Over the course of 46 years of production in 7 different languages and about 25 different editions, the Diplomacy map has seen quite a few unique spellings and configurations in both legal and pirated versions. If Mapquest was to be used there would be quite a few interesting oddities. Here is just some of the map insanity that has been seen:

1. Where is Monaco? [answer]
2. What sea zone has a supply center? [answer]
3. How many supply centers appear on the map? [answer]
4. What is the most misspelled space? [answer]
5. What language is Burgandy in? [answer]
6. Galacia and Galicia both appear - which is correct? [answer]
7. Ukraine, Ukrania? [answer]
8. What provinces are unnamed that you CAN go to? [answer]
9. Where can you find two letter abbreviations on an official conference map? [answer]
10. When does the Eastern Mediterranean Sea NOT connect to the Ionian Sea? [answer]
11. What was the most lame excuse ever given for a misspelling by a company? [answer]
12. What province was actually changed to reflect a person's name? (No, it was not EDInburgh — despite 40 years of lobbying on the issue by your friendly EDItor!) [answer]
13. What is the greatest original misnaming in the 1961 commercial Games Research edition? [answer]

Answers:

1. In the Italian version, Monaco is the Italian name for Munich.
2. In the Avalon Hill version, the legend was placed in the upper left hand side of the map so that a supply center looks like it appears in North Atlantic.
3. Most commonly 35, as one is in the legend. However, in the Brazilian pirated version they add a supply center in North Africa...and you think that France is too strong now!
4. The Eastern Mediterranean which has the unique distinction of being spelled with three 'r's in the English set and the wrong number of 't's in the brand new Hasbro French set in French.
5. Actually, this is one of the classic Avalon Hill misspellings.
6. One is properly part of northern Spain, but Hasbro USA seems to think that it was moved between Budapest and Warsaw.
7. Both seem to have had some relation to the land around Kiev according to Games Research and Avalon Hill.
8. On the Italian first edition Parker map, they left off the names of North Africa and Tunis from the board, but they appear on the conference map.
9. Why, on the Hasbro US 99 version! They have WA for Warsaw and Ty for Tyrhennian Sea. However as a bonus point, on their conference map all the provinces are abbreviated except for the smallest province on the board -- that they have to spell out in full: Denmark.
10. In the final proof run of the Avalon Hill first edition. The border around the map in the south went straight across the board so that it cut off the connection. The map had to be redone quickly so they simply 'chopped' part of the border after Italy, which became a visual 'effect' on most Avalon Hill boards thereafter.
11. Clearly it was the rumor started by Avalon Hill that they did it on purpose to avoid copyright conflicts!
12. It is actually Picardy which was originally Flanders but Calhamer had a friend named Picard (no releation to Star Trek captains) and he changed the name to match.
13. While a case can be made for Turkey rather than the Ottoman Empire, a far greater error exists in the naming of England as the major power. Quite a few players have argued that England is only a two-center power since Edinburgh is in Scotland. Clearly the name should have been the United Kingdom or possibly Great Britain, but never England.

Edi Birsan (edi@diplom.org)

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