Great, thanks for the reply.

From my understanding password games are for groups of players who either are friends IRL, or people who want specific players in their games. Sometimes it's also used so that players in the game can legally metagame (there have been a few chaos games I've joined where joining with friends was encouraged, and so there was a password to allow this to not be breaking the rules.) My advice if you want to play a larger variant game is to start it yourself, and then advertise it on the forum. It usually will fill up in a couple of days.

I have played Diplomacy off and on over the years and recently got back into it. I have a group of friends that I know in real life, and we play with on here in private password-protected games. We are usually good for a game that requires 5-7 players, but anything beyond that is a challenge. I love the Fall of the American Empire map, so I decided I'd just join a public game. Turns out there is only one that doesn't require a password and only three people signed up for that one, including myself. I see several others, but they all require passwords. I've not been on the site in a couple of years, so I'm sure there is a good reason for the passwords, but can someone shed some light? Also, if any of you are hosting American games and are looking for another player, I'd be interested. TIA.