Strategy WAR
Real
Life / Turn Based: Rules are written with on-line turn-based game
in mind, but this game is also playable in real-life. The only difference
is in real life, just keep the cards won until the end, then add them up.
You also do not see what cards the other players have left - but you can
mentally keep track of who plays what. And the time-out rule does not
apply.
Game Details:
Based: Game is some-what based on the card game War - where each player flips over a card, highest card wins.
Name: Strategy WAR, BrainWar
Number of players: Between 2-10 players (works best with 5-7 players)
Game lasts: 13 rounds
Setup: Each player gets 13 cards - one of each "suit": 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,J,Q,K,A (Ace high, 2 low). (Player can see that cards in their hand & can see what cards the other player has left)
Scoring:
2-10 = 2-10 points (face value)
J (Jack) = 11 points
Q (Queen) = 12 points
K (King) = 13 points
A (Ace) = 14 points
Game
Play:
Round: Each round, a player chooses 1 card to play from their hand. The goal is to have the highest UNIQUE card. You can only use each card once.
Round 1 example:
Player 1 = 5
Player 2 = 8
Player 3 = K
Player 4 = 2
Player 5 = 8
Round 1 example (cont): In this round, Player 3 wins this "war" with the highest card of a K. So Player 3 gets 5+8+13+2+8 points (36 points). Lets continue on with a round 2 example:
Round 2 example:
Player 1 = A
Player 2 = Q
Player 3 = A
Player 4 = 4
Player 5 = Q
Round 2 example (cont): In this round, Player 4 wins since he has the highest UNIQUE card. The two Aces take themselves out, and the 2 Queens take themselves out - leaving the winning card the 4. (So player 4 gets 56 points!)
Continue for a total of 13 rounds. The goal is to have the highest played unique card each round. At the end of the game, the person with the most points win.
Special Rules & Notes:
ALL TIE RULE: If all cards tie another (example of 5 players: A,8,8,A,8) - then those points are rolled over to the next round - making the next round a VERY important round. If a tie like this happens on the last round, then those points are just "lost on the battlefield"
ROUND TIME-OUT RULE: If a player times out during a round, by default the HIGHEST card left in the hand is used as a sacrifice - BUT the card does not count nor does this player win anything from this round. The card is just added to the "pot" for the others to win. So for example:
Player 1 = A
Player 2 (timed out) = so computer picks highest card left, A
Player 3 = 4
Player 4 = 8
Player 5 = J
So for that example, Player 1 wins. Player 2 was not really playing, but just sacrificed their best card (14 points) to the battlefield for someone else to collect. So if a player does time out for 1 round, they would still be able to come back and continue the war... but at a slight disadvantage by losing their best card.
Variants:
Variant: Dark Strategy WAR, Dark BrainWar - This version is most useful for an electronic version, and probable will not work in real life play. But in this version, you DO NOT know who played what card. You DO NOT see the score until the end. So you may be able to count that someone still has an Ace left, but you don't know which player it is. This version is nice when you start to learn "patterns" on how others like to play - that is who likes to keep their high cards towards the end, etc...
CREDIT:
Game rules and such written by: Michael A. Coan (COAN.NET) 2006-2007
Page updated August 2007
Game rules are free to use as long as credit is given back to COAN.NET. (And no major money is made from the game – then in that case, I want a cut of it!)