Tournaments
- The CODCon Open: Our oldest tournament by two months, the Open is held annually in April at the small CODCon gaming convention at the College of Dupage. Our focus at this tournament is on introducing tournament Diplomacy to our players, but we usually draw a traveler or two every year, and the event is part of the North American Grand Prix circuit. We held CODCon for the first time in April 2007.
- Weasel Moot: Our signature tournament is Weasel Moot. This event tends to be more competitive than CODCon and usually draws players from both coasts and points in between. In recent years, as the event has grown in importance on the Grand Prix circuit — the Weasel Moot champ went on to win the Grand Prix in 2010, 2011 and 2012 — we’ve welcomed two to three boards’ worth of travelers. Weasel Moot even hosted the World and North American Diplomacy Championships in 2012 and 2016. We held Weasel Moot for the first time in June 2007, and since then, the event has bounced all over the calendar. At various times, we’ve held it in July, August, September and November. The tournament champion holds the title of Alpha Weasel until the next year’s Moot.
League Play
- Windy City Weasels Diplomacy League: Our league is the most active in North America. We average more than two games per month. We play games at members’ homes, in bars, and other venues. We score all of our games using the Sum of Squares scoring system, and each player’s best three scores count toward the season standings. Each season runs from September through August. The top dues-paying Weasel at the end of the Season wins our coveted Weasel of the Year title and also the top seed in the Weasel Royale club championship game. We also award Best Country awards to the top dues-paying member of each country, with the caveat that no player can win more than one Best Country award. In addition, we award Rookie of the Year to a newcomer each year. The winner of this award does not have to be a dues-paying member. We usually play our bar games on weeknights, starting at 6:30 p.m., typically. We use a fast clock and always end no later than 11 p.m. House games are usually on weekends and normally are open-ended.
- Bar Room Brawl Series: In addition to counting as regular league games, we track bar games separately in a subset of our league called the Bar Room Brawl Series. Again, each player’s top three bar game scores count in the standings. At the end of the season, the top seven players, regardless of membership status, will be invited to compete in the Bar Room Brawl Championship Game.
- Red Wednesdays: Starting in October 2014, the second Wednesday of every month will be Red Wednesday at the Red Lion in Lincoln Square. Join us for dinner, drinks and Diplomacy on Red Wednesday, the second Wednesday of every month!
Premiere Games
- Weasel Royale: Our club championship is called the Weasel Royale. At the end of each season, we invite the top seven dues-paying members to compete in the Royale. We usually hold the Royale in the Fall. We held the first one in 2008 at Dan Burgess’ home in Downers Grove. A founding Weasel and former Prime Weasel of the Sneak, Dan has hosted every Royale since. The champion is annointed our Bull Weasel, a title he or she holds until the next year’s event.
- Bar Room Brawl Championship Game: In Season Eight (2012-13), we held our first Bar Room Brawl Series, which culminated in a championship game at the Red Lion. The Lion even contributed awards for the game. We held the first championship in September 2013. The top seven finishers in the series are invited to compete for this championship. They do not have to be paid-up members.
Traditions
- The Weasel Pyle: Our oldest, and some say happiest, tradition is the annual season-ending Weasel Pyle. At the Pyle, we present our annual club awards, the Weasels; announce the bids for the Weasel Royale; and elect officers for the Sneak, our governing body. The Weasel Pyle started in August 2006 and has concluded every season since.
- The Regimental Battle Hymn: Zulu is the unofficial movie of the Weasels, and we’ve adopted and reworded Men of Harlech for our battle hymn. If you don’t believe that, please join us at the next Pyle. We end every season by striking the regimental choir.
- March Madness: March Madness is our ongoing effort to reclaim the month of March for its original pasttime–backstabbing. Every March we step up our recruiting efforts and try to schedule at least three house games and at least two bar games. Since the first year in 2008, March consistently has been our best recruiting month.
- The Undercard: The Undercard is a regular league game that we’ve held in conjunction with the Royale every year since 2009. The Royale qualifiers tend to be vain and enjoy playing before an audience.
- The Sneak: Our governing body is called the Sneak. Seven members currently serve on the Sneak, the offices of which include such colorful titles as the Prime Weasel (our president), the Sub-Prime Weasel (our vice-president), and the War Weasel (the director of competition). Members serve staggered two-year terms. Any paid-up member can vote in our annual elections, but to serve on the Sneak, you must be both a paid-up member and live within certain geographical boundaries.
- The Founding Weasels: The club founder is Jim O’Kelley. He organized the first game at his home in Chicago on Sept. 10, 2005. The other players in that game were Bryan Westhoff, Dan Burgess, Eric Brown, Jason Raynovich, Mike Roth and Scott Yahne. These seven are the Founding Weasels. Sadly, only Jim, Dan and Eric are still active, although Jason attended Weasel Moot VII and keeps threatening to rejoin the league.
Keeping Tabs
- windycityweasels.org: The best way to keep up to date on the Weasels is through this website, windycityweasels.org. We frequently post summaries of our games, tournament recaps, club news, and other stories. If you want to know what’s going on, visit often. To comment on our articles, you must be a registered user of the site, but it’s free to register.
- The Weekly Weasel: We also publish a weekly e-newsletter, typically on Mondays. The Weekly Weasel recaps all the latest news from the Weasels. You can receive it in your email box by joining our Yahoo Group, ChicagoDip, or just check the website. We publish each issue here in the Weekly Weasel blog.
- Meetup: We have an active Meetup site at www.meetup.com/wcwdiplomacy/. We post all our games there, so if you have a Meetup account, be sure to join this group. It’s another great way to know what’s going on, as game announcements will be pushed to your emailbox.
- ChicagoDip Yahoo Group: Our Yahoo Group is our oldest form of communication. We started it in September 2005, or thereabouts. These days, we mostly just use it to publish The Weekly Weasel and to promote our tournaments. If you join the group, you’ll rarely receive more than one email per week.
- Facebook: You can also like us on Facebook. Search for Chicago Diplomacy. Again, we mostly use this to announce the availability of The Weekly Weasel, but we’ll also share breaking news and occasionally issue a late plea for players to fill a board.
- Twitter: Yup, we also have a Twitter account: @WindyCityWeasel. We use it sparingly except for when we’re covering a big event like Weasel Moot, the Royale, the Pyle or a foreign tournament. Then we like to live-Tweet, so you can expect lots of activity, usually with a clever hashtag, when something big is going on.
Finding a Game
- Our Website: We announce every game opening right here on our website. You can find all our openings in the Find a Game section. There’s a link on the top menu and in the Main Menu on the left side of every page of the site. You’ll need to be a registered user of the site to join games here. Simply use the comment feature to say you’re in, and one of the admins will add you to the list in the article.
- Meetup: We also post every game opening on Meetup, www.meetup.com/wcwdiplomacy/. You can join games there, as well, and one of the admins will be sure to add your name to the list in the website article. Meetup is a really easy way to join games and keep track of your commitments.
- The Weekly Weasel: We also announce games in The Weekly Weasel and list them in the Upcoming Games section.
Other Items of Note
- Den of Records: All past tournament, league, premiere game and award winners are listed in our Den of Records. You’ll also find all league and tournament soloists there, as well as local players who have won foreign tournaments.
- Recordkeeping: We’ve meticulously kept records of all our games. You can find each game in the World Diplomacy Database. Click on League Results for league play and Tournament Results for tournament and premiere results. We also maintain records offline in our own database and store supply center charts from every game in a Google Doc directory. We refer to all league and exhibition (non-competitive) games by a simple numbering system. At the time of this writing, we had played 224 games.
Contacting Us
- Email: Have a question for the Sneak? Please email us at wcwsneak@gmail.com. You can use the Contact button on the top menu, as well.
