War
What Is War?
War is the perfect first card game. There are no decisions to make, no strategies to learn, and no reading required. Two players each have half the deck face-down in front of them. Both players flip their top card at the same time. Whoever flipped the higher card takes both cards and adds them to the bottom of their pile. The player who eventually collects all 52 cards wins. That’s it. The whole game.
What You Need
- One standard deck of 52 playing cards
- Two players
- A flat surface to play on — a table, floor, or bed all work fine
Understanding the Cards Before You Start
A standard deck has 52 cards divided into four suits: Spades (♠), Hearts (♥), Clubs (♣), and Diamonds (♦). Each suit has 13 cards ranked from lowest to highest: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace. In War, the Ace is always the highest card — it beats everything. Suit (the symbol) never matters in War — only the rank (the number or face) matters.
Setting Up the Game
- Pick up the full deck of 52 cards and shuffle them thoroughly. Riffle them, cut them, mix them up — the more shuffled the better.
- Deal the cards one at a time, face-down, alternating between the two players until the deck is gone. Each player should end up with 26 cards.
- Each player takes their 26 cards and holds them in a face-down pile in front of them. Do not look at your cards — they stay face-down until it is your turn to flip.
How to Play — Step by Step
- Both players place their face-down pile in front of them on the table.
- Together, both players say ‘1, 2, 3’ and at the same time each player takes the top card off their pile and flips it face-up in the center of the table.
- Look at both cards. The player who flipped the higher-ranked card wins this round. That player picks up both cards and places them face-down at the BOTTOM of their own pile.
- Both players immediately flip the next top card from their piles. The game has no pauses — just keep flipping.
- Keep going. Flip, compare, the higher card wins, collect, flip again.
What Happens When Cards Tie?
Sometimes both players flip cards of the exact same rank — for example, both flip a 7. When this happens, it’s WAR! Here is exactly what to do:
- Each player takes the top THREE cards from their pile and places them face-DOWN in the center of the table without looking at them. These are called the ‘war cards.’
- Now each player takes one more card from their pile and places it face-UP next to the war cards.
- Compare the two new face-up cards. The higher card wins ALL of the cards in the center — that’s 10 cards total (the original 2 that tied, plus 3 face-down war cards from each player, plus the 2 new face-up cards).
- If the new face-up cards ALSO tie, repeat the whole War process again. Keep going until someone wins.
What If You Run Out of Cards During War?
If you don’t have enough cards to complete a War (you need at least 4 cards — 3 face-down and 1 face-up), the most common house rule is that you simply lose the game at that point. Another common rule: use however many cards you have left and flip your last card as the face-up battle card.
Winning the Game
The game ends when one player has collected all 52 cards. That player wins. Fair warning: War can take a very long time — sometimes 30–45 minutes or longer. A popular house rule is to set a timer for 20 minutes and whoever has more cards when the timer goes off wins.
A Few Things to Keep in Mind
- You never get to choose which card to play — you always flip the top card of your pile. The order cards are in your pile is completely random.
- The game requires zero skill or strategy. It is entirely determined by how the cards were shuffled at the start. This makes it perfectly fair for players of any age.
- If the game seems to go on forever, that’s normal. Two good War games can cycle back and forth dozens of times.