LowerShelf Games posts new games every week and adds them to our Gamebase. These games are free and available for everyone to learn how to play! Submit a game today to be featured!
Our game this week, Card Wars and was submitted by Stew Lowe, Marking our first game submission from the United Kingdom!
Here at LowerShelf, we love a good card game.
Especially when the card game is one we have never heard of! Card Wars is a perfect card game for anybody looking to bring in some military strategy, and mix it with some carnival style luck.
Card Wars is a great game for small groups of friends and families. The game is for 2-4 players, as each player tries to build your own individual armies. The ease of the gameplay allows for a range of ages to play! One of our favorite parts about this game is the chance involved with selecting cards each round.
Additionally, the game is simple to learn, and your group only needs a deck of cards in order to get playing! So what are you waiting for!? Keep scrolling to find out how to get playing.
Check out our 1 minute tutorial below!
How to play Card Wars:
The Goal of the game Card Wars:
Each player will have their own "Card Army" and will be doing their best to protect their troops each round. The Card Army is made up of 8 cards to begin, and will include Tank Cards and Soldier Cards.
In order to win and save your troops, the highest card value placed each round will get to replace their card. The game is over when only 1 player remains with cards and wins!
The Materials for the game Card Wars:
Players:
The game requires 2 to 4 players,
Materials:
All you need is a deck of cards! Maybe some camouflage if you're feeling it would help as well.
The Setup for the game Card Wars:
Grab the deck of cards and give it a nice shuffle.
Make sure you include all of the cards when shuffling the deck (including Jokers)
Then the dealer is going to deal each player 8 total cards face down.
The 8 cards are known as the "Card Army"
Each player will then take their 8 cards and place 5 in a row in front of them (still facedown)
These 5 cards are known as "Tank Cards", meaning their value is 2 times (double) the actual card's value.
Once the Tanks are ready, each player will take their remaining 3 cards and place in a row in front of the Tank row.
These 3 cards are known as "Soldier Cards", meaning their value is the same as the actual card's value.
One the Tanks and Soldiers are ready, and each player has their Card Army prepared, we can get to combat.
The Directions for the game Card Wars:
Game Play:
On a count of 3 the game will start.
The round is played by each player looking at their respective Army and deciding on a card to flip over.
There is some obvious strategy involved when deciding on a card to flip.
For instance, do you want to risk a Tank Card or a Soldier Card? Your strategy might change throughout the game, depending on what cards the opposing players have left in their Armies.
But nonetheless, just like battle, your decision has to be quick. And when the "3-2-1" is said, each player has flip over a card face up.
Winning:
Once each player flips their card, each player will say what value they got.
For instance:
Player 1:
Flipped a Tank Card that was a 10 of Diamonds, their value for the round is 20.
Player 2:
Flipped a Soldier Card that was a 2 of Hearts, their value for the round is 2
Player 3:
Flipped a Tank Card that was a 4 of Spades, their value for the round is 8
Player 4:
Flipped a Soldier Card that was a 10 of Hearts, their value for the round is 10
And the player who had the highest value, in this case, Player 1, will win the round!
Resetting:
The winner from the last round (Player 1), then gets to replace their card that they used for the last round.
In addition, the winning player gets to grab another card from the deck and place it in any other player's Army. This is known as a "Troop Card."
Meaning that Player 1 starts the next round with their full Army and an extra Troop.
The players who lost do not replace any card and will play with 7 next round.
The game and the rounds continue until only 1 player is left with cards and wins the entire game!
The Rules for the game Card Wars:
As mentioned their are some different values for cards.
Tanks = x2 (ie. a 3 of Spades = 6)
Soldiers = x1 (ie. a 3 of Spades = 3)
Jokers = Bomb (ie. Wins any round, no matter the value)
The actual card values can be seen here:
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack (11), Queen (12), King (13), Ace (14), Joker (Bomb)
Additionally, the Troop card can be used in a round. It is worth the value of it's position (ie. Tank or Soldier).
The Troop can only be placed in a spot where an opposing player played the previous round.
If there happens to be a round where any 2 players tie for the highest value, just reset everyone's cards and play the round again.
Other than that, you can get to battling and seeing who's army comes out on top!
Wrap-up
Don't just take our word for it! Grab a deck of cards and get playing this week. Card Wars is great because it take a few minutes to learn, and your strategy will likely change from game to game. The game play is also relatively fast, so you can play a number of game to try and get your Army over the finish line!
If you are looking for more great card games like Card Wars. Check out some of these including a 2 player game War, a great 2-5 player game Karma, and/or the casino favorite 21.
Have you ever heard of Card Wars? Let us know in the comments if you liked playing!
About LowerShelf Games
LowerShelf Games is a free game sharing website that provides a one stop shop for family/party game lovers. The site is a showcase for the numerous games that exist in this world. It provides a single platform for people to not only share games with common items they would find around their house, but also standardized instructions on how to play them.
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