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War·Card Games
War
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Card Games
1 players
deck
8 essential rules
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.
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.
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.
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.
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If the flipped cards are equal, a war begins: 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.; Each player lays three cards face down.
There is no score. A player wins by capturing all 52 cards.
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.
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.
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.