Synopsis

The video presents "Games Without Frontiers" as a disturbing collision of childhood play, international competition, and Cold War anxiety. Children sit around a dining table while Peter Gabriel appears through shifting images on television screens. Sporting footage, including Olympic events, turns games into images of spectacle and rivalry. The closing sequence draws on "Duck and Cover," the 1951 civil-defense film in which children are taught how to respond to a nuclear attack, reinforcing the song's view of global politics as a dangerous game.

Factoids & Trivia

• The original 1980 version was filmed in black and white and used children gathered around a table, television-screen images of Gabriel, and footage from Olympic events.

• The video was later reworked for the 2004 DVD compilation "Play." The updated version incorporates excerpts from Michal Rovner's films "Active Site," "Spiral," and "Grid," along with additional footage by York Tillyer, Dan Blore, and Marc Bessant.

• The closing images come from "Duck and Cover," a 1951 American educational film that used the animated character Bert the Turtle to teach children how to react during a nuclear attack.

• Gabriel later expressed discomfort with his performance in the video, describing himself as awkward and embarrassed. He also recalled that some television executives interpreted the table movements and closing toy imagery in ways he had not intended.

• Released as a single in 1980, the song reached No. 4 in the United Kingdom, tying "Sledgehammer" as Gabriel's highest-charting UK single.