Global Thermonuclear War

The Game Room
1

I know that the only winning move is not to play, but put yourself into the shoes of Dr Strangelove or Herman Kahn. What are the best games in the style?

Balance of Power is a classic, but there you need to avoid a nuclear confrontation.

DEFCON has cute graphics, but is obviously not a WarGames-style simulated Global Thermonuclear War.

Bravo Romeo Delta is getting interesting, but what is happening behind the curtain?

It does not have to be a commercial video game or necessarily a computer game at all; maybe there was a real version of the military wargame depicted in the movie? Someone somewhere was and is contemplating the unthinkable; they have to learn somehow.

2

So I want to ask, shall we play a game?

3

How about a nice game of chess?

4

A year after the movie, ColecoVision had a game version of the iconic scene and this nuclear defense game which came out the same year as the movie.

5

Countermeasure, Atari 5200

6

What about the old Nuclear War card game?

7

That was the first thing I thought of, too; Flying Buffalo still makes it!

The second thing I thought of was the old Amiga game Nuclear War.

8

The problem with DEFCON is that there is no way to avoid nuclear war - your opponent (the computer) escalates the situation to an all-out nuclear exchange regardless of whether you want it or not. That was the biggest irk for me in what was otherwise a pretty good budgetware game.

9

Also the old First Strike board game…

What game do people think is the most “realistic” and/or immersive enough to leave you with a distinct uneasy feeling and a desire to take up chess?

10

Supremacy really makes for a tense evening and can ruin friendships