SF Whipping to Bid for DipCon 43
by Adam Silverman

I am pleased to announce that the Bay Area Diplomacy Association
(B.A.D.Ass.) will present a bid to host DipCon 43 at the Whipping in
2010. Edi Birsan will formally present the bid at this year's
DipCon/World DipCon in Columbus in June. Below are the preliminary
details of our bid, Edi and I would greatly appreciate any feedback
you would like to give so that we provide other useful information or
make appropriate amendments prior to presenting the formal bid in
Columbus.

We are looking forward to planning an outstanding event and are
hopeful that our track record for putting on great tournaments, along
with our excellent San Francisco location, will warrant your
consideration for choosing the Whipping as the DipCon site in 2010.

I. Schedule

The tournament will be four rounds of Diplomacy on April 16-18, 2010:
Round 1: Friday 7 PM (untimed)
Round 2: Saturday 9:30 AM (untimed)
Group dinner: Saturday 5:30 PM
Round 3: Saturday 7 PM (untimed)
Round 4: Sunday 9:30 AM (timed, call period 2:30-3:30 PM)
Awards: Sunday 4 PM

Depending on interest from travelers, we will organize social events
on Thursday evening and Friday during the day that may include:
touring SF, trips to Alcatraz, SF Giants Game, Angel Island or wine
country.

II. Venue

We have a large room at Hotel Tomo (1800 Sutter St, SF) that can
accommodate 5-6 boards, and an adjacent smaller room that can
accommodate 2 boards. Last year we were able to secure a room rate of
$129/night and some people were able to get cheaper rates. There are
also some lower cost options within walking distance. Hotel Tomo is in
the heart of Japantown, with many restaurants and shopping venues
nearby (~10 blocks from Union Square), and the weekend we hold the
Whipping is during the Cherry Blossom Festival.

For travelers, the area is serviced by three airports: SFO and OAK are
closest to San Francisco, and SJC is also a decent option. We will do
our best to transport travelers to and from the airport (public
transportation is also a possibility).

III. Costs

The entry fee for the tournament will be around $30. There will be a
catered group dinner on Saturday evening (most likely Japanese food)
at additional cost TBD for those interested.

IV. Tournament Format

The tournament will consist of four rounds, the first three of which
will be untimed. Sunday's round will have a predetermined afternoon
end time that will not be revealed. Boards will be randomly seeded
with best effort to maximize players getting to play with as many
different people as possible. Andy Hull will be working on making
improved software for board seeding. Each board will keep its own
clock and there will be a 2 minute drop dead order writing period each
turn.

V. Scoring System

Non-solos are strictly DIAS. The best 3 of 4 rounds will determine
final score, and there will not be a top board. There will also be an
award for the player with the highest score for the two Saturday
rounds. The scoring system is as follows (some minor tweaking may be
done before the event):

If a solo is obtained, the soloist gets 840 points, and the other
surviving players score as if they were eliminated in the final game
year.

In a DIAS, players eliminated in the year 19n get n points. The
survivors score as follows:

10 points are awarded per supply center (340 points total)
300 points are divided equally among the survivors.

The players with the most centers are given a bonus as follows:
1st place: 100 points
2nd place: 60 points
3rd place: 40 points
Points for the lower position are given in the event of a tie.

VI. Tournament Committee

The organizing committee for our 2010 DipCon bid consists of:

Adam Silverman - co-chair and tournament director
Edi Birsan - co-chair, venue, prizes
Condy Creek - recruiting, events
Andy Hull - recruiting, publicity
Louis Abronson - support

Please contact Adam Silverman (adam.silverman@gmail.com) for further
information.