Coin War is a simple game of my own invention, for two players… Coin War is intended primarily as a game for my CS 161 class to implement. It is a simplification of the ancient card game War) that tries to capture the essence of the game.
Coin War
Number of players: 2
Playing time: About 5 minutes.
Goal: Win the opponent's Army.
Equipment Needed: Ten coins.
Setup: Each player takes five coins, arranges their coins in a sequence called their "Army", and then flips each coin in turn so that it randomly shows heads (H) or tails (T).
Round of play: The players compare the first coins in their armies.
H beats T, so if the coins mismatch, the player with H captures the coin of the player with T, and puts the T and H at the end of their Army in that order.
In addition, the player with H then captures the Prisoners of the player with T—see below—and places the opposing Prisoners and then their own Prisoners in order at the end of their Army.
If the coins are the same, each player puts the matched coin at the end of their Prisoners. Players with coins still in their Army then put the first remaining coin in their Army at the end of their sequence of Prisoners.
Victory conditions: At any point, if either player has no Army, the game is immediately over.
If only one player has an Army, that player wins.
Otherwise, both players must have no Army.
If one player has more H coins than the other in their Prisoners, that player wins.
Otherwise, the game is a tie.
Sample game:
Player 1: THHTT Player 2: TTHTH Player 1: HTT TH Player 2: HTH TT Player 1: T THHT Player 2: H TTHT Game over. Player 1: Player 2: THTHHTTTHT Player 2 wins.Strategy: Coin War is a game of pure luck. The player who starts with the most heads almost always wins.
Coin War is playable by children too young to deal with playing cards, and can be played with equipment that is usually at hand. It has few other redeeming virtues. (B)