Strategic War

Strategic War is a modification of the card game War which, as its name implies, adds an element of strategy to what is otherwise a game of pure chance.

In Strategic War, as in conventional War, the entire deck is dealt face down to the two or more players so that all players have an equal number of cards. Remaining cards, if any, are set aside and not used. Unlike conventional War, where the top card in the player’s face‑down stack is always played, in Strategic War, the players may look at their cards and play any one of them by placing the chosen card face down on the table. After all of the players have placed their cards on the table, the players turn over their cards. The player with the highest cards captures the remaining cards and places them on top of his (or her) face‑down stack of captured cards. The cards in the captured stack are neither viewed nor played again during the game.

If there is a tie for the highest card played, a “battle” ensues. The tied players each play another card; the player with the highest card captures all of the cards on the table. In the case of repeated ties, play continues until there are no further ties, the player with the highest card capturing all of the cards on the table. If a tie remains when the players run out of cards to play, the cards on the table are divided equally among the tied players, with any remaining cards not used.

Play continues until the players run out of cards to play. The player with the most cards in his captured stack is the winner.

A variant of Strategic War is Pure Strategy War, which, as its name implies, is a game of pure strategy. The element of chance is eliminated by virtue of the fact that all players are dealt cards of equal rank. With two players, one of the players is dealt the red cards (hearts and diamonds) and the other player the black cards (clubs and spades). For more than two players, each player is dealt the cards of a different suit. More than four players require additional decks. After the cards are dealt, play proceeds as described above for Strategic War.