War (card game)

War, called Battle in the UK, is a straightforward card game for two players using a standard deck, popular with children. The goal is to collect every card. Players split the deck evenly into face-down stacks. In a "battle," both flip their top card; the higher card wins both, and the winner adds them to their stack.

Aces are high, and suits don't matter. If the cards match, a "war" begins: each player places one card face-down, then another face-up. The higher face-up card wins all cards on the table. If those match, the war repeats with another set of face-down and face-up cards until one player's face-up card beats the other's.

Rules often don't specify what happens if a player runs out of cards during a war. Some variants say that player loses immediately. Others let the player use their last card as the face-up card for the rest of the war, or restart the game. Another variant has the player with more cards supply the war cards.

War can also be played with more people. In a three-player game, each gets 17 cards; in four-player, 13. Everyone reveals a card at once. If the highest cards tie, those players go to war.

All players—even those not tied—then play one face-down and one face-up card. The highest face-up card wins all played cards. Players eliminated when they run out of cards, and the game continues until one player has everything. Game designer Greg Costikyan noted that because War has no player choices and all outcomes are random, some definitions don't consider it a game.

However, rules often don't specify the order cards return to the deck. If a player returns them in a non-random order, the decision of which card goes first after a win can change the game's outcome. This effect is more visible with smaller decks, where card counting is easier, but can still matter with standard decks. War has many variations. Recorded ones include: Casino War, a simple gambling version; Three cards, where three face-down cards are played during a war; Prisoners of War, for more than two players, where a winner can take one opponent's card as a "prisoner" (placed face-up aside) and later play it instead of drawing a card (without peeking at the drawn card first); ("Beggar Man") and ("Life and Death"), German variants from 1833 using a 32-card Skat pack, with natural card order and suits ignored except that in Tod und Leben one player uses red suits and the other black; Automatic War, where playing a two triggers a war; Peace, where the lowest card wins; and Underdog, where the losing player of a war steals victory if one of their three discard cards is a Jack.