🃏 How to play War

Easy rules, to read aloud 🔊

1. Split the cards into two piles, one for each player.
2. Keep your pile face down.
3. You both flip your top card at the same time.
4. The bigger card wins both cards.
5. If the cards are the same, each put one card face down and one face up.
6. The bigger new card wins them all.
7. Get all the cards to win.

The full rules

1. Shuffle and deal all 52 cards so each player has 26 in a face-down stack. Do not look at them.
2. Cards rank from ace (highest), then king, queen, jack, and 10 down to 2. Suits do not matter.
3. Both players turn over their top card at the same moment. The higher card wins, and the winner puts both cards face down under their stack.
4. If the two cards are the same rank, it is a war. Leave them in the middle. Each player lays one card face down, then one card face up on top.
5. The higher of the new face-up cards takes every card in the middle. If those tie too, have another war the same way.
6. If you run out of cards in the middle of a war, your last card stays face up and counts for that war.
7. With three or four players, deal the cards out evenly and everyone flips at once. The highest card takes them all, and a player who runs out is out.

How to win: Whoever collects every card wins. The game can run long, so many families set a timer, and the most cards when it rings wins.

Tips

• Say both numbers out loud and tell which one is bigger.
• Remember: jack is like 11, queen 12, king 13, and the ace beats them all.
• Set a timer for 10 or 15 minutes so the game has a clear ending.

What it practises

comparing numbers, greater than and less than, taking turns.

Other ways to play

• Three down. In a war, each player lays three cards face down instead of one before turning a card up.
• Peace. Turn the game upside down: the lower card wins.