Game of War: How to Play/What is the Game of War

The Game of War was devised by Guy Debord in the 1950s, although it was not published until 1978. Guy Debord was acive in the Situationist International (1957-1972) and wrote the highly influential book Society of the Spectacle''

The Game of War is a Clausewitz simulator: a Napoleonic-era military strategy game where armies must maintain their communications structure to survive - and where victory is achieved by smashing your opponent's supply network rather than by taking their pieces.


 * ... I have studied the logic of war. Moreover, I succeeded, a long time ago, in presenting the basics of its movements on a rather simple board game: the forces in contention and the contradictory necessities imposed on the operations of each of the two parties. I have played this game and, in the often difficult conduct of my life, I have utilised lessons from it - I have also set myself rules of the game for this life, and I have followed them. The surprises of this Kriegsspiel seem inexhaustible; and I fear that this may be the only one of my works that anyone will dare to acknowledge as having some value. On the question of whether I have made good use of such lessons, I will leave to others to decide. Guy Debord, Panegyric, pages 63-64.