Non-Proliferation and... Video Games?

Cheater's Risk

Thanks to our friends over at the Stimson Center, the office has cheerily been playing disarmament video games this afternoon.  Stimson launched "Cheater's Risk" today, described in their own words below:

As part of Stimson's "Unblocking the Road to Zero" project, which seeks to advance the debate about negotiated nuclear disarmament as a viable and practical policy option, Alex Bollfrass and Barry Blechman have developed Cheater's Risk, an online game that explores the dynamics of a world without nuclear weapons. Players take on the challenge of breaking out of a hypothetical disarmament regime without being detected by national intelligence services and international monitors. Depending on which country is selected, different pathways to the bomb are available. As the player navigates the pathways, the cumulative odds of detection are calculated.  At the end, famed weapons inspector Hans Blix determines if the player has gotten away with it or has been caught.

I'm currently trying to develop nuclear weapons for Afghanistan via uranium enrichment.  We'll see if I get past Hans Blix!  Congratulations to our friends over at Stimson for a job well done with the game.  And to our readers -- definitely check it out!  It's a fun way to explore issues of non-proliferation.