History Trivia / WarGames

** A fan made a [[https://github.com/abs0/wargames wargames program]] for [-{{UsefulNotes/UNIX}}-]. It "simulates" the WOPR computer.

* TechnologyMarchesOn: The modems are museum pieces today (acoustic couplers were outdated even then), but were so cutting-edge for their day that the film was many people's first introduction to the concept. The film even featured [[UrExample the first cinematic reference to the term "firewall"]]. Also, 8-inch floppies.

** When David is being chided into changing Jennifer's score at the arcade. He loses a ship while being distracted playing Galaga, but the lower left of the screen shows he still has three lives remaining, despite that there's a cutaway when David says "You owe me a quarter.", the next cut is showing the Game Over gameplay statistics screen.

* NamesTheSame: [=McKittrick=]'s personal assistant is Pat Healy, whose name is one letter off from actor Pat Heal'''e'''y, who starred as Commissioner Gordon in the ''Film/BatmanFilmSeries''.

* AluminiumChristmasTrees: Turning an empty Pringles can into a high-gain wifi antenna is a real thing that some college students do to be able to leach free wifi off the UsefulNotes/McDonalds or Starbucks down the street from their dorm. It's called a "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantenna cantenna]]", and it actually works really well assuming you're aiming to steal 5GHz high speed wifi.

* AluminiumChristmasTrees: Turning an empty Pringles can into a high-gain wifi antenna is a real thing that some college students do to be able to leach free wifi off the UsefulNotes/McDonalds or Starbucks down the street from their dorm. It's called a "cantenna", and it actually works really well assuming you're aiming to steal 5GHz high speed wifi.

* AluminiumChristmasTrees: Turning an empty Pringles can into a high-gain wifi antenna is a real thing that some college students do to be able to leach free wifi off the McDonalds or Starbucks down the street from their dorm. It's called a "cantenna", and it actually works really well assuming you're aiming to steal 5GHz high speed wifi.

* AluminiumChristmasTrees: Turning an empty Pringles can into a high-gain wifi antenna is a real thing that some college students do to be able to leach free wifi off the MacDonalds or Starbucks down the street from their dorm. It's called a "cantenna", and it actually works really well assuming you're aiming to steal 5GHz high speed wifi.

* AluminiumChristmasTrees: Turning an empty Pringles can into a high-gain wifi antenna is a real thing that some college students do to be able to leach free wifi off the McDonalds or Starbucks down the street from their dorm. It's called a "cantenna", and it actually works really well assuming you're aiming to steal 5GHz high speed wifi.

** In the original script NORAD ends up giving David a part-time job, and he works as McKittrick's assistant; just as [=McKittrick=] said he started out as Falken's assistant.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The then-contemporary theme of Cold War nuclear panic definitely dates this film to before TheGreatPoliticsMessUp, as does its treatment of then-emerging computer technology (to early in TheEighties). And of course there's the technology itself: dialing into remote systems with an acoustic coupler modem looks positively quaint in the era of broadband internet, as do supercomputers with graphics that the most basic of modern [=PCs=] would put to shame (or even a computer of 1983). (The acoustic coupler modem was already outdated in 1983. It was just there to be visually interesting.) The lax attitude to computer security is almost a textbook example of how ''not'' to do things these days, though to the irritation of IT people the world over, people still insist on writing down passwords to this day. And this being TheEighties, there's the obligatory video arcade scene. Not to mention the way Lightman did his research on Professor Falken: going to the library, looking him up in the card catalog, reading books and microfilms; something that one can do today [[TechnologyMarchesOn by typing it into Google.]]

** The original director was Martin Brest, but only two of his scenes made it into the movie: David and Jennifer's meeting with Jim and Malvin, and David calling Jennifer at a phone booth in the middle of nowhere.