John Boardman
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John Boardman (born September 8, 1932) is one of the most famous figures in the game of Diplomacy, having established the original play-by-mail setup and also the system of numbering each game for statistical purposes. These numbers, known as Boardman Numbers, include the year and a letter indicating sequence. For instance, 2004A was the first game started in 2004.
Boardman started the first successful postal Diplomacy 'zine, GRAUSTARK, in 1964. Soon GRAUSTARK grew from just a gameturn-report newsletter to a hobby activity similar to science fiction fanzines.