Playing Nuclear War by the Rules!

The best way to get the flavor of the game is to read some of the playing rules, which are excerpted here:

NUCLEAR WAR
for 2 to 6 players
Copyright © 1965 by Douglas Malewicki
Los Angeles, California
Printed in the USA

Introduction
Nuclear War is a game for two to six players. Each player represents a "major world power" and attempts to gain world domination through the strategic use of propaganda techniques or nuclear weapons. A sound strategy, however, is not always a guarantee of success. As in the real world, the results of strategic decisions are not predictable and such factors as the chance dispersion of deadly radioactive fallout particles may significantly alter the course of events.

Object
Each player seeks to gain world domination by eliminating the other major powers. This can be accomplished in two ways. The peaceful way is to persuade the population of opposing countries to join your superior form of government. The warlike way is to destroy the enemy (and his population! by using nuclear weapons. Population is therefore the measure of success or failure in the game. A player who loses his entire population withdraws from the game.
The game is normally played without partners. Multiple alliances can be formed, however, in order to defend against powerful aggressors, to annihilate weaker countries, or even to eliminate those players who are considered dull-witted bores by the majority.

The cards shown to the left are from one of the two remaining original 1965 Games owned by Doug Malewicki. The top row is the back of the cards, while the bottom row is representative of some of the bomb and delivery systems.

Instead of play money being used to determine the eventual winner, this game uses "Population Cards"(or play people!)

Preparation
The owner of the game who always deals and plays first* shuffles the Nuclear War deck and deals nine cards to each player. The remaining cards are placed face down in the center of the table. The starting population of each country is determined by shuffling and dealing the small Population Cards......

*This was just another joke, but apparently since it is in PRINT, players think they have to actually do it. Over the years, I have been continually surprised at game conventions to stumble into groups congregated on the floor in semi-lit hallways, whom are busy playing the game AND religiously following this rule!

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