1.2M views · Nov 23, 2012 · 5:57 · 0 HN recommenders · 4 mentions · discussed 2014–2026
The final scene of the 1983 film WarGames, in which the WOPR computer runs through nuclear war scenarios and concludes that the only winning move is not to play. It is a six-minute clip uploaded in higher quality than earlier copies.
Why Hacker News points people here: HN cites it as shorthand for the tic-tac-toe lesson, especially in threads about AI and nuclear strategy or games that cannot be won.
“Make LLM's win every game of tic-tac-toe and see if it reaches the same conclusion of WOPR.”HN comment, 2026
“I thought the computer went by Joshua, since that's what Dr, Falkan referred to it in the last scene of the movie”
"How about a nice game of chess?" I thought the computer went by Joshua, since that's what Dr, Falkan referred to it in the last scene of the movie: this video
“Make LLM's win every game of tic-tac-toe and see if it reaches the same conclusion of WOPR.”
WarGames ending where WOPR learns tic-tac-toe lesson
They have no real stake in any decision they make. And they are not human. Not even a sociopath or psychopathic human. At best they might be able to estimate casualties. LLM's probably can't even reach the logic conclusion of the fictional WOPR Joshua from the movie Wargames [1]. Make LLM's win every game of tic-tac-toe and see if it reaches the same conclusion of WOPR. [1] [1] - this video [video][6m][tic-tac-toe]
“For me it was making an implementation of tic tac toe that never lost”
For me it was making an implementation of tic tac toe that never lost, just so that I could put 0 players as an interface option this video
“the game was tic-tac-toe with a perfect”
Same, but it was a TI-84, and the game was tic-tac-toe with a perfect "ai" that would let you enter "number of players: 0" [1] [1] this video
