DEFCON 1 takes place during the cold war from 1950 to 1990. All the cards and technologies are historically based.

Featuring different gameplay depending on the number of players:

2 players - Frontal Shock Game, nervous and tense.

3 players - Death Circle Game with secret objectives.

4 players - Semi Cooperation Game and Secret Objectives Game.

5 players - Secret Objective Game.

All of the 5 aymmetrical blocs has its own strengths and weaknesses, through its own Technological tree, Mission and Objective cards, and even scalable pool of Units. Every player has Mission cards in their hands, and will gain rewards upon fulfilling each of them, bringing them closer to victory. As the DEFCON level decreases, depending on the actions of the players, new strategical options become available like building nuclear bombs. There is also a Space Race that allows you to earn Influence and to add new Spatial Technologies on your Technological tree.

The game is played through 5 phases:

[0] Initialization: Refill your hand and gather resources (Oil, Uranium, Influence, R&D) depending on the zones under your control.

[1] R&D: With Research you can unlock Technologies. You can also invest in the Spatial Race.

[2] Political: With Influence, you will have a possibility to Destabilise zones or take the Political control of the Destabilised zones.

[3] Production: Then, you can Produce available Units in zones you control that contain a Factory. You may also upgrade units.

[4] Atomic: If the DEFCON level has reached level 1, you can launch nuclear bombs (i.e. if you own the Technology).

[5] Warfare: Finally you can Redeploy units, Launch Attacks on Sea, Bombard, then Redeploy units, Launch Attacks on Land.