How to Play the Prisoner of War Card Game

The Prisoner Of War Card Game is a variation of the classic card game of War, but with several unique additions. Each player has a concentration camp that he or she keeps prisoners of war in. When a player wins a war, he or she can use the face down cards that he or she wins to either add to his or her concentration camp, or to use as a prisoner exchange for a card in his or her opponent's concentration camp.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Deck of playing cards

How To Play The Prisoner of War Card Game

1. Find an opponent. The Prisoner of War Card Game is designed for two players only.

2. Shuffle a standard deck of 52 playing cards after removing the jokers. Deal 26 cards to each of the two players. Neither player should look at the cards dealt him, and the cards should remain face down in front of that player.

3. Direct each player to flip over the top card from his deck. The player with the higher card wins both cards and places them face down at the bottom of his deck. If the cards flipped over match, a round of war is conducted. See the section below for "Conducting A War in the Prisoner Of War Card Game."

4. Continue playing until one player has no cards left.

Conducting A War In The Prisoner Of War Card Game

5. Direct each player to place one card face down in front of him and another card face up. The player with the higher face-up card has two options.

6. Place the card face down in your concentration camp. Cards are shown face up in the concentration camp. These cards are out of play, unless the opponent initiates a prisoner swap.

7. Conduct a prisoner swap. If a player wins a war, and the winner of the war wants to retrieve a face up card from the concentration camp that his opponent has on his opponent's side of the table, he or she can do a prisoner exchange. To do this the player that won the war selects the face down card without looking at it and swaps it with one of the cards in the concentration camp on his or her opponent's side of the table. The face down card does not go into the concentration camp, instead his or her opponent gets to put it at the bottom of his or her pile, and the winner of the war places the card he or she selected from the concentration camp at the bottom of his own pile of cards, along with the face up cards won in the war.

8. Conduct another war if the two face up cards are matching. If a player wins multiple face down cards, he or she can make a decision about putting them in his or her concentration camp or using them for prisoner exchanges individually.

Tips & Warnings

• The player that wins the war always gets to keep his own face down card and return that to his or her pile. That card is not used for the prisoner exchange or concentration camp. Only face down cards from his or her opponent are used for the prisoner exchange or concentration camp.
• Keep in mind this game is not a game for everyone. Some might be offended by the terms of prisoner of war and concentration camp.