Starting today in 1982 in "Doonesbury," Mark, B.D., Bernie, Zonker, Mike, and Boopsie gather in Walden College's computer lab for a computer-generated nuclear war game, reflecting real-world concerns about the Reagan admin's arms buildup and plans to fight and win a nuclear war:
April 13, 1982: Bernie explains the rules for the nuclear war game, which begins with a false alarm, surprising Mark.
April 14, 1982: The nuclear war game continues. With Soviet/Warsaw Pact troops massing on the border between East and West Germany, Mike makes a fateful decision.
April 15, 1982: Bernie's nuclear war game is getting more serious. The United States and the Soviet Union have fired tactical nuclear weapons at each other in Europe and a US Trident submarine has been sunk. President Reagan, played by Zonker, is out of position and fast asleep.
April 16, 1982: Mark (playing Vice President Bush) is now in charge and eager to try and negotiate an end to the escalating nuclear war. Meanwhile, B.D. (playing Secretary of State Haig) has to decide whether to use limited civil defense measures to evacuate Chicago or Detroit.
April 17, 1982: Bernie's nuclear war game no longer feels like a game. The destruction is so widespread that Secretary of the Interior James Watt is now the president. No longer able to control anything, the gang gathers around a terminal to observe the end of the world.
Addendum: in 1987, “Robocop” included this memorable fake commercial for Nukem, a fake strategy game that’s fun for the whole nuclear family:
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