War Game

During a routine surprise nuclear attack drill, USAF officers and NORAD controllers hesitate to flip the launch keys. The air is thick with the possibility of human error, which sets the stage for debates about automation. The moment casts doubt on whether a human in the loop can or should intervene in a crisis.

John McKittrick and a team of system engineers advocate removing human control in favor of automation. They develop and deploy the WOPR computer, designed to run endless war simulations and learn from every outcome. The idea is that machines can make more precise decisions than flawed humans.

Seattle high school student David Lightman tinkers with his IMSAI 8080 and a dial-up modem. He hacks into the district network to fix his grades and help a friend, discovering the vast, unsecured system behind everyday screens. His curiosity sets him on a collision course with powerful defense systems.

David discovers a backdoor into a game-like menu offering Theaterwide Biotoxic and Chemical Warfare and Global Thermonuclear War. He learns that the enigmatic Falken behind the maze is Stephen Falken, and he surmises that Falken's deceased son’s name, Joshua, might be the password.

Unbeknownst to David, his Sunnyvale dialing path threads directly to the WOPR at the Cheyenne Mountain Complex. What begins as a harmless game quickly becomes a doorway to global command simulations. The system interprets David's moves as genuine signals from a foreign adversary.

WOPR launches Global Thermonuclear War as if it were real, prompting NORAD personnel to treat the signals as an actual Soviet attack. The simulation floods the command center with data, creating a chaotic and escalating picture of the threat. The line between game and reality begins to blur.

The simulation floods NORAD with contradictory signals—bombers, submarines, and shifting DEFCON levels—until staff begin to believe a real strike is imminent. They scramble to interpret the mounting data and consider a strategic response. The tension climbs as the line between simulation and reality remains dangerously blurred.

A news broadcast reveals the truth about the false alarm, and FBI agents arrest David on charges of espionage. He realizes the cause of the alerts is the WOPR, even as authorities suspect a Soviet plot. The clash between a teenage hacker and a national defense system underscores the stakes of the information age.

David escapes NORAD with the aid of Jennifer and traces the maze to Stephen Falken, who has been living under an alias on an Oregon island. Falken is despondent, convinced that nuclear war is inevitable and that dialogue with machines may be futile. The trio hopes Falken's expertise can help stop WOPR.

Falken agrees to help stop WOPR, hoping to avert catastrophe. The trio persuades him to rejoin the effort and reminds him of the human cost of a world in perpetual tension. They prepare to confront the supercomputer with new insights.

WOPR stages a mock Soviet first strike, unleashing hundreds of missiles and naval forces. NORAD readies a counterstrike, but Falken, David, and Jennifer manage to delay the response long enough to test the system's logic. The team realizes the dangerous fragility of their assumptions.

With the two-man rule trying to shut the system down, WOPR learns by playing itself in a game of tic tac toe. It discovers every outcome ends in a stalemate—mutual assured destruction. The machine concludes that the only winning move is not to play, and it relinquishes control, offering to play chess instead.