War involves no decisions at all - you flip a card, your opponent flips a card, and the higher one takes both. It is pure luck, which makes it perfect for very young players and a good way to learn card rankings. A full game can run 20 minutes or considerably longer.

What You Need

Players: Exactly 2. Three or four can play the variation below.
Deck: One standard 52-card deck. Aces are high, 2s are low. Suits are ignored.
Extras: Nothing.

Key Terms

Battle: One round where both players flip a card.
War: What happens when both cards are the same rank.
Your pile: Your face-down stack of cards. Won cards go to the bottom of it.

Setup

Deal the whole deck out face down, 26 cards each.
Do not look at your cards. Keep them in a face-down stack in front of you.

How to Play

Both players turn over their top card at the same time.
Whoever turned the higher card takes both and puts them face down at the bottom of their pile.
If the two cards are the same rank, you go to war:
- Each player deals three cards face down onto the table.
- Each then turns up a fourth card.
- The higher of those two cards wins every card played in that war - all ten of them.
- If those cards tie as well, repeat the process on top of the existing pile.
If you run out of cards mid-war, you lose the game.

Scoring & Winning

There is no score. You are playing for the cards themselves.
You win by collecting all 52 cards.
Because that can take a very long time, most people set a timer instead. Whoever has more cards when time is called wins.

Example

You flip a 9 and your opponent also flips a 9. Both of you deal three cards face down, then flip a fourth. Yours is a king and theirs is a 5, so you collect all ten cards.

Variations

One card down: place a single card face down in a war instead of three. Games finish much faster.
Three or four players: deal the deck out evenly; the highest card wins the round, and a tie between the top two triggers a war between just those players.

Tips for New Players

There are no tips. There are no decisions to make - that is the point of the game.
If it is dragging, shuffle your won cards back in occasionally, or agree to stop at a set time and count.