Playcard games

Play War online

War in the browser, for nothing: open a table, send the code to whoever is playing, and let a bot take any chair nobody fills.

  • 2 players
  • Bots for empty seats
  • Free
  • Nothing to download
Open a table

How War is played here

The rules this table deals by. Everybody at the table sees the same lines before the first hand.

  • Twenty-six cards each, face down. Nobody sees a pile, including the player holding it.
  • Two cards of the same rank are war: three cards face down each and a fourth turned up, and the higher fourth card takes all ten.
  • The cards are counted when the battles run out, and whoever holds most wins. A game with no agreed length can circulate forever.
  • There is nothing to decide. The deal has already settled it — the game is how long it takes to find out.

How it works

  1. Open a table. It gets a short code of its own.
  2. Read the code out, or send the link. Anyone you send it to sits down as a guest, without an account.
  3. Deal once everyone is seated — or give each empty chair a bot and start now.

How multiplayer War works

Playing War online with other people, step by step: the code, the seats, the table rules, and what happens when somebody drops out.

A table for two

War is played by exactly two, so a multiplayer game is you and one friend. Open a table — the host needs a free account — and send the six-character code or the link from "Copy link". From a phone, "Challenge a friend" sends the same invitation straight into Messenger, Instagram or any other app you already talk in. Your friend picks a name and sits down as a guest, with nothing to install.

In the lobby the host chooses how many battles to play, 25, 50 or 100, and the game starts when both of you are seated and the host presses start. It is a good first online card game with a child: there is nothing to explain beyond which card is higher.

Turning cards together

At a table both cards go down at once. Here each of you presses "Turn your card", and the battle is settled when the second one does. The table tells you when the other player has turned theirs and is waiting for you.

Neither of you sees your own pile, only how many cards each of you holds. The two cards of each battle are shown side by side, and the table says who took them.

Wars and the count

When the cards tie, the war is played out without anybody pressing again: three cards face down each, a fourth face up, and more wars until one of you wins. The table shows each war in turn, with the face-down cards drawn as backs, and how many cards changed hands.

The game ends when the agreed battles have been played, or earlier if one of you has all 52 cards. Whoever holds more cards wins, and a level count is a draw. For a rematch, leave and open a new table.

If one of you drops out

If a page closes or a connection drops, the table waits twenty-five seconds. After that the site turns the missing player's cards so the game can go on, and gives the seat back as soon as they open the table again. Pressing Leave in the middle of a game hands the seat to a bot for good.

No second player at hand? The host can put a bot in the other chair in the lobby. A table nobody plays at for six hours is cleared away.

Questions about playing War online

How many can play War online here?
2 at one table. A bot can take any seat nobody fills, so a game never has to wait for somebody to turn up.
Can I play War against the computer?
Yes. Give any empty seat a bot and it plays like anyone else at the table, seeing only its own cards.
Does it cost anything?
No. Every table here is free, there are no ads, and nothing about you is sold or handed on.
Do I need an account?
Only to open a table. Joining one never needs an account — anyone you send the code to sits down as a guest.
Does War work on a phone?
Yes. It runs in the browser on a phone, a tablet or a computer, and there is nothing to install.