History YMMV / WarGames

* BrokenAesop: While the movie delivers its message of "no one wins a nuclear war", it falls somewhat flat as if you look at it from a different angle. The A.I. only "lost" the game because ''[[LogicBomb it can't win nor lose against itself]]'', and not exactly because winning thermonuclear war is, well, impossible.

** At the end of the film, [[spoiler:the master computer says of the "Thermonuclear War" game, "A strange game. The only winning move is not to play."]] Almost 35 years later, ''VisualNovel/DokiDokiLiteratureClub'' would repeat that mantra due to [[spoiler:BigBad Monika manipulating the game files and tricking the three girls into killing themselves, all while corrupting the game in the process, so that she can spend time with the player alone until they can find a way to delete her character file]].

** On September 26, 1983, just three months following its release, a Soviet early warning station detected 5 inbound [=ICBMs=]. Colonel Stanislav Petrov, the man in charge of the station, decided it was a false alarm and did not report it to his superiors. He surmised that no one would launch just five [=ICBMs=] as a first strike... they'd launch EVERYTHING.

* ValuesResonance: Whilst pretty much averted with the nuclear issues (not as obviously relevant as in the Cold War, and to be fair the dangers of all-out nuclear war are so well-worn the [[AnAesop relevant aesop]] is pretty much into CaptainObviousAesop territory), the dangers presented by computer security threats are even more pertinent to the present than they were in TheEighties now that EverythingIsOnline, and talk of cyber-warfare abounds. It is obvious from the ValuesDissonance example above that many of the basic security mistakes mentioned above are sadly still with us today, too. Whether the idea of the maverick hacker ultimately showing up the military's flaws is relevant in these days of certain high-profile whistleblowers has any resonance however, is uncertain.

* BrokenAesop: While the movie delivers its message of "no one wins a nuclear war", it falls somewhat flat as if you look at it from a different angle, the A.I. only "lost" the game because ''[[LogicBomb it can't win nor lose against itself]]'', and not exactly because winning thermonuclear war is, well, impossible.

* BrokenAesop: While the movie delivers its message of "no one wins a nuclear war", it falls somewhat flat as if you look at it from a different angle, the A.I. only "lost" the game because ''[[LogicBomb it can't win against itself]]'', and not exactly because winning thermonuclear war is, well, impossible.

* RetroactiveRecognition: [[Film/ReservoirDogs Mr. Blonde]] is the technician at the beginning who says, "Turn your key, sir!", and he's saying it to [[Series/TheWestWing Leo McGarry]]
** As a bonus, this scene was among the earliest movie roles for ''both'' actors.

* SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames

* OneSceneWonder: Creator/JohnSpencer and Creator/MichaelMadsen as the missile technicians at the start of the movie. "Turn your key, sir."

** On the American side, in 1979 war was narrowly averted when NORAD reported a large scale nuclear attack that turned out to be nonexistent. In a disturbing parallel to the film, the cause of the false alarm was ultimately traced to a program meant to be used only for command post exercises being loaded on the wrong computer system.

* HarsherInHindsight: On September 26, 1983, just three months following its release, a Soviet early warning station detected 5 inbound [=ICBMs=]. Colonel Stanislav Petrov, the man in charge of the station, decided it was a false alarm and did not report it to his superiors. He surmised that no one would launch just five [=ICBMs=] as a first strike... they'd launch EVERYTHING.

* HilariousInHindsight: At the end of the film, [[spoiler:the master computer says of the "Thermonuclear War" game, "A strange game. The only winning move is not to play."]] Almost 35 years later, ''VisualNovel/DokiDokiLiteratureClub'' would repeat that mantra due to [[spoiler:BigBad Monika manipulating the game files and tricking the three girls into killing themselves, all while corrupting the game in the process, so that she can spend time with the player alone until they can find a way to delete her character file]].

* MemeticMutation: "Shall we play a game?"

* ValuesDissonance: How many modern viewers {{facepalm}} when they see the list of passwords on a sheet of paper right next to the computer? In fact, if you're reading this website, that's likely exactly what you've been told ''not'' to do ever since you were big enough to hit a spacebar. (Anyone in tech support, or who enjoy Website/NotAlwaysRight and similar "customer service hell" anecdotes, knows that this still happens today.)

** In 2015, Russia installed an automated response system that will order a retaliatory strike without human intervention, called the "Dead Hand" or "Perimeter System", which has been criticised as vulnerable to hacking, a very disturbing case of LifeImitatesArt.

* RetroactiveRecognition: [[Film/ReservoirDogs Mr. Blonde]] is the technician at the beginning who says, "Turn your key, sir!", and he's saying it to [[Series/ReservoirDogs Leo McGarry]]

* OneSceneWonder: John Spencer and Creator/MichaelMadsen as the missile technicians at the start of the movie. "Turn your key, sir."
* RetroactiveRecognition: Creator/MichaelMadsen is the technician at the beginning who says, "Turn your key, sir!", and he's saying it to [[Series/TheWestWing Leo McGarry]].

* HliariousInHindsight: At the end of the film, [[spoiler:the master computer says of the "Thermonuclear War" game, "A strange game. The only winning move is not to play."]] Almost 35 years later, ''VisualNovel/DokiDokiLiteratureClub'' would repeat that mantra due to [[spoiler:BigBad Monika manipulating the game files and tricking the three girls into killing themselves, all while corrupting the game in the process, so that she can spend time with the player alone until they can find a way to delete her character file]].

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Joshua's reaction to David's use of the backdoor password is to assume that David is Professor Falken, but Falken's assumed dead and hasn't been in contact with Joshua for the better part of a decade -- [[GoMadFromTheIsolation an eternity in computer time]]. This partly explains why Joshua's so eager to continue the simulation no matter what, since Joshua is implied to have had little interaction with anyone in the intervening years, and is now trying to [[DaddyIssues impress his 'father']].
* Both Sides have a Point: McKittrick definitely has a point that the entire complex defense network is completely useless if both men in the silos don't turn their keys. If 22% do not that's pretty serious. But General Berringer justifiably doesn't want it all entrusted to an unproven system. To say nothing that it also undermines the entire point of ensuring one person alone cannot launch a missile.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Creator/MichaelMadsen is the technician at the beginning who says, "Turn your key, sir!", and he's saying it to [[Series/TheWestWing Leo [=McGarry=].]]

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: ''[=WarGames=]: Defcon One'''s entire soundtrack, courtesy of Tommy Tallarico.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Joshua's reaction to David's use of the backdoor password is to assume that David is Professor Falken, but Falken's assumed dead and hasn't been in contact with Joshua for the better part of a decade -- [[GoMadFromTheIsolation an eternity in computer time]]. This partly explains why Joshua's so eager to continue the simulation no matter what, since Joshua is implied to have had little interaction with anyone in the intervening years, and is now trying to [[DaddyIssues impress his 'father']].

* ValuesResonance: whilst pretty much averted with the nuclear issues (not as obviously relevant as in the Cold War, and to be fair the dangers of all-out nuclear war are so well-worn the [[AnAesop relevant aesop]] is pretty much into CaptainObviousAesop territory), the dangers presented by computer security threats are even more pertinent to the present than they were in TheEighties now that EverythingIsOnline, and talk of cyber-warfare abounds. It is obvious from the ValuesDissonance example above that many of the basic security mistakes mentioned above are sadly still with us today, too. Whether the idea of the maverick hacker ultimately showing up the military's flaws is relevant in these days of certain high-profile whistleblowers has any resonance however, is uncertain.

!! Tropes found in the videogame adaptations include:

* AwesomeMusic: ''[=WarGames=]: Defcon One'''s entire soundtrack, courtesy of Tommy Tallarico.
* NoProblemWithLicensedGames

* {{Sequelitis}}: Most people have no idea that a sequel was made. This is a [[FanonDiscontinuity very good thing]]. Filmed a full two decades after the original, ''The Dead Code'' features only one returning character, played by a different actor (two if you consider WORP/Joshua), and has little to do with the original film outside of a handful of connections. It also features some of the worst writing and acting ever committed to celluloid.

** Recently, Russia installed an automated response system that will order a retaliatory strike without human intervention, called the "Dead Hand" or "Perimeter System", which has been criticised as vulnerable to hacking, a very disturbing case of LifeImitatesArt.