How to Play War

Objective

Collect every card in the deck. There are no choices to make, which is exactly why War is so often the first card game a child learns: you only need to know which card is higher. The suspense comes from the wars, where a single flip can swing a big pile from one player to the other.

Setup

Shuffle and deal the whole deck face down, one card at a time, so each player has 26 cards. Each player keeps their cards in a squared, face-down pile and does not look at them.

How to play

Both players turn the top card of their pile face up at the same moment. The higher card wins: its owner takes both cards and puts them face down on the bottom of their own pile.

If the two cards are the same rank, it is war. Each player places one card face down on top of their tied card, then one card face up. The higher of the new face-up cards takes all six cards. If those tie as well, repeat the war with another face-down and face-up card each, until someone wins the whole pile.

If a player does not have enough cards to finish a war, they play their last card face up as their war card, and the war is decided on that card.

1. 1Both players flip their top card together
2. 2Higher card takes both, to the bottom of the pile
3. 3On a tie, add one card face down and one face up
4. 4Higher new card takes everything in the war

Winning

There are no points. The game ends when one player has won all 52 cards, and that player wins.

A full game of War can run a long time, and some games seem to go on forever. Many families set a limit instead: play for a fixed time, or for a set number of trips through the deck, and the player holding more cards at the end wins.

Variations

Three cards down: at many tables, each player places three cards face down in a war instead of one, then one face up. Wars become bigger and more dramatic.

Three or more players: everyone flips together and the highest card takes the trick. If two or more players tie for highest, only they go to war.

Quadruple War: a two-player version where every tie puts four cards face down before the deciding flip. It has its own rules page.

Tips from the table

Shuffle the cards you win before they go under your pile if you want a less predictable game. Most players simply add them to the bottom in the order they come.

For a game that ends sooner, deal fewer cards or use a time limit from the start. Kids tend to lose interest in a game that cannot finish.

Use War to teach number sense. Younger players learn to compare values quickly, and you can add a rule that the higher card’s owner must say the difference out loud.

Frequently asked