War Card Game: Play Free Online

What is War Card Game?

War is the card game almost everyone learns first, and you can play it free here on a phone, tablet or computer. The deck is split in two, both players flip their top card, and the higher card takes both. When the cards match, it's war.

The game opens with the cards already dealt, so your first flip is one tap away. Play the computer, sit two players at one screen with a big Flip button each, or fill a table of three or four.

War is pure luck, so the fun is in the flips. Cards snap over, wars build with a drum roll, and a tug-of-war bar shows who holds the deck. Auto-play and four speeds let a game last as long as you like.

How to play War Card Game

1. 

   1Flip your first card

   The cards are dealt as soon as the page opens. Press the gold Flip button, tap your pile, or press Space. You and the computer each turn a card.

2. 

   2The higher card takes both

   The winning card glows gold and both cards slide to the bottom of the winner's pile. Aces beat everything, and suits never matter.

3. 

   3A tie means war

   When the two cards match, each player lays a card face down and turns one more face up. The higher new card wins the lot, six cards or more in one go.

4. 

   4Watch the tug of war

   The bar across the top shows how the deck is split, so you can see the lead swing. Under it are the battle count, the wars so far and your winning run.

5. 

   5Set the pace

   Auto flips for you until you stop it. The plus and minus buttons switch between Slow, Normal, Fast and Turbo, and at Turbo a whole game takes a couple of minutes.

6. 

   6Two players, one screen

   Choose 2 Players and each side gets its own big Flip button. The cards turn when both of you have pressed. On a keyboard, use F and J.

7. 

   7Change the rules

   The rules button opens every option: game length, three cards down in a war, jokers, how won cards go back, and Hand of Three, a version with a little skill.

The rules in full

1. A standard 52-card deck is shuffled and dealt face down, 26 cards to each player. Nobody looks at their cards.
2. Both players turn over the top card of their pile at the same time. Press Flip, tap your pile, or press Space.
3. The higher card wins the battle and takes both cards. Aces are high, then king, queen, jack and so on down to the two. Suits don't matter.
4. Won cards go to the bottom of the winner's pile.
5. If the two cards are the same rank, it's war. Each player lays one card face down and then one card face up. The higher face-up card takes every card on the table.
6. If the face-up cards tie again, the war repeats on top of the first one: another card down, another card up, until someone wins the whole pot.
7. If you run short of cards in a war, your last card is turned face up and fights for you. If it ties again and you have nothing left to lay, it stays and fights the next round too.
8. A player with no cards left is out. The player who ends up holding every card wins the game.
9. With three or four players everyone flips and the highest card takes them all. When the highest cards tie, every player in the battle joins the war.
10. In a quick game the winner is the first to 10 or 20 points (a battle is 1 point, a war 2), or whoever holds the most cards when the timer runs out.

War Card Game tips and strategy

• There is no way to play War badly. Every battle is decided by the shuffle, so sit back and enjoy the swings.
• For a quick game pick First to 10. It is over in about 15 battles.
• Want the full game without the wait? Turn on Auto and set the speed to Turbo.
• Three cards down makes each war worth ten cards, so games swing harder and finish sooner.
• A big lead isn't safe. One lost war over your aces can turn the whole game around.
• Keep an eye on who holds the aces. The game can't end while both players have one.
• Playing with a child? Use Slow speed and say the card names out loud as they turn.
• On a tablet, lay it flat between two players. Player 2's side turns to face them.
• In Hand of Three, lead your lowest card and answer with the smallest card that wins.

War card game rules

This game follows the standard rules of War. Two players get 26 cards each, both turn their top card, and the higher card takes the pair. Aces are high and suits are ignored.

A tie starts a war: one card face down, one face up, and the higher face-up card takes everything. A second tie stacks another war on top, which is called a double war.

Won cards go to the bottom of the winner's pile, and the game ends when one player holds all 52 cards. Nothing here is a house rule unless you switch it on yourself.

What happens if you run out of cards in a war

This is the rule families argue about most, so the game gives you both common answers.

By default your last card fights. If you can't lay a full war, you put down what you can and your final card is turned face up. If you have no cards left at all, the card already on the table fights again.

The strict rule is harsher: a player who can't lay the full war loses it, and every card they hold goes to the winner. You can switch to it in the options.

If both players run out on tied cards, nothing can break the tie and the game is a draw.

Options: three-card wars, jokers and quick games

Many families lay three cards face down in a war instead of one. Turn that on and each war is worth at least ten cards.

You can add two jokers, which beat every other card, even the aces. The deck then has 54 cards and each player starts with 27.

A full game of War can be long. Ours typically run about 350 battles and sometimes far more. So there are shorter games: First to 10 or 20 points, a half deck of 13 cards each, or a 3 or 5 minute timer where the bigger pile wins.

Can a game of War go on forever?

Yes, on a real table it can. If won cards always go back in the same order, the two piles can fall into a loop that repeats without end. Mathematicians have found such loops and written them down.

The cure is simple. When the cards you win go back in a random order, a game always ends. That is what this game does by default: the cards you win are shuffled before they go under your pile.

You can still choose a fixed order, with the winner's card first or the loser's card first. If such a game passes 1,000 battles, it switches to shuffling and tells you so. Every game here ends.

Two, three or four players

Two people can share one phone, tablet or computer. Each player has a Flip button, and the cards turn when both have pressed, so nobody gets flipped for.

With three players each gets 17 cards and one card is left out. With four, each gets 13. You play one seat and the computer plays the rest.

If you run out of cards at a full table, you can watch the others finish on auto-play or skip straight to the result.

Hand of Three: War with a little skill

Hand of Three is our own extra game, kept apart from the classic rules. You hold three cards from your pile and choose which one to play.

The winner of the last battle leads a card face up and the other player answers it. Wars, piles and winning work exactly as in War.

Here your choices matter, so the computer comes in Easy, Normal and Hard. Classic War has no computer levels, because no player, human or computer, ever makes a choice.

Stats, achievements and saving

The game keeps your wins and losses, your winning streak, your fastest win, your longest war and the biggest pot you have taken.

There are eleven achievements, such as winning a triple war or coming back from five cards or fewer.

Your game saves itself after every battle. Close the page mid-game and it is waiting for you when you come back.

Where War comes from

Nobody knows who invented War. Games like it were being described in German game books by the 1830s, and in Britain the same game is called Battle.

It has lasted because it needs nothing but a deck of cards and two people. It teaches children which card is higher, how to take turns and how to lose a pile of cards with a smile.

War Card Game FAQ