Editing Balance of Power (video game) (section)

==Gameplay==
[[File:Balance_of_Power_(video_game)_Atari_ST_screenshot.png|thumb|left|Gameplay screenshot (Atari ST)]]

The player may choose to be either the President of the United States or the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and must lead the chosen [[superpower]] for eight years, seeking to maximize "prestige" and avoiding a [[Nuclear warfare|nuclear war]]. Each turn is one year long; at the beginning of each year, the player is presented with a set of incidents and crises in various countries around the globe and must choose a response to each one. Responses may range from no action to diplomatic notes to the other superpower, to military maneuvers. Each response is then met with a counter-response, which may vary from backing down to escalation. The player then gets a chance to initiate actions, and deal with the opponent's responses.

This core mechanic is similar to that of Bruce Ketchledge's 1983 game ''[[Geopolitique 1990]]'', published by [[Strategic Simulations, Inc.|SSI]]. One difference from the earlier game is how negotiations are resolved. In both games, backing down in a negotiation results in a loss of prestige, which will reverberate politically. Likewise, in both games brinkmanship may result in a global war. In ''Geopolitique'', such wars were actually fought in-game, after which the game continued. In ''Balance of Power'', such a war ends the game instantly, with the following message: "You have ignited a(n accidental) nuclear war. And no, there is no animated display of a mushroom cloud with parts of bodies flying through the air. We do not reward failure."