STRANGEGAME · For teachers
How to use this in the classroom
The simulation takes about five minutes and ends with an invitation to think, not to fear. Here is how to fit it into a lesson — before, during and after.
Age: recommended 15+ (secondary school). The content is serious: a nuclear strike on the student's own city, silence, casualty estimates. There is no gore and no shock for shock's sake, but the subject is heavy. Announce it in advance.
Before
- Mention that the simulation will ask for location access (so the target is their own city). Consent is voluntary — without location it runs with a default city.
- Turn the sound on. The silence after the strike is part of the message.
- Briefly set the context: what nuclear deterrence is, how many weapons exist today (around 12,000 warheads, nine states).
During
- Let the students go through it on their own. Don't comment during.
- Watch for the moment when the "Abort launch" button does nothing — that is the core of the experience.
After — discussion questions
- When did you realize the target was your own city? How did it feel?
- Why doesn't the abort button work? What does that tell us about the decision?
- Who holds the authority to make this decision today? Who chooses them? Who checks them?
- Banning chemical weapons and landmines once seemed impossible. What changed?
- What can one person concretely do? And one classroom?
Historical cases the simulation mentions
- Vasili Arkhipov (1962) — aboard a Soviet submarine, voted against launching. He was the only one.
- Stanislav Petrov (1983) — did not pass on a false radar alarm. It was an error.
Both made their decision alone. The simulation's message is not powerlessness — it is that decisions are made by people, and that they change.
The figures in the simulation are indicative and not peer-reviewed — see the Methodology. If you use them in class, tell the students they are order-of-magnitude estimates, not precise predictions.