War (card game)
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War is a card game for two or more players. It uses a standard Anglo-American playing card deck. It is most often played as a children's game because of its simplicity.
| Players | 2 |
|---|---|
| Age range | 6 + |
| Playing time | 10-40 minutes |
| Random chance | High |
| Skills required | Counting |
Contents |
[edit] Gameplay
The deck is divided evenly between the as many players face-down. Each player reveals his top card, and the player with the higher card puts both the cards on the bottom of his deck. If the cards are of equal value, each player plays two face-down cards and a third face-up card, and the higher-valued card wins all the cards on the table. This is known as a war. In the case of another tie, the process is repeated until there is no tie.
A player wins when the other player runs out of cards. If a player runs out of cards while dealing the face-down cards of a war, he may play the last card in his deck face-up and still have a chance to stay in the game.
[edit] War and computers
War is a very simple game to program, and there have thus been many programs of it in the past. There was an Apple II version of this game, contained in the game Little Computer People. In the game, the winner of each trick always put the cards on the bottom of the deck in the same order. Frequently, the game wound up cycling; that is, the same positions would repeat indefinitely with no winner.
A Java version appeared on the web in the late 1990s in which a user could watch the game played automatically at its choice of speeds.
[edit] Statistics
After one million games were run with a computer program, the following results were achieved[1]:
| Statistic | Value |
|---|---|
| Average battles: | 248.314 |
| Average wars: | 13.0305 |
| Average double wars: | 0.756801 |
| Average triple wars: | 0.042637 |
| Average quadruple wars: | 0.002265 |
| Average quintuple wars: | 0.000113 |
| Average sextuple wars: | 0.000001 |
| Most battles: | 2958 |
| Most wars: | 155 |
| Most double wars: | 12 |
| Most triple wars: | 5 |
| Most quadruple wars: | 2 |
| Most quintuple wars: | 1 |
| Most sextuple wars: | 1 |
| Fewest battles: | 9 |
Presumably, the game with nine battles was the game with the sextuple war, which would have left the loser with one card. The loser of that war would then win a battle, then lose two in a row to eliminate all its cards.
[edit] Variations
Being a widely-known game, war has picked up many optional variations, some of which are listed below.
- Multiplayer War - With three or more players, a war occurs only when the two highest cards tie.
- Automatic War - A certain card, typically a 2 or a Joker causes an automatic war.
- Threes Beat Faces - In this variation, a 3 wins against any face card, but still loses against other cards higher than it.
- Fours Beat Aces - Usually played alongside the above variation, here a 4 beats an ace, but loses against other cards higher than it.
- Slap War - A certain card, usually 5 if playing with the above rules, has no numerical significance, and when a 5 is played, the first player to slap it collects the cards. If two players play a 5 or a war is caused in some other way, the person to slap the 5 wins regardless.
- Underdog - When a player has lost a war, he may check his three face down cards for a predetermined underdog card, usually 6 if playing with the above rules, and if one of the cards is a 6, he wins the war.
- Casino War - A simple variation played for money in casinos. See here for details.
- Card Clash - A virtual version very similar. It is Kim Possible themed, and your opponent is either Drakken or Shego. Your deck is either Kim themed or villan themed. Instead of two cards when a Card Clash (war) happens, you draw three face-down cards and turn the fourth face up. The other rules are the same.
[edit] External links
- This site lists several varieties of variations of the card game War.
- Predictability in the Game of War
- [1] Simulations of War using MATLAB
- [2]Another good explanation of a War simulation using C++
