How to play War
War is the simplest card game there is, and the only game on 4Games with no decisions at all. The deck is split in half, you each turn a card, and the higher card takes both. Nothing you do changes the outcome, which is exactly why it works: it is the one card game a small child can play against an adult on equal terms, and it needs no reading to follow. Play it against the computer, or against a friend online.
How to play
- The deck is dealt out evenly, twenty-six cards each, face down.
- Each turn you both turn your top card face up. The higher card wins both cards, and they go to the bottom of the winner’s pile. Aces are high.
- If the two cards are equal, that is a war: you each bury three cards face down and turn one more. The higher of those takes everything on the table.
- A war can chain into another war if those cards tie too.
- You win when you hold all the cards. If someone runs out mid-war, the player who can still play takes the pot.
Tips & strategy
- There is no strategy, and that is the point — nothing you can do changes the result, so it is a game to play alongside someone rather than against them.
- A war is where the game actually swings: eight cards change hands at once, so a player far behind can come back on a single tie.
- Playing online, you each turn a card in turn, so both of you are doing something rather than one of you watching.
Accessibility
Every card turned is named in words ("king of clubs"), so nothing depends on seeing the face. The counts on each side are read out as cards rather than shown only as a stack, and a war says how many cards were buried before the deciding turn. The battle is announced once when it resolves rather than card by card.