No, not some alternative universe RPG, this is the card game created by Doug Malewicki and published by Flying Buffalo. It is a very simple card game where each player is the head of a country and trying to rule the world: first through propaganda, and then pretty much inevitably, through nuclear war. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a game won solely through diplomacy. And if you ever get to a game con that Rick is running a game of Nuke War at, you’ll see 20-30 people in a single game blasting the crap out of each other! It’s quite a sight.
But here’s the beauty of it: more often then not, there is no winner! If war begins and the last of your population is destroyed, with your dying gasp you press the ‘Launch All’ button as a bit of final retribution and wreak vengeance upon the person who destroyed you, or upon the world in general. And if they’re eliminated, they also get their final retribution, and so on….
Two additional games were made: Nuclear Escalation and Weapons of Mass Destruction. Since the Kickstarter has doubled its initial goal, WMD will be reprinted. And I learned from this that there is a smartphone app (for $1), both Android and iOS, that Claudia Christian, AKA Commander Ivanova from Babylon 5, will tell you the results — in her Russian accent. What could be better than a Russian telling you how many million people were killed as the result of a nuclear strike?!
The Kickstarter has one final week to run and $42 will get you a new edition of the game with shipping.
(sorry for the lack of anything here, I’ve been off to Germany and the Czech Republic and am working on a new edition of Zombie Cafe along with a anti-spy game that should be interesting if the mechanics work out)
High Altitude Game Design 