Jump to content

NORAD (board game)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cover of rulebook

NORAD is a board game originally published by SDC in 1973, and later published in 1977 by the Mishler Company that simulates a hypothetical nuclear war between the United States and the USSR.

Gameplay

[edit]

NORAD is a game set in the mid-1970s Cold War in which a hypothetical Russian nuclear attack occurs against the United States, which then must defend itself.[1]

Publication history

[edit]

NORAD was designed by Dana Lombardy and appeared in Issue 4 of the wargaming magazine Conflict, published by SDC in 1973, as a pull-pout game. SDC also published it as a ziplock bag game. The game failed to find an audience, and in a 1976 poll conducted by Simulations Publications Inc. to determine the most popular board wargames in North America, the game placed only 192nd out of 202 games. After SDC went out of business, the game rights were acquired by Mishler Company, and a new edition of the game with revisions by Harry M. Mishler was published in 1977.[1]

Reception

[edit]

In his 1977 book The Comprehensive Guide to Board Wargaming, Nicky Palmer liked the "handsome map", but mourned the loss of the game as SDC went out of business as his review was being published.[2]

Steve Jackson reviewed NORAD in The Space Gamer No. 32.[1] Jackson commented that "Recommended (mostly for components) if you like the subject and want to develop your own variants. Otherwise, nothing more than an introductory game for the young or inexperienced."[1]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d Jackson, Steve (October 1980). "Capsule Reviews". The Space Gamer. No. 32. Steve Jackson Games. p. 26.
  2. ^ Palmer, Nicholas (1977). The Comprehensive Guide to Board Wargaming. London: Sphere Books. p. 163.