Anagrams

By Theo Kermanidis

I have been playing Dip for awhile on the net, and had much milage regarding signing on to various new games as well as played the filler role on other games which have stalled for one reason or another. Of the times I signed on to a new game, I had the pleasure of specifying my preferences for which powers I would like to play.

There has been various articles regarding algorithms for selecting powers for each player from among all the player preferences. Most of those articles can get a little too technical to digest particularly when one is interested in just playing Dip. Having specified my preferences many a time, I got curious one day when I noticed I can form phrases from all the powers' identifiers.

For example, should I prefer to play France, with the order of preference France, Russia, Italy, Germany, Austria, Turkey and England, then I can issue the command:

SET PREFERENCE FRIGATE

Neat. I formed an anagram FRIGATE from the various power identifiers.

For the uninitiated, an anagram is simply a re-ordering of letters which spell out a useful phrase. I got curious one day, to find out how many different anagrams I can form from the 7 power identifiers, F, R, I, G, A, T, E.

I used an on-line web resource to generate most of the possible anagrams from these seven letters for standard Dip. The list is organised in order of a power as the first preference.

This list is far from complete because some of the anagrams can easily be rearranged to form a new anagram. For example, TAG FIRE can be changed to form a new anagram FIRE TAG, and an Italian example (none are given above) can be made from a few of the other examples (such as I GET FAR and IF GREAT, etc.).

I have been playing alot of modern of late, and with ten powers in the game to chose from, the list of anagrams would be expected to be greater. Here is a similar list organised for each power.

Britain		Spain	France	Germany	Poland	Russia	Turkey
BE FIG SPURT BE GIFT SPUR BE TURF PIGS BEG IF SPURT BEG FIRST UP BEG RIFT PUS BEG RIFT UPS BEG FIT SPUR BEG SURF PIT BEG SURF TIP BEG TURF SIP BEG FUR SPIT BERG FIST UP BERG SIFT UP BERG FIT PUS BERG FIT UPS BREST FIG UP BERT FIG PUS BERT FIG UPS BEST FRIG UP BEST FUR PIG BET FIG SPUR BET FRIG PUS BET FRIG UPS BET SURF PIG BET FUR PIGS BIG SERF PUT BIG FRET PUS BIG FRET UPS BIG PEST FUR	BIG SEPT FUR BIG STEP FUR BIG PET SURF BRIG FEST UP BURG FEST PI BURG PEST IF BURG SEPT IF BURG STEP IF BUG SERF PIT BUG SERF TIP BUG FRET SIP BUG FEST RIP BUG PER FIST BUG PER SIFT BUG PEST FIR BUG SEPT FIR BUG STEP FIR BIT PEG SURF BURP SET FIG BURST PEG IF BUST PEG FIR BUST PER FIG BUS FRET PIG BUS PEG RIFT BUS PER GIFT BUS PERT FIG BUS PET FRIG BTU SERF PIG BUT SERF PIG	SUPERB GIFT SIB PEG TURF STUB PEG FIR STUB PER FIG SUB FRET PIG SUB PEG RIFT SUB PER GIFT SUB PERT FIG SUB PET FRIG	FBI PEG RUST FBI GET SPUR FBI PER GUST FBI PEST RUG FBI SEPT RUG FBI STEP RUG FIB PEG RUST FIB GET SPUR FIB PER GUST FIB PEST RUG FIB SEPT RUG FIB STEP RUG	GRUB FEST PI GRUB PEST IF GRUB SEPT IF GRUB STEP IF	PBS FIRE TUG PBS FIRE GUT PBS URGE FIT PBS GET FUR I PBS TRUE FIG PUB FEST RIG PUB ERG FIST PUB ERG SIFT PUB REST FIG PUB SET FRIG	RUB FEST PIG RUB PEG FIST RUB PEG SIFT RUB PEST FIG RUB SEPT FIG RUB STEP FIG	TUB SERF PIG

Again, note that not all the possibilities are listed, as new anagrams can be formed from rearranging ones from the list.

So next time you sign on to a game of Diplomacy and you have a soft spot for Austria, try setting your preference to AT GRIEF. We all would understand how you feel.

Theo Kermanidis (theok@eisa.net.au)

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