S, Tukwila WA, 98168 206-242-7633
Editor: Eric C Young, 4784 Stepney Rd, RR#2 C#2, Armstrong BC, V0E 1B0 250-546-6943
Committeeman: Fred C Davis, 3210-K Wheaton Way, Ellicott City MD, 21043 410-461-1885
Ombudsman: Mike McCabe, 520 Sugarland Run, Sterling VA, 20164-1176 703-444-6190

SIG Business and Related Items

Mensa J1: Confirmed: Started. This is a “Judge” game on under the eye of Lisa Shea. You can sign-on as an observer and watch what goes on directly.

Mensa #E2 - Slated to be GM'ed by Jason Wilke

Game Reports:
Mensa #46: This game has ended. We still have not received the Game End Statements, or a list of the players and their positions at the end.

Mensa #48: Spring 1910. This game has had no activity since the last issue. England and France (Ray Grib, Jim Lewis) control 15 centres (7, 8) while a coalition of Russia, Tom Walsh (7); Turkey, Peter Kohnke (7); Italy, Eric Young (4); and Germany, Jim Grose (1) face them. We hope that Andy will find the time to pass the game on or resume the flyers.

Mensa #50: The Batyville Gazette still has not published. We hope that Ralph make some sort of move with this game.

Mensa #51 (1996HZ; Fintlewoodlewix; Karl Muller ed.): Spring 1907: This one has settled into a fairly normal pattern: France, Ray Grib(8) and England, Wayne Ball(6), have formed a firm alliance and are moving eastwards. Turkey, Dominick Schirripa(10) and Germany, Jim Grose(5), seem to have buried the hatchet and now are attempting to defend. Germany suffered a set-back in Mun and Turkey lost Apu due to his NMR. Italy, Stefan Mudryj(4), seems to be a toady to France {right behind, but not attacked}. Austria, Tim Cummings(1) also NMR’ed, but will likely join G/T. This was all from the January issue, the March issue has not arrived.

Mensa #52 (Cauldron; Rainbow Raider; Jason Wilke ed.): Spring 1904: Pax Germania seems to have become Pancake Germania. James Baillie is gone and David Ditter, Austria(1), is reduced to Tri. The aggressive alliance is comprised of England, Kate Slaminko(7), Russia, Judith Stevenson (9), and Turkey, Ginny Moore(6). It is closing in on the rest of the board in a large arch from the Balkans to Germany and the Seas and oceans. Italy, Mike McCabe (4), is defending the eastern frontier as the hordes advance towards him and France, Tim Cummings(6), is trying to hold on from Por across to Mun. A very solid middle game has developed from what I described as a “timid” opening. Unless one of E/R/T changes her mind, the end looks near.

Mensa #J1: This game will be run by a “Judge” on the net, under the tutelage of Lisa Shea. There are six Mensans signed up and she has just asked for a non-mensan to take the last spot. It will likely be run on one-week turn around. The Judge handles all the adjudication and passes things between the players. Observers may watch the proceedings by just signing on.

Editorial
Ah, yes. The age old response: Absolute indifference. Okay, so we fall back to the adage: The fewest Rules, is the best rules.

Well, this is sure to put you all to sleep. This will be the last issue until some time in August. Ye olde editor is taking off for Europe in one week and won’t be back until August 4th. Here’s a Kleenex for those tears. Bronwen and I will be shipping our motorcycles on the People’s airline (Air Canada) while we fly courtesy of Air Miles on Canadian. When one plans a sabbatical year there are certain things that one must include. We have attempted to move through as many of those “must-dos” as we could over the last seven months. Oh my, I know the tears are gigantean by now.

We ride our bikes for seven months up here is the “frozen north”. So I enjoy riding to work in the Fall for two months. Every September morning when I head in I have a barely controllable urge to just keep heading south, forever. So last September that’s just what we did. Down to San Francisco to visit my uncle, then back along the coast the whole way to Portland, to visit my sister.

Since I have been involved in education continuously since I was six years old, either receiving or dishing, I had never been able to ski mid-week. Even when I was a graduate student I was always a TA. I just had to know what it felt like to head up the mountain on those clear, cold, 10 cm of new powder days while everybody else was going to work. I did that forty times this winter (about double the frequency of a normal season). There were a couple hands-full of days where I got mad at myself for leaving that previous track down such a beautiful powdery slope. I was able to make the move from high advanced to expert skier. Had to do that one before the bones and muscles wouldn’t permit it. Extreme, no. But, anything less that 50° or a 50 foot drop-off and I’m having fun.

Now it’s time for the biggie. Every rider that lovers twisty roads (as opposed to the Hogs and Wings that love pop pop pop down big slabs) dreams of riding the passes of the Alps. We plan to have the entire months of July to hop skip and jump from Austria to Italy, to Switzerland, to Germany, and to France as many times as possible. Our BMW R1100GS’s are primed and itching to get over onto the sidewalls. I’ll let you all know about it when we’re back.

{PS. We will try to keep e-mail working from over there. If your interest is above the apathy level and you want periodic updates, e-mail me to the address above, topic: Europe, and I’ll have our house sitter send your address on to us at the one we will be using.}

KATE’S SECTION

What struck me, as I sat there playing game after game, is that Diplomacy would not necessarily have fared well within this environment. Why? I only played one game that took a great deal of time to get through. I found it tedious (and rated it poorly – but not because of the time factor). But when you’ve played games for 4 or 5 hours, the feeling you have for the next one is not unaffected by the idea of a 3-4 hour playtime. And we all know that the best aspects of Diplomacy are not usually apparent within the first hour. In several situations, we read the rules of a game, played for an abbreviated time, and then tendered our opinions (this was usually the games aimed at very young children). Diplomacy again would not have fared well in this circumstance. Diplomacy is also very different from most of the games there. Of course, this is one of its main features, the reason we are all still playing it after all these years. But I wonder if that would have been apparent, or a positive, within that artificial atmosphere. What would NOT have been a problem was having enough players, there were plenty, eager and willing to explore new games.

In spite of the instructions to take all aspects into account, a long-playing game like Diplomacy is well beyond the common playing time for the games presented.

GENERAL HOBBY BUSINESS
Did you see our write up in the last National Mensa magazine? Did you notice we got more space than any other group? I’m sure it was because of the map they included. Just in case my head got too big from this, my own brother, who swore he read the thing from cover to cover, did not know what I was talking about when I called it to his attention. Fred did a little further research and has set the date of DipSIG’s founding at 11/1/74, which is the date the by-laws went into effect. December 1973 is when the first efforts, a flyer, was mailed out.

Since I had to call and collect some details for the article, Fred has forwarded me a condensed hobby history. I will be including bits of this as space permits. But this month the following is more important……

The Diplomacy Archives, have been housed these many years with Larry Peery. Larry now wants to actually park a car in his garage and is asking to have the Archives moved. He says: (I’ve condensed KRS)

The Diplomacy Archives are the largest and most complete collection of Diplomacy magazines in the world, I believe; being particularly strong in the “Golden Age” of the hobby period, c. 1966 – 1971. The collection includes thousands and thousands of items filling some 70 boxes weighing approximately one ton. Just a list of what’s included runs some 70 pages. …. It’s an all or nothing offer, and all items are “as is”.

The collection is for sale…. The minimum bid is US $2,200. Buyer must arrange for packing and removing the entire collection from my garage within 90 days…

Fred Davis has advanced the proposal that a group form to move and save the archives along with the Hoosier Archives. In a letter to Larry Peery he asks that Larry organize an ad hoc committee to do this. If you have a good idea, or are willing to help in this important effort, please contact one (or all) of these people. At this point, don’t send money – but I’m sure that they will eventually need some.

Fred Davis	        Larry Peery	     Jim Burgess
3210 K Wheaton Way      6103 Malcolm Dr      (Not on file)
Ellicott City MD 21043  San Diego CA  92115

Comments and discussion of this topic are important, and this publication can be a forum for information and debate. However, it is a hobby-wide issue, not a Mensa specific one. I encourage you to spread the word, and participate in discussion via other hobby groups. If you want more focus, we can start here by asking, “Why are all these old pieces of paper important?”

Membership Info Omitted

GENERAL HELP
I got an e-mail from a Terry Cox asking about how to acquire a Diplomacy game, s/he can’t find one. If you can help with this, please contact at Foxter2000@aol.com; or 344 Audobon Court Condos, 55 Whitney Ave., New Haven, CT 06510. Don’t just send a game unless it is a gift…. Terry went so far as to write to Hasbro for information, and forwarded the reply s/he got, it appears to be a “canned” response saying that it is no longer manufactured. I have heard that there may eventually be interest in Diplomacy by Hasbro, but nothing official. Anyone know more than this?

DEBATE: (We posed this question, and here are some replies) E-Mail vs. Postal (Please keep these coming – thanks to Peter and Fred for kicking off this subject)

Peter Kohnke: In spite of the speed of email, personally, I still would want the 4 or 5 week deadline. I get busy, and cannot address a game for many days at a time. I have my real life out there.

Fred Davis: I believe that email does give an unfair advantage where only a few of the players have it. I suppose the day will come where everyone will have email, but I think that day is still way in the future. I’d like to suggest that unless every player in a game has email, it’s use should be limited to individual correspondence between players, and all orders should be submitted the old-fashioned way, by mail.

Diplomag is the quarterly newsletter of the Diplomacy SIG, a Special Interest Group of American Mensa, bringing hobby and SIG news to Mensans interested in the game of Diplomacy. The SIG arranges games for its members, including Play By Mail and e-mail games. For SIG game openings, contact the Chairperson. Each player game will be hosted by a Mensa GM in their zine/flyer. Membership dues are $5/yr or $9/2yr. Diplomacy is a board game copyrighted by The Hasbro Company. Any opinions expressed herein are those of the author. The Mensa Diplomacy SIG and American Mensa, Ltd have no opinions.

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