An Evening of Diplomacy with Professor Hoffmann

Up to 7 students can join Professor Hoffmann to play the game of Diplomacy. The game was invented in 1954, and thus has been around even longer than Professor Hoffmann. (!) It's a great game -- reputed to be the personal favorite of John F. Kennedy, Henry Kissinger, and Walter Cronkite -- that involves absolutely no luck whatsoever (other than perhaps the original selection of countries). Players must negotiate with each other for cooperation and support, and the winner is the person who succeeds in controlling pre-WWI Europe.

We'll play an online version of the game on a free platform called Backstabbr. At the same time, we'll all meet on Zoom so that we can carry on a conversation about anything you'd like to talk about. Backstabbr handles all in-game communications through an internal messaging system, so we can easily play the game while we talk simultaneously on Zoom. The game is best with 7 players; if the winning group includes 6 students, Professor Hoffmann will be the 7th player, and if the winning group includes 7 students, Professor Hoffmann will take on the role of GameMaster to keep the game moving smoothly.

The Evening of Diplomacy can be scheduled on any mutually convenient evening between the end of Spring 2021 finals and the end of 2021. If the winning group is in Bloomington, Professor Hoffmann will also supply a round of libations and snacks for everyone in the group.