Traditional card games
War
- players
- 2–6
- minutes
- 15
- years
- 4+
In the box
1 32- or 52-card deck
Official rules (PDF, publisher's site)
Box details
- Origin
- Traditional game, with no specific designer or publisher
- Mechanics
- Set Collection
Where to buy it
Near you
In a shop
Within 50 km.
The basics
The 52 cards are dealt face down, and each player keeps their pile without looking at it: the aim is to win every card. Everyone turns over their top card at the same time, and the highest takes them all; on a tie, it is war: one card face down, one face up on top, and the highest takes the lot. The game ends when one player holds all the cards, or at the agreed time limit, when whoever has the most wins.
Checked against the official rules · October 2026
Never played? Aim of the game and full rulesStep by step, with examples, for a first game.The rules, step by step
Setup
52 cards, Face-down piles
- The 52-card deck is dealt out entirely, face down, among the players.
- Each player keeps their pile in front of them, without looking at it.
How to play
All turn over 1 card, The highest takes all, Tie: war
- All players turn over the top card of their pile at the same time.
- The highest card takes all the cards turned over, and its owner slides them under their pile.
- In a tie, it is war: the players involved call it out, then each places one card face down and one face up on top. The highest takes the lot; if the tie happens again, repeat.
Scoring
Ace down to 2, Suits don't matter
- The order is: ace, king, queen, jack, 10, 9, and so on down to 2.
- Suits do not matter at all: that is what makes wars so frequent.
- The counter tracks either the rounds won or the number of cards collected, if you want to stop before the end.
End of the game
One player has all cards, Or time limit
- The game ends when one player holds all the cards.
- Since this can take a long time, players often agree on a time limit: whoever has the most cards wins.
House rules and pitfalls
Bataille corse (similar to Egyptian Ratscrew): players take turns laying cards in the middle…
- Bataille corse (similar to Egyptian Ratscrew): players take turns laying cards in the middle, and slap the pile as soon as two identical cards follow each other. The fastest takes the pile. It has nothing to do with classic War, apart from the name.
never played?Aim of the game and full rules9 chapters · about 2 min read
Goal of the game
Collect every card in the deck. In War, nobody chooses anything: you turn over the top card of your pile, and the highest one wins. It is children's first card game, because it teaches the order of the cards without asking for anything else.
What you need
A 52-card deck, without the jokers. Two players is the classic game; you can play with up to six, but the game gets longer and more confusing.
The order of the cards
From highest to lowest: ace, king, queen, jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. The suit (hearts, diamonds, clubs, spades) does not count: a 7 of hearts and a 7 of spades are equal.
Setting up
- Shuffle the deck.
- Deal all the cards one at a time, face down. If they do not divide evenly, some players will have one card more: that does not matter.
- Each player stacks their cards in a pile, face down, in front of them, without looking at them.
A trick, step by step
- All together, each player turns over the top card of their pile and places it face up in the middle.
- Whoever turned over the highest card collects all the cards in the middle.
- They slide them, face down, under their own pile. They are not shuffled: they will come back round in turn.
- Start again.
War
When two (or more) players turn over cards of the same value and neither is beaten by a higher card, it is war.
- The tied players call out "war!".
- Each of them places one card face down on their own, then a new card face up on top.
- The highest of the face-up cards wins the whole pile: the first cards, the face-down cards and the new ones.
- If the new cards are tied again, it is war again, as many times as needed.
for example
Léa turns over a jack, and Tom a jack too: war. Each places one face-down card, then a face-up one. Léa shows a 4, Tom a king. Tom collects the six cards and slides them under his pile.
When a player runs short of cards
A player who cannot finish a war for lack of cards loses it: their opponents collect. Some families let them play their last card as the face-up card, with no face-down card; agree on this before you start.
End of the game
The player who has collected all the cards wins. Since a game can last a very long time, players often set a limit: a quarter of an hour, or a number of tricks. Everyone then counts their cards, and the biggest pile wins.
Tips for younger players
- Say the order out loud at the start: "the jack beats the 10".
- For a shorter game, remove the cards from 2 to 6: 32 cards remain.
- "Upside-down" variant: the lowest card wins. It surprises seasoned players and puts everyone back on an equal footing.
Going further
Variants · Frequently asked questions · In the same family
Variants
Variant
Classic War
The highest card wins the trick.
Bataille corse (Egyptian Ratscrew)
Slap the pile when two identical cards follow each other. Fast and noisy.
By number of cards
Count the cards collected rather than the rounds.
choose them when you start a game: the scorer adapts
Frequently asked questions
How long does a game of War last?
Without an agreed limit, a game can last a very long time, or even never end. Most families set a length, ten or fifteen minutes, then count the cards.