Published November 4, 2024

There I was, researching something I am working on for next summer, and I was all but positive it was a line of dialogue from “WarGames.” I was wrong, but I was right that Dabney Coleman said it while playing a U.S. government official with a highly classified role in a movie from the ’80s. Isn’t that something?

More on that someday soon.

Anyway, there was only one way to find out if he said it in “WarGames,” and that was to watch it again. It didn’t turn up in any of the scripts I found online, but that’s not always conclusive.

I watched, and it was nowhere in the movie. So, where to turn? I promise I’ll tell you how I found it, but today we’re revisiting what I actually heard in “WarGames.” Watching the movie was a good distraction from real life.

So many good quotes to choose from.

“Turn your key, sir.”

“Let’s play global thermonuclear war.” (That one’s fun to type and say out loud at the same time. If you saw the movie, you’ll understand.)

“Confidence is high.”

“Put X in the center square!”

“We’ll be spared the horror of survival.”

“We’re still here!”

But I settled on the one that’s in the featured image for this post.

A strange game. The only winning move is not to play.”

How long until we forget that lesson? I wonder.