War (card game)

Lore & Background

War is a card game in which the deck is divided evenly among players, each receiving a down stack. In unison, each player reveals the top card of their deck—a 'battle'—and the player with the higher card takes both cards. Aces are high, and suits are ignored. If the two cards are equal, a 'war' occurs: both players place the next card face down and then another card face-up. The owner of the higher face-up card wins the war and adds all cards on the table to the bottom of their deck. If the face-up cards are again equal, the battle repeats until one player's face-up card is higher.

Reader's Guide

War is widely known and has many variations. Most descriptions are unclear about what happens if a player runs out of cards during a war; some variants declare that player the loser, others allow the player to play their last card as the face-up card, or replay the game from the beginning. There is also a variant where the player with more cards must provide cards for the war. Game designer Greg Costikyan observed that since there are no choices in the game and all outcomes are random, it cannot be considered a game by some definitions. However, the rules often do not specify the order in which cards should be returned to the deck; if returned in a non-random order, the decision of putting one card before another after a victory can change the overall outcome. The effects of such decisions are more visible with smaller decks, as it is easier for a player to card count, but decisions can still affect gameplay with standard decks.

Did You Know?

• War is also known as Battle in the United Kingdom.
• In the German variant Tod und Leben, one player plays with red suits and the other with black suits.
• Game designer Greg Costikyan argued that War cannot be considered a game by some definitions because it involves no player choices.
• In the Prisoners of War variant, a winning player may take one of the opponent's cards as a 'prisoner' and later play it instead of drawing from their deck.