Balance of Power

Balance of Power is a geopolitical strategy game in which the player, leading either the USA or the Soviet Union, manages a network of allies around the world in the Cold War era. The goal is not military victory but maintaining and expanding influence through diplomacy, economic aid, and covert operations, and the game explicitly punishes excessive aggression - escalating a conflict all the way to nuclear war ends the game immediately, announcing with ironic commentary that nobody won. This design element made Balance of Power a unique experience among strategy games of its time, forcing the player to seek sustainable long-term solutions to conflicts rather than simple military escalation.

The game was designed by Chris Crawford, and on the Atari ST it was played via a clear world map on which the player tracks the political situation in individual countries and reacts to crises triggered by the opponent as well as local conflicts. Decisions are made through simple menus and diplomatic choices, so the game emphasized weighing consequences rather than fast reaction times or graphical action. After each turn the game also offers a brief explanation of why the opponent reacted the way it did, helping the player understand the system's logic and learn from their own mistakes.

In the mid-1980s, Balance of Power was seen as an intellectually demanding and unusually serious attempt to bring the real political reality of the Cold War into a computer game, and it earned respect beyond the traditional gaming audience, including among commentators concerned with education and international relations. The game is still cited today as one of the first examples of so-called serious games - titles that aim not only to entertain but also to teach about the real world. Even decades later it remains interesting as evidence that the strategy genre could already, in the 1980s, transcend the mere conquest of territory.

Why play: For players interested in politics and Cold War history - one of the first titles that wanted not just to entertain, but also to teach about the real world.