This article reviews “Balance of Power,” a microcomputer simulation of the struggle for global domination between the United States and the Soviet Union. Published by Mindscape, Inc., in the fall of 1985, the game encompasses a broad range of military, diplomatic, and economic strategies for superpower interaction in a tight bipolar system. This study analyzes the simulation from the vantage point of its value as a serious dynamic model of the international system. After providing an overview of the game and placing it in the context of other international relations simulations, the article examines its purposes and uses and evaluates it according to a series of traditional simulation benchmarks.
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