Mr. Calhamer marketed the game privately for a time, and then through various game companies. Hasbro, Inc. now holds the rights to the game. The rules are simple enough that it is very possible to learn the game this way, and indeed, even perusing the articles here in The Diplomatic Pouch can serve to educate the new player. I will not attempt here to tell you how the game is played, instead offering only a brief description of the game. I encourage you to purchase the Rules to Diplomacy from Hasbro, if not a complete gameset.
Diplomacy is available in all respected game stores.
The standard game of Diplomacy is set in the Europe of the early 20th century, and is played by seven players, each taking the part of one of the Great European Powers of that age. Control of a majority of supply centers will bring a player victory. With the development of electronic mail, Ken Lowe wrote an automated Diplomacy move adjudicator, which also routes diplomatic mail messages to the various players and enforces deadlines for the reception of orders. The beauty of the game of Diplomacy lies not in the tactics of the movement of the pieces on the board, but in the fact that these movements are simulataneous , meaning that the orders of all players are executed at the same time on each turn. Crowning all this, however, is the fact that any player of the game is lost without allies.