Section 1: Introduction

War is a two-player game of pure chance. The deck is split evenly, both players flip their top card, and the higher rank takes both. Equal ranks trigger a war: cards are laid face down and the next flip decides the whole pile.

It is worth being honest about what this game is: there are no decisions. Once the deck is shuffled and dealt, the entire outcome is determined. That makes it a good first card game for a small child and a poor one for anybody else.

Section 2: The Deck

One standard 52-card deck, no jokers.
Cards rank ace high down to two.
Suits are irrelevant — they never break a tie, which is why ties become wars.

Section 3: Setup & Deal

Shuffle and deal the entire deck — 26 cards to each player, face down.
Players do not look at their cards. Each keeps a face-down stack.

Section 4: Gameplay

The Basic Turn

Both players simultaneously flip their top card face up.
The higher rank wins both cards, which go to the bottom of the winner's stack.

War

If the flipped cards are equal, a war begins:

Each player lays three cards face down.
Each then flips a fourth card face up.
The higher fourth card takes every card on the table — ten cards in a single war.
If those are equal too, the war repeats with another three-down, one-up.

Running Low

A player with fewer than four cards during a war plays what they have, using their last card as the face-up one. A player who cannot produce a card at all has lost.

Section 5: Scoring & Winning

There is no score. A player wins by capturing all 52 cards.

In practice games can run very long or fail to terminate, because the order cards return to the bottom of the stack can cycle. Most households cap it:

Play for a fixed time and whoever holds more cards wins, or
Play to a set number of wars, or
Shuffle captured cards before returning them, which makes cycling far less likely.

Section 6: Variants & House Rules

One card down: wars use a single face-down card instead of three — noticeably shorter.
Three or four players: deal the deck evenly; a war involves only the tied players.
Casino War: the house version, played against a dealer with a bet and a surrender option on ties.
Suit tiebreak: assigning suit order removes wars entirely — faster, but it removes the only dramatic moment the game has.

Overview

War is a two-player game of pure chance. Each player flips their top card, and the higher rank takes both; equal ranks trigger a war, with face-down cards followed by a deciding flip for the whole pile.

How to win

Capture all cards — Win by capturing all 52 cards; there is no score.
Most cards wins — After the fixed time, the player holding more cards wins.
Set war limit — Play to a set number of wars.
Shuffle captured cards — Shuffle captured cards before returning them.
No score — There is no score.

The game

Deal face down — Deal each player 26 face-down cards; players must not look at them.
Shuffle and deal — Deal all cards face down, 26 to each player.
Keep cards hidden — Each player keeps a face-down stack without looking at their cards.

Playing the ball

War — On equal flips, each player lays three cards face down.
War on ties — Each lays three cards down, then flips a fourth; higher card takes all ten.
Flip and compare — Both flip their top card; higher rank takes both cards to their stack’s bottom.
A player with fewer than four cards during a war plays what they have, using their last card as the face-up one…
Flip top cards — Both players simultaneously flip their top card face up.

Equipment

Deck and ranks — Use 52 cards without jokers; aces are high, and suits never break ties.
Standard deck — Use one 52-card deck with no jokers.
Card ranking — Cards rank from ace high down to two.

War

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Full Rulebook(8 sections)