Design
A Map of Global Nuclear Weapons Brings 'WarGames' into the 21st Century
In this new homage to the 1980s film, the only winning move is not to play.
Shall we play a game? In the 1983 geek-classic WarGames, a high-school hacker dials his way to the government supercomputer in charge of American nukes. When the talking machine suggests they play checkers, chess, and a little thermonuclear war, the teen thinks it’s mere fun. But World War Three may actually be imminent.
In the finale, a missile-launch sequence flashes across massive Air Force computer maps, apparently signaling global apocalypse. Fortunately, it turns out to be just a game—with a strong anti-proliferation message.