Diplomacy is a board game created by Allan B. Calhamer in 1954. Calhamer had sought unsuccessfully to have multiple board game publishers including Parker Brothers accept Diplomacy, after which he used his own money to create 500 copies of the game in 1959. He mailed copies of Diplomacy to customers, charging $6.95 for each one. Between three and seven people play the game. The game is set in Europe in 1914 with players acting as different countries' delegates who attempt to take over Europe. Games Research licensed Diplomacy in 1960 and released it in 1961. Diplomacy initially did not sell many copies. John Boardman, who enjoyed playing the game, found it challenging to find other people to play the game with. To remedy this, he made a science-fiction fanzine ad asking for people to play the game by mail with him. He played a Diplomacy game by mail in August 1963 in the inaugural Diplomacy fanzine Graustark. Four years later, 32 zines were organizing Diplomacy games by mail, which led to Games Research's beginning to advertise postal Diplomacy Games. The company inserted the zine editors' names and addresses with its copies of Diplomacy. Diplomacy had "steadily mounting" sales in 1972. In 1973, owing to its reputation as "a classic in the adult game field", Diplomacy had annual sales of 15,000 with a cost of $8.95 per game even though Games Research did not spend money to advertise it. Diplomacy was believed to be Henry Kissinger's favorite game and included John F. Kennedy and Walter Cronkite among its enthusiast players.
