War Card Game Rules

War is a two-player card game of pure chance. The player with the higher card wins each round, and the game ends when one player has every card.

⚔️ Play it now: open War against the computer.

Setup

• One 52-card pack, shuffled and dealt evenly: 26 cards to each player, face down.
• Players do not look at their cards. Each keeps a face-down pile.
• Card rank from low to high: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace. Suits do not matter.

Each round

Both players turn over their top card at the same time. The player with the higher card takes both and adds them to the bottom of their pile.

War

If the two cards are the same rank, there is a war:

• Each player places three cards face down on top of their flipped card.
• Each then flips one more card face up.
• The player whose new card is higher wins all the cards on the table, which can be ten or more.
• If these cards match again, the war continues with three more cards each.

A player who does not have enough cards for a war puts down as many as they can while keeping one to flip. A player with no card left to flip loses.

Winning

The game ends when one player has all 52 cards. A game can take several hundred rounds. Because the result depends only on the order of the cards, there is no strategy in War.

Example: You flip a King and your opponent flips a King. War! You each put three cards face down and flip again: your 9 against their Queen. Your opponent wins all ten cards.

How Cheettukali plays it

• When you win a round, the cards go to the bottom of your pile in shuffled order. This is a common house rule that stops endless loops.
• An Auto-play button flips for you at the speed you choose in the menu.

Variations

• Three or four players: the highest card takes all; ties go to war between the tied players.
• Speed War and Spit are faster games from the same family that need quick hands.
• Aces low: some play that the Ace is the lowest card.

FAQ