WarGames strategems

NORAD's confused reaction to a Sudan Surprise

WarGames had some pretty farfetched strategies in its final scenes. I'm attempting to enumerate them here. I'm rather surprised that none of these ended with a winner. I'd like to think that we could handle any domestic issues in Greenland without a full-blown thermonuclear exchange, but I suppose it was the 80s.

We can be thankful that we came no closer to a Greenland Maximum

I went ahead and did the frame-by-frame analysis so you wouldn't have to: https://nick-black.com/images/wargames_strategies/

• US First Strike
• USSR First Strike
• NATO / Warsaw Pact
• Far East Strategy
• US/USSR Escalation
• India-Pakistan War
• Mediterranean War
• HongKong Variant
• SEATO Decapitation
• Cuban Provocation
• Inadvertant Release
• Atlantic Heavy
• Cuban Paramilitary
• Nicaraguan Preemptive
• Pacific Territorial
• Burmese Theaterwide
• Turkish Decoy
• NATO unreadable
• Argentina Escalation
• Iceland Maximum
• Arabian Theaterwide
• US Subversion
• Australian Maneuver
• Sudan Diversion(!)
• NATO Limited
• Sudan Surprise(!)
• NATO Territorial
• Zaire Alliance(!)
• Iceland Incident
• English Escalation
• Egypt Paramilitary
• Zaire Alert
• Middle East Heavy
• Mexican Takeover
• Chad Alert
• Saudi Maneuver
• African Territorial
• Ethiopian Escalation(*)
• Czech Option
• French Alliance
• Arabian Clandestine
• Gabon Rebellion
• Northern Mayhem
• Syrian Surprise
• Tunisian Incident
• SEATO Takeover
• Hawaiian Escalation(!)
• Iranian Maneuver
• NATO Containment
• Swiss Incident
• Cuban Minimal
• Chad Thrust
• Brazilian Strike
• Venezuelan Sudden
• Malaysian Alert
• Israel Discretionary
• Libyan Action
• Iceland Escalation
• Vietnamese Retaliation
• Syrian Provocation
• Libyan Local
• Gabon Takeover
• Romanian War
• Middle East Offensive
• Denmark Massive
• Chile Confrontation
• S. African Subversion
• USSR Alert
• Nicaraguan Thrust
• Greenland Domestic(!!!)
• Iceland Heavy
• Kenya Option
• Pacific Defense
• Uganda Maximum
• Thai Subversion
• Romanian Strike
• Pakistan Sovereignty
• Afghan Misdirection
• Thai Variation
• Northern Territorial
• Polish Paramilitary
• S. African Offensive
• Panama Misdirection
• Scandanavian Domestic
• Jordan Preemptive
• Turkish Heavy
• NATO Incursion
• US Defense
• Cambodian Heavy
• Pact Medium
• Arctic Minimal
• Mexican Domestic
• English Thrust
• Burmese Maneuver
• Spain Counter
• Arabian Offensive
• Chad Insurrection
• Gabon Surprise
• Iraq Sovereignty
• Vietnamese Sudden
• Lebadon Interdiction
• Taiwan Domestic
• Algerian Sovereignty
• Atlantic Sudden
• Mongolian Thrust
• Polish Decoy
• Alaskan Discretionary
• Canadian Thrust(!!!!)
• Cypress Maneuver
• Egypt Misdirection
• Bangladesh Thrust
• Kenya Defense
• Burmese Containment
• Asian Theaterwide
• Bulgarian Clandestine
• Greenland Maximum

Corrections

• (*) Thanks to Sean Caulfield for this correction!