Simple Rules: Diplomacy Auction Progressive Redux (DAPR)
Pronounced: "dapper"
What this league is:
You know the scene. DAPR is a progressive league where free agents and rookies are signed in a simultaneous silent auction.
Everyone turns in bids for a round before anyone sees results, like moves in the game Diplomacy: sealed orders, simultaneous resolution, and a map that only makes sense once everyone has moved. Then the round resolves, winners get posted, and you bid again until all 24 rosters hold 25- 33 men.
The original silent-auction idea comes from toddleduc (Auction League) and ooooohdoggie (Secret Bid League). This combined reboot keeps the spirit of each while sharpening it with the simultaneous resolution.
Basics:
Teams: 24
Parks: Exclusive parks, assigned in a one-round random draft at launch. The park doesn’t have to match the real-life season. You may change parks at most once every 5 seasons, and it costs 5 TKS that season.
Start year: 1998, advancing one season forward at a time.
Roster book: 25-33 players (25+8 AAA/IR)
Who can be auctioned: That season’s WIS player pool of new players/rookies plus free agents whose contracts ended.
Money (TKS):
Everything is in tokens (TKS). Bids and books use tenths only (8.5, 4.1, 0.1). Minimum bid is 0.1.
Each season’s budget
- Base: 100 TKS
- Unused TKS can roll to next season only, max 10 (does not stack to subsequent season(s))
- So heading into an auction you have 100–110 TKS (never more than 110 for the auction)
Before you bid
You must leave enough unspent TKS to cover a 0.1 minimum on every empty 33-man spot.
Available to bid = season budget - payroll you’re already paying - the open-spot reserve.
You can’t bid more than Available. On one player in a round, you also have to leave 0.1 for each other open spot (so you can’t dump your whole wallet on one name and strand empty roster spots).
In-season trades (separate from the auction)
During the season you can go as high as season budget + 10 (absolute max 120 if you already rolled 10).
Before the next auction, you must be back at or under your season budget (100 + rollover, max 110 - 0.1*Open Roster Spots to Fill). Extra trade room does not carry into the auction. If you’re over, you trade or release players until you’re under. The auction doesn’t care how clever you were in July.
Contracts:
- Length: 1 to 5 years (max 5). No extensions, no restructuring. Sign it and live with it.
- The winning bid is the salary every year of that deal (win at 8.5 ? you pay 8.5 TKS each season for the contract length you pick).
- You pick lengths after the auction is done and rosters are filled.
- Trades move remaining years and annual TKS as-is.
- Missing WIS season / injury: you still owe that season’s TKS and the player still counts on your 33-man roster (this caps IR in any season at 8).?
Releases:
You may release someone before the next auction. You free the roster spot, but dead money stays on your books for the leftover years; though it declines each year (detailed in full rules in forum). Round dead money to tenths.
A released player goes back to the free-agent pool right away, and other teams can bid and roster him even while you still carry dead money for that player. Your mistake, their bargain.
When a contract ends, that player is an automatic free agent next auction.
How the silent auction works:
Big picture
1. Commissioner posts who’s available.
2. Everyone submits by the deadline (same time, sealed) through the
Bid Desk (a separate site I’ve set up to make this process simple, consistent, and fair).
3. Commissioner resolves the round.
4. Repeat until every 25-33-roster is full by auction wins, no leftover snake *draft, no consolation prizes.
5. Then owners set 1–5 year lengths on new signees.
Late = no bids that round. Miss the window, miss the round.
What you fill out
You bid by open roster spot, not by listing every free agent on earth.
1. Enter WIS username + team name ? the Bid Desk loads your club.
2. You see open roster spot count, budget (with rollover), Available TKS, and your max TKS bid on one player.
3. You get one bid row per open spot (8 opens ? Bid 1 through Bid 8).
4. Each row: up to 10 Player / Bid pairs, left to right (first choice, then backups).
5. Tenths only, at least 0.1, no more than your max single-player bid.
6. Same player may show up on your sheet at most 3 times that round (across all rows) — enough to chase him on a few spots, not enough to spam every row.
7. You can only win a player once. If Bid 1 gets him, later mentions of him on other rows are ignored.
8. Submit once. Nobody sees anyone else’s bids until the round is resolved.
Who wins a player
Look at everyone still competing for that player.
- Highest unique amount wins him at that price and fills the bid row that had that line.
- If two or more people are tied at the top amount, nobody gets him at that price — those lines die, and the next live amount can still win him (even at a lower bid).
- No coin flips in a round. If he goes unclaimed, he’s back next round.
Once a bid row is filled, the rest of that row is done.
Tiny example: A and B both bid 5.2 ? tie, so the player stays available. Later B bids 3.7 alone ? B gets him for 3.7.
If you won too much in one round
If your wins would spend more than Available, you keep the earliest players won until your money is used up. Any win that would have put you over the limit is ignored and goes to the would-be runner-up.
Year 1 vs later years
- Year 1: Big pool — expect several days to a few weeks.
- Year 2+: Rookies + free agents after payroll (including dead money) is set. Aim to finish in about a week to 10 days.
Ending the auction
Rounds keep going until25- 33-man rosters are full through auction wins (including cheap 0.1 fills). *If only teams remaining only have 0.1 per roster spot left, to avoid endless looping tied auctions, we will use a randomized snake for those remaining teams to fill out those last roster spots.
Trades:
- No trade deadline. Deal whenever.
- You can move players as long as both stay inside the in-season cap (100 (+ 10) +10, max 120).
- To enter the next auction, you must be 0.1*Open Roster Spots = 100 (+10) Max 110.
- Traded players keep remaining years and salary.
- Dead money stays with the team that released the player.
- No PTBNL trades, everything is up front.
Yearly loop
1. Play the WIS season / playoffs
2. Contracts age; expired players become FA
3. Releases allowed until the next auction (dead money applies)
4. Figure rollover (=10) and next season budget (=110)
5. Post FA / rookie lists
6. Run silent auction rounds until 33-man books are full
7. Set contract lengths on new signees
8. Lock 33 and start the next WIS season
Conduct:
Miss several round deadlines with no proxy and the commissioner can step in or replace you. If a franchise is abandoned, contracts and dead money stay with the club, and a replacement owner will be found. Build something worth inheriting — or hand the keys to someone who will.
Quick Bid Desk cheat sheet:
Step — What you do
1 — Username + team name
2 — Check opens, budget, Available, max bid on one guy
3 — One row per open spot
4 — Up to 10 player/bid backups per row
5 — Tenths; min 0.1; same player = 3 times on your sheet
6 — Submit sealed
7 — Ties at a price void; next lower live bid can still win
8 — A win fills that row; empty rows rebid next round
Anyone can win a bidding war when they can see the other guy’s number. DAPR asks more: read the room, trust your board, and put your money where your mouth is. This isn’t chaos, it’s the most honest market in WIS.