Youngstown

Variant Description:

The Youngstown variant of diplomacy follows the same rules as standard diplomacy with an expanded map. Three new powers are added: China, India and Japan. The Indian player must use the letter "N" rather than "I" when signing on since "I" is reserved for Italy.

The following is from a rules file of Jon Monsarrat:

A Bit of History...

The Youngstown game is the most popular of the many Diplomacy variants. The reason, of course, is the minor modification and expansion of the standard map to include the Major Powers of China, India, and Japan. My best assumption for the origin of the variant is that there is or was a large Diplomacy club in the Youngstown, Ohio region. Apparently the variant was devised there and was quickly dispersed through tournaments and word-of-mouth. I first saw the game played at the Studio of Bridge and Games in Schenectady, New York.

Special Rules For The Youngstown Variant Of Diplomacy:

Impassable areas

No unit may enter Switzerland or the Himalayas. The body of water in the center of the map is the Caspian Sea and is intentionally left unlabelled and cannot be entered. No unit may enter the zone marked "Impassable" north of Russia. Fleets may move along the coast of Omsk as they did have icebreakers back then. Some subvariants disallow this. If specifically disallowed by mutual consent of the players or by decree of the game's master you should not order fleets to Omsk. The adjudicator will permit such a move, however.

Off-board areas

Surrounding the edge of the map are "off-board" boxes. Various maps differ in how they are identified. The adjudicator refers to the box in the North Atlantic as "Offboard A", the Mid-Atlantic as "Offboard B", etc. counterclockwise to "Offboard L"< in the North Pacific. The off-board boxes allow a circular map to be represented on a flat sheet of paper. There are several interpretations on how movement between the off-board areas is intended to work. This adjudicator interprets them based mainly on Jon Monsarrat's description:

1) Any unit in a land or sea area that contains an off-board box may

  move into the box as though moving to a normal sea area or
  province.  Any unit in an off-board box may move into the sea area
  or province which contains the off-board box.
   Example:  
   English  F NAt -> ObA
   Japan    F ObK -> SPO

  Off-board box C is contained within the South Atlantic.  This is
  indicated by an arrow since there is not enough room in that space
  for the box.

2) A unit in an off-board box may move to an adjacent off-board box.

   Example:  
   French   F ObB -> ObC
   India    F ObH -> ObG

3) A unit in an off-board box may move to the off-board box within the

  sea area or province whose name appears in the unit's off-board box.
   Example:  
   French   F ObB -> ObK
   India    F ObH -> ObC

  If you have a copy of Ken Lowe's map, the spaces adjacent to an
  off-board box are those listed within the box.  It is recommended
  that you have a copy of this map to play the game via the adjudicator.

4) Off-board boxes are treated as sea areas or provinces and hence,

  only one unit may be present in an off-board box.

5) Support orders and convoy orders apply to off-board boxes.

   Example:  
   Japan orders
   F NPa C A Tok -> Ire
   F ObL C A Tok -> Ire
   F ObA C A Tok -> Ire
   F NAt C A Tok -> Ire
   A Tok -> NPa -> ObL -> ObA -> NAt -> Ire
            
   England orders  
   F ObB -> ObK
   F ObJ S F ObB -> ObK

6) A fleet may move to the African off-board boxes and is on the coast

  of the African continent.  Fleets cannot move to the inland off-board
  boxes in Sudan and the Sahara (E and F).

The Suez

The Suez is a water territory contained within Egypt. It is adjacent to the Eastern Mediterranean, the Red Sea and the north and east coasts of Egypt. It is not adjacent to either coast of Jordan. Jordan's north coast is adjacent to Egypt's north coast and Jordan's west coast is adjacent to Egypt's east coast. Other units can move between Egypt and Jordan whether or not there is a fleet in the Suez and fleets can move into the Suez whether or not there is a unit present in Egypt. Fleets in the Suez can convoy armies.

Victory Conditions

There are a total of 72 supply centers on the board. A majority of pieces therefore would be 37 centers for victory by a single country. A draw may also be declared by consent of all players or no exchange of supply centers for three Fall seasons.

Initial Unit Placement And Home Centers:

 Austria-Hungary          
 F Trieste                
 A Vienna                 
 A Budapest               
 A Klug                   

 China                    
 F Canton                 
 A Hankow                 
 A Peking                 
                                               
 England                 
 F Edinburgh              
 F London                 
 F Joharra                
 F Liverpool              

 France                   
 A Marseilles             
 F Brest                  
 A Paris                  
 F Saigon

 Germany             
 A Berlin            
 A Munich            
 F Kiel              
 A Posen             

 India               
 A Delhi             
 F Madras            
 A Calcutta          
                     
 Italy               
 A Venice            
 F Naples
 A Rome
 F Magudisco

 Japan
 F Tokyo
 F Kyoto
 F Osaka

 Turkey
 F Ankara
 A Baghdad
 A Smyrna
 A Constantinople

 Russia
 A Warsaw
 A Moscow
 F St. Petersburg (SC)
 F Sevastopol
 F Vladovostok
 A Omsk

England, France and Italy are free to build new units at their respective colony territories with the same restrictions as regular home centers.