WarGames (1983) poster
Poster: TMDB
FilmPG1983

WarGames

DramaScience FictionThriller

High school student David Lightman has a talent for hacking. But while trying to hack into a computer system to play unreleased video games, he unwittingly taps into the Department of Defense's war computer and initiates a confrontation of global proportions. Together with his friend and a wizardly computer genius, David must race against time to outwit his opponent and prevent a nuclear Armageddon. From TMDB

152 reactions from 3 sources (Bluesky, TMDB reviews, Mastodon) · newest Oct 8, 2026 · last updated Oct 9, 2026 · How this works

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Reactions

60 of 152 · most liked first
  • Brett Coughlin @coughlinbrett.bsky.socialBluesky · Apr 25, 2026

    Roger Ebert gave the 1983 film WarGames a glowing four-star review, calling it an "amazingly entertaining thriller" that successfully balanced teenage drama with Cold War anxiety. So I’m not the only one who ever liked it. #Wargames #IFC

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  • The ɅɅeech @diedfrombeing.labeledrude.onlineBluesky · Feb 6, 2025

    me as a child: wow this Wargames movie portends a dark cyberfuture. i wonder what mysteries it will reveal in time me as an adult: christ i hope accidental FBI chief "The Drizz" doesn't milkshake duck before the civil war

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  • Scott Stein @sstein.bsky.socialBluesky · Feb 9, 2026

    They're acting like it's going to be the Ferris Bueller movie when it's actually going to be WarGames

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  • jon rosenberg @jonrosenberg.bsky.socialBluesky · Mar 23, 2025

    Just watched WarGames with my teenage daughter, a movie where a flawed AI created by an ex-government employee is repurposed to replace humans in safeguard positions by clueless dipshits being directed by the president. The movie is 42 years old.

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  • David M. Perry @lollardfish.bsky.socialBluesky · Feb 25, 2026

    "We've finally created the WOPR from the 1983 movie "whatever you do don't create the WOPR" aka Wargames."

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  • Rolling Stone @rollingstone.comBluesky · Mar 2, 2026

    Everyone's asking if Pete Hegseth recalls how letting A.I. control nuclear arsenals turned out in the 'Terminator' movies. We're wondering if he remembers the endgame in a different '80s movie: 'WarGames'

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  • Craig Calcaterra @craigcalcaterra.bsky.socialBluesky · Feb 25, 2026

    Underrated bit of dialogue from "WarGames" that doesn't get quoted enough: Ally Sheedy [watching film of Dr. Falken]: "He wasn't very old." Matthew Broderick: "No, he was pretty old. He was 41." Sheedy: "Oh yeah? Oh, that's old."

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  • Joe Gagne @joegagne.bsky.socialBluesky · Nov 30, 2025

    The show is called WarGames because you can show the 1983 movie WarGames in full in the time between matches

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  • Coach Finstock @coachfinstock.bsky.socialBluesky · Oct 10, 2025

    I liked this movie better in 1983 when it was called WarGames

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  • Mathew Buck @filmbrainbmb.bsky.socialBluesky · Jul 3, 2025

    RIP Michael Madsen, 67. Credits include Kill Bill, Reservoir Dogs, Free Willy, Donnie Brasco, Thelma and Louise, The Hateful Eight, Species, The Getaway (1994), Bloodrayne, WarGames, The Outlaw Johnny Black, Sin City, Scary Movie 4, Die Another Day, Wyatt Earp, The Doors, and 300+ more.

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  • Th3 Arch1t3c7 @k1nsal.bsky.socialBluesky · Feb 2, 2025

    So, worst case scenario, feel free to correct me. You have a 19 year old with an unprotected endpoint on the tresuary netwok combing the databases with full delete/write access with left over or boasted creds. Yeah saw this movie when i was a kids it was call "Wargames".

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  • Indie Book Spotlight @bookspotlight.bsky.socialBluesky · Jan 12, 2025

    Just watched Wargames for the first time and I love the fact that they beat evil AI with tic tac toe 😭😂 Also the anti war message is 🔥🔥🔥 ‘The only way to win is not to play.’

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  • Jackie Lau @jackielaubooks.bsky.socialBluesky · Jan 20, 2025

    Well, WarGames (1983) was certainly an interesting movie to watch tonight.

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  • What Cargie Does In The Shadows @cargie.babyBluesky · Dec 11, 2025

    I remember the movie WarGames (1983) when a machine learning AI was placed in control of the US nuclear arsenal and it worked out great and nothing bad happened

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  • Don Incognito @shuadc.bsky.socialBluesky · Jul 14, 2025

    A reboot of WARGAMES and Her but they are the same movie

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  • Dragon Cobolt @dragoncobolt.bsky.socialBluesky · Nov 9, 2025

    Wargames, despite the best efforts of ready player one, is actually a real good movie

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  • Retroist @retroist.comBluesky · Jan 12, 2025

    Sometimes a movie will teach you an unexpected, but useful lesson. In the movie WarGames we learn about the dangers of poor computer security, but more importantly, we learn of a novel way to butter corn on the cob. www.retroist.com/p/butter-you...

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  • Holly Gaye @hollygaye.bsky.socialBluesky · Oct 30, 2025

    Makes me think of the 1983 movie WarGames with Matthew Broderick which determined that nuclear war is a pointless and unwinnable conflict, and the only winning move is not to play.

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  • Stephen Schwartz @atomicanalyst.bsky.socialBluesky · Feb 9, 2024

    If you’re in or near Chicago, come see the hit film “WarGames” this Monday at 6:00pm at the Gene Siskel Film Center, and be sure to stick around for the post-screening discussion with me, part of the @bulletinatomic.bsky.social’s Science on Screen film festival. www.siskelfilmcenter.org/war-games

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  • Rygrad402 @rygrad402.bsky.socialBluesky · Jun 26, 2026

    A couple on a crime spree with great lead performances, an unsettling Zombie film about witches and Satan, a classic Eastwood/Van Cleef team up, and also a classic LA noir with a rambling Elliott Gould (also watched The Long Kiss Goodnight and Wargames) #LastFourWatched #LetterboxdFriday

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  • 🎃 scarecrowcialism 👻 @swolecialism.bsky.socialBluesky · Sep 27, 2024

    Not really a surprise, Wargames is The Hacker Movie, the one that set the language for computer shit that hollywood still hasn't escaped

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  • Lisa Marie @lisamarietea.bsky.socialBluesky · Oct 17, 2025

    Tonight's let's ignore the real world movie is WarGames, which I've never seen before. Ally Sheedy is so pretty in this.

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  • The Burgermeister Meisterburger 🌮 @burgy.bsky.socialBluesky · Apr 28, 2025

    #MusicChallenge #FoolishPrizes 4/29 Video Fever - Composed by Arthur Rubinstein (Performed by his band The Beepers) From the movie WarGames, played during the video arcade scene. youtu.be/9Inm_p3eDJw?...

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  • Shaenon K. Garrity @shaenon.bsky.socialBluesky · Feb 9, 2025

    You think I'm trying to remember the 1983 Dabney Coleman kiddie espionage movie WarGames but you're so off, I'm trying to remember the 1984 Dabney Coleman kiddie espionage movie Cloak & Dagger so don't even mention the 1985 Dabney Coleman young adult espionage movie The Man With One Red Shoe

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  • Logan Tindell @logtindell.bsky.socialBluesky · Nov 21, 2025

    Saw the new Running Man. It's alright. Could've been better for sure. Wished it was more like Edgar's past films. Powell was grand though. WarGames was stupid fun. Mononoke rules. The Mummy is peak cinema: greatest 3.5 rated film on letterboxd. #letterboxdfriday #lastfourwatched #filmsky

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  • Woman Veteran ☮️ @pamelaoplays.bsky.socialBluesky · Mar 17, 2025

    - 🌊💙 ☮️ #PamelasTuesdayFilms As a convincing and entertaining thriller, this 1983 film WarGames is a masterpiece. I, as does any sane person, was relieved with its conclusion about war: "the only way to win is not to play at all." - www.dailymotion.com/video/x8wrxm8

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  • 🎃Autopsy of Ashley Lynch 🔪🎞️ @ashleylynch.bsky.socialBluesky · Dec 1, 2024

    The entire movie was actually born out of the research the screenwriters did on hacker communities for Wargames.

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  • caffeine anxiety ego death @mxdshipwreck.bsky.socialBluesky · Jan 7, 2025

    Such famously agenda-free entertainment as Top Gun, WarGames, Rambo, and the GI Joe movie

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  • SpryOldLorax @spryoldlorax.bsky.socialBluesky · Apr 23, 2026

    Today's #Movie recommendation is "WarGames". This very-80s movie seems extra relevant today, what with its plot revolving around giving an advanced AI control over the U.S. military... Matthew Broderick, Dabney Coleman, and Ally Sheedy star.

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  • Orin Kerr @orinkerr.bsky.socialBluesky · Jun 18, 2026

    It's a CFAA classic movie: "WarGames" (1983), with Matthew Broderick, now on Youtube for free. www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNLQ...

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  • Joe Uchill @joeuchill.bsky.socialBluesky · Dec 27, 2024

    Same writing team as Wargames, a movie that literally created America’s main anti-hacking law. They were pretty good at this stuff.

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  • Jeff Abbott @jeffabbott.bsky.socialBluesky · Oct 30, 2024

    i watched 1983's WARGAMES which somehow I had never seen in the forty years since its release and it was a really fun, good movie let's not play global thermonuclear war though

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  • Patryk of the Sleeper Tribe @patrixilent.bsky.socialBluesky · Apr 25, 2026

    WarGames was a major commercial hit and got critical acclaim and Oscar nominations. It was a widely beloved film, by critics and audiences alike. Were you living in some "anti-WarGames" community or something? 😆

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  • Storm of Steel Wargaming @stormofsteel.bsky.socialBluesky · Sep 2, 2026

    Also in the post yesterday was this Nimy Bridge map and counters print from Doxdirect taken from Charles Rowntree's scenario for All Hell Let Loose. I'll be using this to film a game at some point in future. Find the scenario on the Wargames Vault. #wargaming #nimybridge #WW1

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  • Massimo (mirror) @rainmaker1973-m.bsky.socialBluesky · Jun 3, 2026

    43 years ago Today, the movie WarGames was released. A fascinating snapshot of Western popular culture in the 1980s, celebrating the home computing pioneering years. Original post

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  • Techpriest @techpriest.bsky.socialBluesky · Feb 13, 2025

    Apropos of nothing, the classic 1983 film "WarGames" features an iconic scene of a US DoD computer running every possible scenario for global thermonuclear war Some of these apparently included: POLISH DECOY CANADIAN THRUST GABON SURPRISE DANISH PARAMILITARY GREENLAND INCURSION

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  • phyphor @phyphor.one-dash.orgBluesky · Aug 26, 2026

    Has Wargames (1983) always been free on YouTube or is it just serendipity to have a film on the topic of why it's a bad idea to have a "computer intelligence" running military operations made available now? youtu.be/cHkB0SPLd7o

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  • nys @nys793.bsky.socialBluesky · Jun 29, 2026

    WarGames, in this film the computer actually learns something

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  • TheValuesVoter @thevaluesvoter.bsky.socialBluesky · Oct 4, 2026

    When I was a kid, the movie WarGames came out and was both brilliant and scary. But we all knew that there was no computer smart enough to try to start a nuclear war. Today they kind of are that smart. And we just have to hope that all the really important stuff in society is locked down enough.

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  • Mark Riedl @markriedl.bsky.socialBluesky · Oct 7, 2026

    My colleague writes on why the recent "Rogue AI" framing of news is inappropriate and how the problems plaguing the big AI labs are well-known and have a long history. Plenty of references to the movie, "WarGames" theconversation.com/the-wargames...

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  • 🐖🪩 el día de los hamballs @tikkikki.bsky.socialBluesky · Sep 28, 2026

    Went to the retired Titan Missile Silo today and I got to pretend I was in the movie Wargames. It was fucken awesome. They asked for a volunteer to “launch” a missile and my hand shot up so fast I almost left the ground. It was crazy though because I felt different after turning the key.

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  • Matty! @mattythemouse.bsky.socialBluesky · Jul 17, 2026

    I’ll forever love that the fact that tic-tac-toe is bullshit is a crucial plot point in Wargames. In fact, it’s the ONLY thing most people know about that movie, lol

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  • JK @miniver.bsky.socialBluesky · Apr 7, 2026

    It occurs to me that folks who are not geezers like me may not know one of the most gripping short films I have ever seen — the opening from the film ‘WarGames’

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  • One Angry Eyebrow… @oneangryeyebrow.bsky.socialBluesky · Jan 21, 2025

    I should have payed more attention to the 1983 film WarGames. It tried to tell me chess was a more productive way to spend my days, than things like capitalism, dating, and thermonuclear war.

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  • GnollBreath 🍖💦GOING➡️MFF 2026!! @gnollbreath.bsky.socialBluesky · Sep 18, 2026

    The movie WarGames (1983) was literally all about how stupid it is to put AI in control of military situations. Like Jesus fuck

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  • Aaron Giles @aarongiles.comBluesky · Mar 17, 2025

    Just watched WarGames with the kid. Definitely didn't remember a lot of it but it still held up pretty well. But had to laugh at this image Amazon attached to it, especially the C++ book, given the film predates the language by a couple of years.

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  • Wuffe @longdog.cafeBluesky · Dec 15, 2025

    Finally watching WarGames (1983) and I'm happy to report they have CARIBOU in it

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  • robert-moriyama.bsky.social @robert-moriyama.bsky.socialBluesky · Feb 25, 2026

    Apparently the materials used as inputs to develop the AIs did not include "Wargames" (the movie). Hence they never propose a nice game of chess as an alternative.

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  • Travis Miller @justtmill.bsky.socialBluesky · Feb 25, 2026

    Goddammit did no one watch WarGames, a FORTY year old movie at this point.

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  • Marshall Ryan Maresca @mrmaresca.comBluesky · Feb 20, 2026

    I mean, I am QUITE familiar with the "I have watched this movie a dozen times because it was on HBO a dozen times this summer", but also... Like, Wargames is a perfectly fine movie, but it's not a quote-worthy movie.

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  • Ragnarok Lobster @eclecticbrotha1.bsky.socialBluesky · Mar 7, 2025

    Watching the classic movie "WarGames" and BBQ Becky just showed up to have Matthew Broderick arrested right when he discovered WOPR was about to nuke the planet

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  • phillip-wiles.bsky.social @phillip-wiles.bsky.socialBluesky · May 29, 2025

    Quoting the original "WarGames" movie "A strange game. The only winning move is not to play"

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  • Jonathan @prydenpaine.bsky.socialBluesky · Sep 19, 2026

    Because computers are indifferent and stupid. That's what's going to do us in. Not Skynet creating robots to hunt and kill us. It's us turning over more and more control to systems that don't work. The movie WarGames, but instead of a hacker, it's the system mistaking a bird for nuclear strike.

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  • Annalisa @valkyriesong.bsky.socialBluesky · Jul 22, 2026

    Ya I like WarGames as a movie ONLY. #SheShed

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  • Adam K @adamkek.bsky.socialBluesky · Oct 10, 2025

    Happy #LetterboxdFriday! What's YOUR #LastFourWatched? Beyond the Poseidon Adventure Hero WarGames Mississippi Burning "Hero" is probably my favorite Dustin Hoffman movie. And the poster summarizes the tone perfectly. #Letterboxd

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  • Shed O War Games - with Des Darkin @desmondo.bsky.socialBluesky · Apr 24, 2025

    Movie time! Inspiration for future games? #shedowar #wargames #wargaming

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  • Ken Reilly @yarkshiregamer.bsky.socialBluesky · Nov 27, 2023

    #Garibaldi now that would be a film I'd watch 😁 #wargames #wargaming #Italy #Risorgimento #history

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  • StaceyActually @socialistchi.bsky.socialBluesky · Aug 12, 2026

    Fave film for each year of the 1980s 1980: Empire Strikes Back 1981: Excalibur 1982: The Secret of NIMH 1983: Wargames 1984: The Neverending Story 1985: The Goonies 1986: Labyrinth 1987: Moonstruck 1988: Who framed Roger rabbit 1989: Dead Poets Society this list was fucking hard 😞😫

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  • 💙 💙True Blue 💙💙 @airoff.bsky.socialBluesky · Mar 18, 2026

    The WarGames movie had it right 43 years ago!!

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  • Mike Trinder @chthonicionic.bsky.socialBluesky · Mar 9, 2026

    After watching WarGames, a friend and I coded a crude phone dialling screen with beep/boop noises followed by the various prompts from the film and at least 3 mutual friends believed we’d hacked into the US defence network.

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Top Cast

Matthew Broderick actor profile photo
Matthew Broderick
David Lightman
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Dabney Coleman
McKittrick
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John Wood
Stephen Falken
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Ally Sheedy
Jennifer
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Barry Corbin
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Juanin Clay
Pat Healy
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Kent Williams
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Dennis Lipscomb
Watson

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