War – Compare to 99
Math Concepts
Comparing double-digit numbers
Materials
Deck of playing cards
Players
2
Set up
Remove the face cards and tens from the deck of cards. Split the cards evenly in two piles face down, one for each player.
Play
Flip over the top two cards from each pile and form two-digit numbers with them. The player with the larger two-digit number keeps all four cards. In the example below, the player on the right wins with 48 against
the left person’s 16. If the pairs of cards match, flip over the next two pairs of cards and the winner gets all eight cards.
Goal
The player with the most cards after one or more runs through all the cards is the winner
Discussion and Traits
Decide in advance how many times you will go through the deck or how long you are going to play.
Variations
Smaller wins: To change things up, sometimes play that the smaller of the two numbers wins.
Friendlier: If one player becomes visibly behind, then they have the option, until the game becomes even again, of using their two cards in either order.