Quick Rules
War is the card game almost everyone learned first. It is played by two people with a standard 52-card deck, and here you play against the computer. The deck is split in half, 26 cards each, face down. The goal is to win all 52 cards.
- Turn over. You and the computer each turn up the top card of your pile at the same time.
- Higher card wins. The higher rank takes both cards and puts them under its pile. Aces are high, then King, Queen, Jack, 10 and on down to 2. Suits don't matter.
- A tie means war. If both cards are the same rank, each player puts one card face down and one face up. The higher new face-up card takes everything on the table. Tie again, and it is a double war.
- Running out. A player who doesn't have enough cards to finish a war loses the game.
- Winning. Whoever ends up with every card wins.
How to play here: tap the big Turn Over button (on a phone it sits at the bottom of the screen). The cards slide to whoever won them, the counts beside each pile update, and a plain sentence tells you what happened, such as "Your Queen beats the 9. You take 2 cards." Tap Auto-play to let the game turn the cards at a calm pace, or Finish the Game to play the rest at once and see a summary.
Good to Know
- It is pure luck. Nobody makes a choice in War, so a child and a card shark win equally often. Over many games you will win about half.
- It can take a while. A full game often runs to a few hundred rounds. If you want a game you can finish over a cup of coffee, choose a short game in Settings.
- Want bigger wars? Switch to three cards face down, the "I de-clare war!" way many families play.
- Same deal, same game. Every game has a deal number. Replay This Deal, or give the number to a grandchild, and the cards fall exactly the same way.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this War card game free?
Yes. You can play as many games of War as you like for free. There is no account to create, nothing to download, and no ads pop up between games.
Does the computer cheat?
No, and in War it couldn't even if it wanted to. Neither player makes a single choice: each of you just turns up the top card of your pile. The shuffle is made from the deal number shown on the table, and the won cards are mixed by the same numbered shuffle, so Replay This Deal gives exactly the same game, card for card.
Why is there no Hint, Undo or difficulty level?
Because War has no decisions. There is never more than one thing to do, so there is nothing to hint at, no move worth taking back, and no clever or careless computer to choose between. The computer turns its cards exactly the way you turn yours. We would rather say so plainly than pretend otherwise.
What happens in a war?
When you both turn up cards of the same rank, each of you puts one card face down and then one more face up. The higher of the new face-up cards takes every card on the table. If they tie again, it is a double war and you do it once more. In Settings you can switch to three cards face down instead of one.
What if I run out of cards during a war?
Under the usual rule, a player who doesn't have enough cards to finish a war loses the game. If you prefer the gentler house rule, choose Turn your last card up in Settings: the short player puts down what they can and their last card counts as their face-up card.
How long does a game of War take?
Longer than most people remember. In our test of 1,000 games with the standard rules, half were over within about 340 rounds and a few went past 2,000. That is why there is an Auto-play button, a Finish the Game button that plays the rest at once, and a short-game house rule that stops after 26, 50 or 100 rounds and counts the cards.
Why are the won cards shuffled?
If won cards always go under the pile in the same order, the game can settle into a pattern that keeps coming round and, in rare cases, never ends. Mixing them, the way they get mixed when you scoop them up at a real table, keeps every game moving to a finish. You can turn the shuffle off in Settings.
Does the game save my progress?
Yes. Your game is saved in your browser after every round, so you can close the page and pick up where you left off later on the same device.
Enjoy a game of pure chance? Clock Solitaire is another one you can sit back and watch. When you feel like making choices again, try Hearts or Cribbage against the computer.
More Free Games
- Hearts Avoid hearts and the queen of spades, or shoot the moon and stick everyone else with the points.
- Spades Bid your tricks with your partner, then make your bid. Spades are always trump.
- Hand and Foot The family canasta game: play your hand, then your foot, and build clean and dirty books with your partner.
- Canasta Meld sets of a kind, freeze the pile, and build canastas with your partner. Classic American scoring.
- Cribbage Count fifteens, pairs and runs, and peg your way around the board to 121.
- Gin Rummy Make sets and runs, knock when your leftover cards are low, and go for gin.
- Euchre The fast trick-taking game of the Midwest: call trump, use your bowers and take three tricks.
- Rummy Draw, meld sets and runs, lay off on the table and be first to go out.
- Rummy 500 Score points for every card you meld, take from deep in the discard pile and race to 500.
- Whist The classic partnership trick game with no bidding. Take seven tricks to score.
- Oh Hell! Say exactly how many tricks you will take, then take that many: no more, no fewer.
- Pinochle Bid, meld and take tricks with a 48-card deck. Partnership auction pinochle.
- Bridge Contract bridge with a computer partner: bid your contract, then make it.
- Crazy Eights Match the suit or the number, change the suit with an eight, and be first to play all your cards.
- Switch The British cousin of Crazy Eights, with cards that skip, reverse and make the next player draw.
- Go Fish Ask for the cards you need, collect sets of four and make the most books.
- Old Maid Pair up your cards and don't be the one left holding the odd queen.
- Spit A race to play your cards up or down on two piles, with a slow pace option so nobody is rushed.
- Idiot Play equal or higher cards, pick up the pile when you can't, and don't be the last one holding cards.
- Thirteen Shed your cards in singles, pairs, triples and runs. Twos are high. Also called Tien Len.
- Escoba The Spanish fishing game: capture cards that add up to 15 and sweep the table.
- Briscola Italy's favorite trick game with a 40-card deck. Win the valuable cards and reach 61 points.
- Skat Germany's three-player classic: bid for the right to play alone against the other two.
- Manni A three-player trick-taking game from Iceland, played to ten points.
- Kings in the Corners Build down in alternating colors around the deck, put Kings in the corners, and be first to empty your hand.
- Chicken Foot Match numbers, build a chicken foot from every double, and finish 10 rounds with the lowest score.
- Mexican Train Build your own train, ride the shared Mexican train, and keep your score low over 13 rounds.
- Dominoes The classic draw game with double-six tiles. Match the ends, draw when you are stuck, first to 100 wins.
- All Fives Dominoes Score whenever the open ends add up to a multiple of five. Also known as Muggins.
- Texas 42 The trick-taking domino game from Texas: bid, name trumps and win tricks with your partner.
- Klondike Solitaire The classic solitaire. Draw one or three, with big cards, hints and unlimited undo.
- FreeCell Every card is face up and almost every deal can be won. Use the four free cells wisely.
- Spider Solitaire Build runs from King down to Ace. Play with one, two or four suits.
- Pyramid Solitaire Clear the pyramid by pairing cards that add up to 13. Kings go on their own.
- Tri Peaks Solitaire Clear three peaks by playing cards one higher or one lower than the last. Quick and relaxing.
- Golf Solitaire Play cards one up or one down from the pile and try to clear all seven columns.
- Yukon Solitaire Like Klondike with no stock: move any face-up group, even out of order, and dig out the hidden cards.
- Scorpion Solitaire Build four same-suit runs from King down to Ace by moving whole groups of cards.
- Canfield Solitaire A classic with a 13-card reserve. Build up by suit from whatever card starts the foundations.
- Clock Solitaire Deal the cards around a clock face and turn them up one by one. Finish before the fourth King appears.
- Crescent Solitaire Two decks in a crescent of sixteen piles. Build up from Aces and down from Kings.
- Addiction Solitaire Line up each suit from 2 to King in four rows by moving cards into the gaps. Three shuffles to help.
- Mahjong Solitaire Match pairs of free tiles to clear the board. Large, high-contrast tiles and every deal can be solved.
- Jigsaw Puzzles Relaxing picture puzzles from 12 to 100 pieces, with big pieces that snap into place.
- Sudoku Fill the grid so every row, column and box has 1 to 9. Big numbers, notes and three levels.
- Word Search Find the hidden words in a grid of large letters. New puzzles by theme, as many as you like.
- Minesweeper Use the numbers to work out where the mines are. Big squares and a clear flag button.
- Triangles Take turns drawing lines between dots and claim every triangle you close.
- Checkers American checkers on a big board. Jump, get kinged and clear the other side.
- Backgammon Race your checkers home and bear them off before the computer does. Fair dice you can check.
- Reversi Trap the other color between your discs to flip them. Most discs at the end wins.
- Chess A friendly game of chess with large pieces, hints and computer levels from beginner up.
- Sea Battle Hide your fleet, call your shots and sink every ship before yours go down.
- Yacht Dice Roll five dice up to three times a turn and fill your score sheet. The classic dice game.
- Farkle Roll six dice, set aside the scoring ones and decide when to stop before you lose it all.