Overview
Because there are no decisions there is nothing to score inside a game. What a sheet is useful for is the session: a single game can run twenty minutes or forty, so tables almost always play best of three, and the sheet records which game went to whom.
Setup
Use a standard fifty-two card deck. Deal the whole deck out face down, one card at a time, so each of two players holds twenty-six. Nobody looks at their cards — the pile stays face down and is played from the top.
With three or four players, deal the deck round as evenly as it goes and set any remainder aside.
How to play
Both players turn their top card at the same time. Whoever turned the higher card takes both and puts them at the bottom of their pile. Aces are high; suits never matter.
When two turned cards are equal, that is a war. Each player lays three cards face down and turns a fourth. The higher fourth card takes everything on the table — all ten cards. If those tie as well, another war begins on top of the first.
A player who runs out of cards mid-war loses immediately. Play continues until one player holds every card.
Scoring
A game produces a result, not a number.
- The player left holding the whole deck: 1.
- The other player: 0.
- Under a time limit, with cards still on both sides: whoever holds more cards takes the 1.
- A player who runs out during a war: 0, immediately.
The sheet takes one row per game. Nothing is ever negative and no game is worth more than a single point.
Ending the game
The match goes to the first player to reach the target number of games, which defaults to three. A single game is often long enough that one is plenty; the setting exists because some tables want two out of three and some want to stop after one.
Without a time limit a game of War can in principle never end, which is what the shuffle setting is really about — captured cards going back in the same order can cycle forever.
Common variations
How many cards a war buries is the setting that changes the length most. Three is traditional; one resolves a tie almost immediately and roughly halves a game.
A time limit is the practical fix for the only real flaw. Ten minutes and then count cards turns an open-ended game into something that fits before bedtime.
Three and four players work fine and are barely known. Every card turned is compared, the highest takes the lot, and only the tied players fight a war.
Scoring at a glance
| Who wins | First to target |
|---|---|
| Played to | 3 points by default |
| Score sheet | Counting up to or down from a limit |
| Typical round score | 0 – 1 |
| Negative scores | Never — scores only go up |
| Worth knowing | One row per game, not per battle. The player who takes the whole deck enters 1 and the other enters 0 — there is no running score inside a game of War, only who ended up holding everything. |
War — score sheet
Worked example
Settings: Games to win3, Cards buried in a war3, Aces highon. Players: Ida and Otto.
| Game | What happened | Ida | Otto |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Otto took the deck after a long war | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | Ida took it | 1 | 0 |
| 3 | Ida ran out of cards during a war | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | Otto took the deck | 0 | 1 |
Running totals:
| After | Ida | Otto |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 3 | 1 | 2 |
| 4 | 1 | 3 |
Expected standings after game 4: Otto 3, rank 1 — winner; Ida 1, rank 2. the game is over.
House rules and settings
Every table plays War a little differently. These are the 7 rules groups argue about. Each one is a setting in the app — and changing it recalculates a match that is already in progress, which is the thing no other score keeper does.
Games to win: what is the default in War?
How many games decide the match. A single game of War can run a long time, so best of three is usually the sensible unit rather than one game.
Default: 3. Adjustable from 1 to 5 in steps of 1.
In the app: “Games to win”.
Cards buried in a war: what is the default in War?
How many cards go face down when two cards tie before the deciding card is turned. One is much faster and is the usual choice with children.
Default: 3. Adjustable from 1 to 3 in steps of 1.
In the app: “Cards buried in a war”.
Aces high: on or off in War?
Whether the ace beats a king or loses to a two. High is standard; low makes the ace a card you dread rather than want.
Default: on.
In the app: “Aces high”.
Time limit in minutes: what is the default in War?
A cap on a single game, after which whoever holds more cards wins it. Zero means play to the finish, which can take a very long while.
Default: 0. Adjustable from 0 to 60 in steps of 5.
In the app: “Time limit in minutes”.
Shuffle cards you win: on or off in War?
Whether captured cards are shuffled before going under your pile. Not shuffling makes the game deterministic from the deal and it can loop forever.
Default: on.
In the app: “Shuffle cards you win”.
What a tie triggers: what are the options in War?
The classic answer is a war with cards buried face down. Sudden death keeps the pace up; splitting the pile avoids the swings entirely.
Default: A war. Three options:
In the app: “What a tie triggers”.
Table size: what are the options in War?
War is built for two. Three and four work by dealing the deck round and comparing every card turned, with the highest taking the lot.
Default: Two players. Three options:
In the app: “Table size”.
Variants of War
Speed War
One card buried in a war instead of three, so a tie resolves almost immediately and the deck moves much faster.
Timed War
A fixed clock, after which whoever holds more cards takes the game. The usual fix for a game that will not end.
Four-handed War
The whole deck dealt round four players, every card compared, and the highest taking all four. Ties bring in only the tied players.
War is also known as
Battle, Krig, Kriegspiel, Beggar My Neighbour cousin, Top Card. These are the same game — the rules and the score sheet above apply to all of them.
Keep score offline
The sheet above works in your browser. Cardzo for iPhone remembers your players, survives a closed tab, and works in a field with no signal.
Coming to the App Store.