War Card Game: The Simplest Card Game Rules

Game Overview

War is a children's card game played in many parts of the world, and it involves no strategy at all: just the ability to tell which of two cards ranks higher, and to follow the game's procedure. It is usually played by two people with a standard 52-card deck; suits are ignored entirely, and only rank matters, from the Ace (highest) down to the 2 (lowest). A version for three or four players also exists, along with plenty of local variants around the world.

Objective

The goal is to win every card in the deck. The game ends as soon as one player holds the entire pack.

Setup

Deal out the whole deck between the players without looking at the cards: 26 each for two players, 17 each for three, 13 each for four. Each player keeps their stack face down in front of them and never checks the order of their own cards in advance.

How to Play

With two players, both turn over the top card of their stack at the same time, face up on the table. Whoever turns the higher card takes both cards and slides them face down to the bottom of their own stack. Both players then turn up their next card, and so on.

If the two cards turned up are equal, it's a war: the tied cards stay on the table, and each player adds one card face down, then another face up. Whoever's new face-up card is higher wins the war and takes all six cards. If the new face-up cards are equal again, the war continues the same way until a difference in rank finally appears.

Concrete example: A and B both turn up a 7. That's a war. Each plays a card face down, but B's card is their very last one: B loses the game and A takes everything. Another case: B has only one card left and must play it face up — a Queen. A also turns up a Queen, so it's tied again. B's Queen stays on the table (it's B's last card) while A plays one card face down and one face up, a 9, and wins all seven cards in play.

The source rules never quite settle what should happen when a player runs out of cards mid-war: two customs coexist among players. The more common one has the player short of cards lose immediately. The other lets that player turn their very last card face up to stand in for every remaining round of the war; if both players' last cards end up equal, the game is a draw. It's best to agree on which rule you're using before you start.

With three or four players, everyone turns up a card at the same time and the highest rank takes everything. If two or more players tie for highest, all players take part in the war that follows — not just the ones who tied. A player who runs out of cards drops out of the game; play continues until only one player has cards left.

End of the Game

War has no scoring system at all: the game simply ends once one player holds the whole deck. A single game can drag on for a very long time — one of the classic complaints levelled at it.

Common Variants

• Three face-down cards: instead of just one card face down before the decisive card, each player plays three, sometimes spelling out the word "war" letter by letter as they do.
• Cards scaled to rank: in his book Card Games for Dummies, Barry Rigal describes a version where the number of face-down cards played in a war depends on the rank that caused it — two for a 2, three for a 3, and so on up to eleven for an Ace. This is reportedly the system used in the Romanian variant Război.
• Jokers added: two jokers are included and become the highest cards, above the Aces; they're usually separated before dealing so that no single player ends up with both.
• Fast face-up play: cards are played one at a time, face up, as fast as players like and with no fixed turn order, until an Ace turns up — whoever plays it first takes everything played so far.
• Steal War: captured cards are kept face up in a pile in front of each player instead of going to the bottom of the stack. If the card you draw matches the rank on top of an opponent's pile, you can steal that pile instead of playing your card normally.

A Game That Changes Its Name at Every Border

War crosses borders under very different names: Russians call it P'yanitsa ("the drunkard"), Germans know it as Tod und Leben ("life and death"), there's a Syrian version, and a gambling variant is even offered in some casinos under the name Casino War. All of these are local takes on the same universal idea: spot the higher card and follow the procedure, without ever having to think through a single move.

Where to Buy the Game

Plastic coated playing cards deck on Amazon

Beginner Mistakes to Avoid

• Paying attention to suits: only rank matters, from 2 up to King then Ace, the highest card in the game.
• Peeking at your stack ahead of time or sorting your cards: they must stay face down, in the order they arrive after each round won.
• Not agreeing beforehand on which rule to apply when a player runs out of cards during a war — the main source of arguments over this game.
• Shuffling won cards before tucking them under your stack: they go back exactly as picked up from the table.

FAQ

1. Do I need a special deck to play War?

No, a standard 52-card deck is all you need; suits don't matter at all in this game, only each card's rank.

2. What happens if the two turned-up cards are equal?

That's a war: each player plays a card face down then a card face up, and whoever's face-up card is higher takes all the cards in play.

3. What happens if I don't have enough cards left to finish a war?

Customs vary: some players have whoever is short of cards lose immediately, others let that player turn their last card face up to stand in for the remaining rounds.

4. Can War be played with more than two players?

Yes: with three or four players, everyone turns up a card at the same time, and if there's a tie, every player takes part in the war that follows.

Similar games

• 32-card deck manille
• 54-card deck
• 52-card deck whist
• canasta card game 2 decks
• mille bornes card game