There are two sides, US and USSR. Gameplay goes 1 year every hour. 1946-1991. Each side gets three players, the President/Premier, the Chief of Military, and Secretary.
President/Premier rules their country and must deal with events
Chief of Military is in charge of the military but is useless until a proxy war or Nuclear War breaks out
Secretaries are in charge of diplomacy
The US holds elections every 4 hours, or 2 hours after the game begins.
Each side gets a separate stream and they can send spies to the other’s stream.