Allan B. Calhamer

Lore & Background

Allan Brian Calhamer was born on December 7, 1931. He speculated that his original inspiration for Diplomacy came from an article in Life magazine about the Congress of Vienna he read at age 12 in 1944. A childhood friend, Gordon Leavitt, recalled that he and Calhamer discovered in an attic a geography book showing a map of Europe before World War I with the Austro-Hungarian Empire and old boundaries. Calhamer earned his bachelor's degree from Harvard University in 1953 and then began Harvard Law School. Reading The Origins of the World War by professor Sidney Bradshaw Fay, whose book he read, finally galvanized him. In 1954, while still enrolled, he developed a game of strategy and alliances that put seven players in control of the major powers of the pre-World War I era. He quit law school after one year and was hired as a systems analyst by Sylvania's Applied Research Laboratory in Waltham, Massachusetts, also working as a tour guide for the Statue of Liberty during this period.

In 1959, Calhamer published his game as Diplomacy and printed 500 copies. After selling all of them in six months, he licensed the game to a publisher, with Games Research releasing its first edition in 1961. Over the years, Diplomacy has been published in North America by Games Research, Avalon Hill, Hasbro, and Renegade Game Studios, and in several languages internationally. Calhamer's original face-to-face board game has also been played by mail since 1963, and later via internet and email. He later invented two other games, but neither achieved the success of Diplomacy. Calhamer wrote a book, Calhamer on Diplomacy: The Boardgame 'Diplomacy' and Diplomatic History, but the game did not provide him with a living. In the 1990s he retired from working as a mail carrier and lived his last years in La Grange Park. He also published a game of four-dimensional exploration called 'Hyper-Space,' with instructions at the Internet Archive.

Reader's Guide

Allan Calhamer's significance lies in his creation of Diplomacy, a game that introduced novel gameplay mechanics centered on negotiation, deception, and simultaneous order resolution. Unlike many war games of the era, Diplomacy eliminated dice and chance, relying entirely on player skill in forming and breaking alliances. Mike Webb, vice president of marketing and data services for Alliance Game Distributors, stated posthumously that 'in many ways, the hobby-game industry as we know it owes its existence to Allan Calhamer' thanks to Diplomacy's numerous gameplay innovations, specifically the ability to negotiate and deceive other players. The game's success led to multiple publishers over decades and inspired play-by-mail and online variants, creating a lasting community. Calhamer's other designs, including Hyper-Space, did not achieve similar renown, but his work on Diplomacy established a template for strategic social interaction in board games that influenced countless later titles. His legacy is that of a designer who transformed a historical interest into a enduring game that reshaped the hobby industry.

Did You Know?

• Calhamer's original inspiration for Diplomacy came from a Life magazine article about the Congress of Vienna he read at age 12.
• He worked as a tour guide for the Statue of Liberty while developing Diplomacy.
• Calhamer retired from working as a mail carrier in the 1990s.