When it comes to playing War, you’ll need a regular deck of 52 cards. Make sure to shuffle the cards well before you start, especially if it’s a new deck. It doesn’t really matter who deals the cards; anyone can do it, or you can even have a third person do the job. Deal the cards one by one until each player has 26 cards. And remember, no peeking!
Now, let’s get to the fun part. Both players should count down from 3 together and then flip their top card at the same time, so it’s face up. But here’s the twist: you can only flip the top card, so keep the rest of your cards a secret. The player with the higher card wins this round and takes both cards, putting them back at the bottom of their own deck. However, if both players flip the same card, that’s when the real excitement begins – it’s time for war!
Contents
THE BATTLE
Alright, here’s the deal: when we’re in the middle of a war, every one of us gets to put down three more of these little card buddies, right on the table. After that, we all flip over a fourth card and show it off to the world. Now, pay attention, because this is where things get interesting. The one whose card has the highest value wins the whole shebang. That person gets to snatch up all the cards, ten in total, and we all gear up for the next round. But hold on a second! If our fourth cards end up being exactly the same, we’ve got ourselves a showdown. We do the whole process all over again until someone comes out on top. Got it? It’s all about being the ultimate champion of the deck! Let the battles begin!
If you don’t have enough cards for the war, you’ll need to put your last card face-up. Want more 2-player games? Check out our list of the best ones!
DIFFERENT WAYS TO PLAY
More Players, More Fun
If you want to play with 3 or 4 players, just follow the same steps as before. However, each player should have 17 or 13 cards, depending on the number of players.
A war in a game with 3 or 4 players goes like this: if there is a tie for the highest card, each player puts down a facedown card and then a face-up card. The player with the highest card wins. If there’s another tie, follow the previous rules and start another war.
Steal the Victory
Do you know that some card games have Jokers? These Jokers are special cards that are the highest in value and can beat any other card in the deck. One example of a card game that includes Jokers is called Steal War, which was created by Gary Philippy and Hayes Ruberti.
How to Play Steal War
Playing Steal War is a mix of the original War game and another game called Stealing Bundles. It is similar to the regular game of War, where players flip over cards and have wars with three face-down cards and one face-up card. However, in Steal War, Jokers are added to the deck as high-value cards. When a war occurs, the cards are put in a separate pile face-up, instead of being added to the bottom of the winner’s deck. The winner also gets to choose which card goes on top of the pile of newly won cards.
Unlike the traditional game, I get to peek at my cards before I play them. This gives me an advantage because I can see what my opponent has on top of their pile. If the value of my card matches theirs, I have a chance to steal their pile. I just place my card on top, take their pile, and add it to mine without changing the order of the cards. The game keeps going.
Once I play a card, though, I can’t steal anymore. But sometimes it’s better to keep playing instead of stealing a small pile. Maybe I have a good chance of winning the next round and getting a big pile.
In multiplayer mode, if my card matches more than one opponent’s pile, I can steal both of them. Talk about a lucky break!
When it comes to War, the three cards that I play face down can’t be seen or used to swipe a pile. But guess what? The fourth card can be used to swipe!
If all the face-down cards are gone, I shuffle the face-up ones and keep the game going. But if I run out of cards during War, I lose automatically.
Război
In Război, the Romanian version of War, the number of cards used in the war depends on the number on the initiating card.
For example, if 2 (or more) players flip an 8, I put 7 cards face-down in the war and the eighth one face-up.
In this version, all face cards have a value of 10. So during a war, I put 9 cards face-down and the tenth one face-up.
Love War? Then you should try out Fox in the Forest Duet for another super cool two-player game. Enjoy!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What’s the ranking for War?
The ranking for War, the card game, goes like this: Ace (high), King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2 (low).
What if we both flip cards of the same rank?
If we both flip cards of the same rank, things get interesting because a war begins. To have a war, we each deal three more cards face down onto the center play area. After that, we flip a final fourth card face up. These two cards are compared, and we declare a winner. The winner gets all the ten cards and places them at the bottom of their deck. But, if the fourth card that we flip is also the same rank for both of us, we go on! We deal three more cards face down and flip an eighth card to determine a winner. And we keep on going until we find a clear winner.
So, how do you actually win a game of War?
Well, it’s pretty straightforward – the player who manages to collect all 52 cards into their own deck is crowned the ultimate victor. It’s as simple as that!
Now, before we dive into the nitty-gritty, let’s talk about the starting point. How many cards does each player get at the beginning of the game?
It’s a fair split – each player starts off with exactly half of a 52-card deck. That means you begin with 26 cards in your possession.