Printable War rules

War in one page

2 players · 1 deck

Deal the whole deck so each of two players has 26 cards face down. Both players flip their top card at the same time, and the higher card wins both cards to the bottom of its owner's pile. When the cards tie, you go to war: each player puts cards face down and one face up, and the higher face-up card takes everything. The player who wins all 52 cards wins.

In brief

• Deal all 52 cards: 26 each, face down
• Aces high; suits don't matter
• Both flip the top card at once
• Higher card takes both to the bottom of their pile
• Tie = war: 3 cards face down, 1 face up each
• Higher face-up card takes all 10 cards
• Tie again? Repeat the war
• Short of cards in a war: last card plays face up
• Win by taking all 52 cards
• Short on time? Most cards when the timer ends wins

Setup

1. Shuffle a standard 52-card deck and deal it out one card at a time, face down, until each player has 26 cards.
2. Each player squares up their cards into a face-down pile in front of them. Nobody looks at their cards.
3. Cards rank from high to low: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. Aces are high, and suits don't matter.

On your turn

1. Both players turn over the top card of their pile at the same time and put it face up in the middle.
2. The player whose card is higher takes both cards and puts them face down on the bottom of their pile.
3. If the two cards are the same rank, it's war. Leave the tied cards on the table. Each player puts three cards face down, then turns one more card face up. Many kids say "I declare war" or "W-A-R" as they lay the cards down.
4. The higher of the new face-up cards takes every card on the table: the two tied cards, the face-down cards, and the face-up cards. That's 10 cards in a single war.
5. If the new face-up cards tie again, repeat the war with three more face-down cards and one face-up card each. The winner takes the whole pile.

Scoring

Winning

The player who ends up with all 52 cards wins. If you're playing to a time limit instead, stop when time is up, count each player's cards, and the player holding more wins. A tie at 26 cards each is possible under a time limit; flip one more battle to settle it.