Basic game play involves each player starting with one city and no knowledge of global terrain.
Game ends when there is only one player left due to elimination or resignation of opponents'.
Since the binary file is standardized, opponents can be using any combination of Macintosh, DOS, and Windows versions of the games. A webpage is available for those who wish to understand more about the mechanics of sending the binary file as an email attachment. Players can find opponents by checking DAve Bott's ED PBEM Players' List webpage for private games or they can participate in the International Internet Tournaments run by the Empire Deluxe PBEM Interest Group or the less structured PBEM Ladder run by Mikael Bergman.