For an individual player, the endgame is reached when he or she has eliminated a second victim or has reached a size somewhere over ten units. Large enough to be a threat to nearly everybody, this player can think seriously about winning or forming a stalemate line alone. A two-power alliance that has a combined eighteen units or so may also be said to have reached its endgame. As the endgame approaches, players begin to think in specifics about how they might win or deny victory to another. The actual configuration of the eighteen centers needed for victory must now be more closely considered by all.
Negotiation tends to take a back seat to strategy and tactics.
Able diplomats tend to do better in the opening stage of the game, good tacticians in the last stage. Our knowledge of this comes primarily from the records of hundreds of tournament games over the past forty years. However, earlier statistics suggested a slightly different arrangement and this is confirmed by the potential of the powers as described in the opinions of experienced players and the game's designer. But we will start with this traditional grouping of each power's chances for victory. Their positions enable them to expect to do well.