Frequently asked questions

Three to six. Four or five is the sweet spot: enough votes to argue over, short enough rounds that your Departure comes up before the clock runs out. Online, empty seats can be filled with computer players at three skill levels.

Thirty to forty-five minutes at the table. The Headline deck is the clock: twelve Headlines, one per round, and when the last one is flipped that round is the final round. Online games with bots run a little faster.

Yes. The web table at diplomatic-immunity-game.com is free with no account needed. A one-time Diplomatic Passport (no ads on the phone editions, cosmetic extras, your name in the credits) is coming with the store launch. Nothing you buy changes the odds at the table.

No. Type a name, host or join a table, play. An account (sign-in by email link, no password) keeps your name, stats and Passport on every device. You can delete it yourself from the menu at any time.

Heat is suspicion. Every crime you commit adds its printed Heat unless it is Covered or made legal by a Law. Your Heat Limit is 5 while you hold your Immunity chip and 3 without it; characters, Laws and Headlines move it. The moment your Heat reaches your Limit you suffer a Scandal.

Your Heat resets to 0, you lose half your money and half your Rap Sheet (rounded down, you choose the cards), and you take a Scandal token. Tokens never go away. Your third Scandal Recalls you: you are out of the running, though you still vote on Laws and can still be bribed.

Meet your secret Goal, then book one of the three Departures printed on your Goal card during your Evening. Everyone else gets one full turn to stop you. If at the start of your next turn you have had no Scandal, no Tip-Off landed on your Departure and your Goal is still met, you are gone and you win.

Yes, through Diplomatic Marriage. You pay the $6M dowry and name a partner; if they accept by revealing a met Goal, you both Depart and both win. They can also walk out, keep their Goal secret, and leave you with a failed booking.

Everything. Leaks put Heat on you (a Scandal collapses the Departure), a Tip-Off cancels it, Expunge the Record strips crimes a Goal counts on, Shakedowns take money a money Goal counts on. You can Shred a Leak or Tip-Off, Deny a Tip-Off for $10M, or answer with the trickster's own Favor. Online, the moment a Departure is booked every other player gets a timed window to answer it with a Tip-Off or a Leak, before the round of turns begins.

Your word. Every player has one chip with their character's face. Hand it to anyone as part of any deal. The holder may cash it once: "Vote with me" during a vote, or "Take it back" to cancel a card you just played against them. You may refuse to honour it, at the price of 3 Heat, and they keep the chip.

Only Laws are voted on. Everyone votes at once, the proposer included; Recalled players vote too. A Law passes with more than half the votes cast, ties fail. Bribes are allowed and expected, but money and chips must change hands before the vote.

Yes, at any time, on anyone's turn. A payment is binding, a Favor chip is binding, a promise is not.

In any phase of your turn, as often as you like, discard any three cards from your hand and draw one from either deck. Free, and it does not use your Afternoon or Evening action.

When the last Headline is flipped, finish that round. Among the players who still hold Immunity, the most crimes in the Rap Sheet wins; ties go to money, then to the lowest Heat. If nobody holds Immunity, the same order applies to everyone. If someone is Departing when the final round ends, the table plays an overtime round with no drawing so they get their full turn at the leaver.

Each archetype bends one system and pays in another. The two diplomats on a board share the Bend and Cost and differ only in their once-per-game Signature. Any character may take any Goal, including ones that do not suit them; choosing well is part of the game.

Yes. "A player of your choice" includes you. Notorious players do it to reach Heat 3.

Yes. A crime made legal by a Law still goes in your Rap Sheet, can still be Tipped Off or Leaked, and Leaked Heat still applies. "Cannot be Covered" overrides Covers but not Laws.

The card wins. When two cards disagree, the one played later wins. If a deck runs out, shuffle its discards.

Yes, including monetised streams and videos. Screenshots and clips are welcome. The press kit has logos and art you can use.

One is in development, printed through The Game Crafter: 160 poker-size cards, 12 double-sided character boards and punch-out chips. A Kickstarter follows once the online game has found its players. The newsletter is the place to hear about it first.

See the Support page for the common fixes (a table code that will not join, sound, a dropped connection, a computer taking your seat while you stepped away). If it is a bug, the bug report there asks for the table code and your browser, which is all we need.