World Diplomacy Championship - Bulletin #1

If your summer plans start in 1901 with stabbing the French with a surprise
move to the English Channel or a Lepanto cruise to the Turkish coast, then
make your reservations and register now for the Fifteenth Annual World Diplomacy
Championship (WDC XV) in Washington, D.C.!!!

Visit http://www.wdcindc.org/, the
Official Webpage of WDC XV, for more information

The Potomac Tea & Knife Society (PTKS) will be your host for WDC
XV, which will be held from 29-31 July 2005 in the heart of Washington, D.C.The Venue: The Holiday Inn Capitol
The Diplomacy Hobby's premiere event will be held at the Holiday Inn Capitol--just a
block from the Washington, D.C. Metro (L'Enfant Plaza)--making the entire
city accessible to our guests.

The Holiday Inn Capitol
is in the final stages of a complete renovation. The rooms are large, comfortable
and, at $129 per night, very affordable. They also include in-room Hi-Speed

Internet access at no additional charge.

You can reserve those rooms now, by phone or online at the website above.
Just use this three digit code: DWC to get the reduced rate.

This special rate for this event is good for 29-31 July, but is limited to
twenty (20) rooms on Thursday, 28 July, so if you plan to come early, please
make your reservations soon, as we expect those rooms to sell out quickly.

Getting Here from There
The Washington, D.C. metropolitan area is served by three major airports:
the Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI), Ronald W. Reagan National
Airport (DCA), and Washington-Dulles International Airport (IAD).

Reagan National is just a few Metro stops away from the hotel, and is by
far the most convenient way for travellers coming to the event by air.

For those who prefer the train or bus can arrive at Washington D.C.'s Union
Station, grab the Metro there and take it a few stops to L'Enfant Plaza and
the Holiday Inn Capitol!

Would you rather drive? That's easy, too. Just find I-95 and
drive north or south as appropriate. You won't be able to miss D.C., and
the traffic on the Beltway will give you plenty of time to admire the sights!
Specific direction can be located on the Holiday Inn Capitol website and
will soon be posted at the Official Homepage of WDC XV--http://www.wdcindc.org/

Registration
How much would you pay for the chance to run up a solo against a former World
Champion? It's something most people just can't put a price on... but
then again, the PTKS isn't most people, so here's the skinny on registration
fees:
* Attendees who register before midnight on 28 February
can do so for only $35--probably the lowest registration fee for a WDC event
since the dot.com bubble burst!
* Attendees who submit their registration from 1 March
to midnight, 31 May will pay only $40 for the chance to cross swords with
the Hobby's best players.
* Beginning on 1 June through the opening of the event,
registration will be $50, so register today and get in cheap!

Registration fees are being collected by the PTKS Treasurer, Andy "Buffalo"
Bartalone. His e-mail is buffalo@guisarme.net.
Payment by PayPal is preferred, using the aforementioned e-mail address,
but he will also accept checks by regular mail. E-mail him for his
streeet address.

PLEASE INCLUDE "WDC" IN THE SUBJECT LINE WHEN E-MAILING BUFFALO ABOUT WDC
REGISTRATION!!

The Tournament
Round 1 of WDC XV will begin on Friday morning, with a second round to follow
that evening. Rounds 3 and 4 will be held Saturday morning and Saturday
evening respectively. All four of these rounds will feature Diplomacy
the way we like it best--no time limit and no fixed year end date.
Play 'til you take the solo, or until your alliance wrings the best possible
draw from your opponents in a unanimous votes.

All morning rounds will feature a Master Clock to keep things running smoothly,
while the evening rounds will allow for players on each board to dictate
the pace of their own game.

The final round will begin on Sunday morning and will be the only round to
feature a fixed end time, which will be unknown to all players. If
you don't manage a solo before time is called, you will have a short time
to vote on a unanimous draw proposal, otherwise Draws Include All Survivors
(DIAS)!

Your overall tournament score will be computed from your three best rounds--and
you need to have three scores to compete for the Championship! More
detailed information on the scoring system will be included in a later e-mail
and be posted on the Official Homepage of WDC XV--http://www.wdcindc.org/--soon!

More Information
Get all the latest details about WDC XV on the event's Official Homepage:

http://www.wdcindc.org/

Sign-up for the wdc-2005 Yahoo! Group at:
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/wdc2005chat/

If, somehow, you have beeen beleaguered in Silesia for the past eight years
and are unfamiliar with the North American Hobby's largets and most dynamic
Face-to-Face Diplomacy group, you can learn more about the Potomac Tea &
Knife Society (PTKS) on their Official Homepage: http://www.ptks.org/

The PTKS will be sending out regular electronic communications and updates
over the next six months.

Until our next update, if you have any further questions about WDC XV, please
e-mail PTKS Chief of Public Affairs, Tim "PoD" Richardson at timrich@diplom.org

--The Potomac Tea & Knife Society