Commissionned work, private collection - June 2023


David Lightman's bedroom in the 1983 movie "WarGames" is an iconic representation of a pivotal moment in our cultural relationship with technology. With his IMSAI 8080 microcomputer, David inadvertently started a potential war between Russia and the United States during the tail end of the cold war. "WarGames" initiated a cultural dialogue about technology, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity, inspiring the first U.S. law against computer hacking.



This 1:12 scale model is an accurate reproduction of David's bedroom, made of polystyrene, basswood, sculpey and resin. The IMSAI 8080 is illuminated by a series of LEDs while the monitor displays a word for word transcript of what is display on the screen in the film. This model was made together with the 1:12 scale model of the WOPR as part of a series on WARGAMES.




David's bedroom is riddled with props. The first ever produced VCR, the JVC HR-3300U is easily recognizable on the shelf above the IMSAI 8080 computer and disk drive. Also, on his desk is a Epson RX-80FT dot matrix printer, a modem, acoustic coupler and many books and knick-knacks



The IMSAI 8080 in the original movie set had the top cover removed to show the internal parts of the machine. This proved to be a challenge to reproduce all the little ships and ribbon cable while still reserving some room for the LEDs for the front panel.



A mix of resin 3D printed parts and polystyrene sheets did the trick to make convincing internal expansion card, capacitor and other various components.



Everything was photographed using regular and small scale lighting equipment to better reproduce the lighting in the movie and different time of day lighting scenarios.