Scientific war
Scientific war tries to put chance, strategy and psychology together around a game whose fundamental principles are very simple: those of classic war, in particular open war, but with additional rules allowing some form of bluff and strategy. The particularity of this game is in fact that rules have been invented by you know who...
Game rules
At the beginning of the game, the dealer sorts the cards by suit and each player takes all the cards of a particular suit. So, everyone starts with a hand having the same strength, perfectly identical except the suit. This game is played with one or two 52 card decks depending on the number of players. In some cases, certain suits may be completely absent. For example, with two players, only hearts and spades are used.
Once the distribution is complete, each player chooses simultaneously the card they want to play. When everybody has made their choice, all chosen cards are revealed. Except in special cases explained below, the player who played the strongest card wins all the cards of the trick and puts them in front. Then, the next trick proceeds in the same way.
The player who doesn't have any more cards in hand takes those previously put in front and puts them back into their hand. If they still have no more cards, they are out of the game. The winner is the last player still having cards when all others have lost. The strongest card is ace and the weakest 2, suit has no importance.
War
When the winner of the trick isn't unique, and two or more cards of the same strength are tied as winners of the trick, there is a war. In this case, nobody takes the cards of the trick. The winner of the next trick wins the cards of the trick plus those left in the previous trick when the war occured.
Revolution
When a jack is revealed, it's a revolution and the card order is reversed. The 2 becomes the strongest card and ace the weakest. Card order returns to the usual order at next revolution, which occurs when the next jack is played. If two jacks are played in the same trick, their effects cancel each other and the card order is thus unchanged.
Spy lady
The player who played a queen can, at next trick after the one where the queen has been played, look at which cards other players chose before choosing their own. They thus have a big advantage to win this trick! But this lasts only for a single turn, fortunately. If two or more queens are played in the same trick, their effect is cancelled.
See how many cards players have in hand
After having played a 3, the player who played it can see how many cards other players currently have in their hands (don't confuse with the total number of cards owned, which is not the same and that latter information is always available).
Pile switch
After having played an 8, the player who played it can take the pile of cards which is in front of them into their hand, and put their previous hand in its place (that's a swap).
Joker
Joker is the most interesting, but also the most fragile card of the game. Depending on when this card is played, the obtained effect isn't the same:
- When a war should have taken place, it is cancelled and the player who played the joker wins the trick
- If no war should have taken place, however, joker imposes a forced war. In other words, it's an unconditional war regardless of other cards played.
- If two or more jokers are played in the same trick, their effects are ignored; there is no forced war, nor a cancelled one.
Keyboard shortcuts
- R: repeat the current rules
- T: tell who has already played and who hasn't yet played in the current trick
- E: tell the number of cards owned by each player
- C: announce cards chosen by other players (valid only after having played a queen)