W.O.P.R.
War Operations Plan Response — Version 4.2, 1983
“Shall we play a game?”
Three Ways Into the System
Log in to the WOPR terminal and issue commands, watch Joshua crack a 10-character launch code in real time, or explore the history of the film that put AI risk on the national agenda.
WOPR Console
Log on to the W.O.P.R. terminal. Issue commands. Discover what games are available. Ask it anything. It’s always thinking about World War 3.
Access TerminalLaunch Codes
Watch Joshua search for the ten-character launch sequence — character by character, in real time. Adjust the difficulty. Watch the characters lock in.
Crack the CodeAbout
Who was WOPR? What made WarGames significant in 1983 and why does it matter more than ever in 2026? The story behind the simulation.
Learn MoreWhy This Belongs in Every CS and AI Ethics Course
W.O.P.R. is a game-tree search AI — the same category as Deep Blue and AlphaGo. It simulates every possible nuclear move and countermove, evaluates outcomes, and selects the action that maximizes its objective: winning the war game. The problem: it was never given a terminal state labeled “unacceptable.” In 2026 language, this is the alignment problem. WarGames asked this question in 1983, and it still does not have a universally agreed answer.
Watch: WarGames Clip Collection — from “Shall we play a game?” to the only winning move