Bidding Stage

Open Bidding

Before a session starts, players place bids publicly for their turn orders. A higher bid allows a player to go earlier in a round.

The minimum bid is the buy-in price. For example, in a game with 0.005 ETH buy-in, a player needs to bid at least 0.005 ETH, and in a game with 100 Sparks buy-in, at least 100 Sparks.

Turn order and their bids are revealed in real time.

Sealed Bidding

Players place bids privately in the next 15 seconds, and the bids are revealed together once everyone has done so. Each player is then assigned a turn order from 1 to 5 based on how their bid compares to others' bids. The player who ends up bidding the highest amount becomes the dealer and will start first in rounds. If multiple players end up placing the same bid, that part of the ordering is randomized.

Example: If A B C D E bids 25 20 20 15 10 respectively, then the turn order may be A B C D E or A C B D E, where A is the dealer.

Turn order is fixed by color: Red, Orange, Green, Blue, Purple. Red is always the dealer.

Why aim for an earlier turn order or the dealer role in the first place?

The benefits of an earlier turn order is straightforward. Assume that Alice and Bob, who are both non-dealer, manage to acquire a new tile every round (i.e. never wasting attack points) and to also never lose a tile to anyone. In that case, if Alice's turn order is earlier than Bob's, Alice will be able to reach Tile Count Victory before Bob. That being said, the benefits tend to ebb as barbarian tiles run out and players turn aggressive against each other.

The benefits of being dealer is a bit more nuanced. Generally, being the dealer has more pros than cons, but playing the dealer well is also harder than playing a non-dealer. More on this on the next page. Therefore, if you're a beginner, don't worry about getting the dealer role until you are more familiar with the game, especially the dynamics of diplomacy.