The rulebook
How to play War
Two players, one deck, zero decisions. Flip a card, compare, and whoever holds every card at the end wins.
Step 1
The deal
A standard 52-card deck is split evenly, 26 cards each, face-down. No one looks at their stack — it's a straight split, not a hand you can plan around.
Step 2
The flip
Both players flip the top card of their stack face-up at the same time. Higher card wins the battle and takes both cards, tucking them to the bottom of their own pile. Ace is high; 2 is low; suits never matter.
Step 3
War!
A tie triggers a war: each side stakes a few cards face-down (3 by default, or fewer if you're running low), then flips one more face-up to settle it. Another tie escalates again — the whole growing pile goes to whoever finally wins the comparison.
Step 4
Running out mid-war
If a player doesn't have enough cards left to stake, they lose the game outright right there — there's no partial war.
Step 5
Winning
Run out of cards entirely and you're out — the other player takes the game. Play can also run long: past a battle cap the game settles for whoever holds the most cards at that point, so a table always reaches a result.
Step 6
Auto-play
Nothing to decide turn to turn means War is a natural fit for auto-play: either seat can offer to let the table run itself, and play only speeds up once BOTH players agree. Either side can stop it at any time and go back to flipping by hand.