Sum War

Sum War is a game for practicing math facts. It relies on luck and speed skills. It is not a game for developing strategy; however, I bring it back several times during the year to provide more basic fact practice. On rainy days, many students ask if they can play Sum War for indoor recess.

supplies:

1 deck of cards for each pair of students

How to Play

1. Remove all face cards and jokers from the deck. Aces are kept in the deck and equal 1.
2. Deal all cards so the two players have equal piles. Do not look at your cards.
3. Both players place top card face up on the table. (Do teach your students to flip the cards so that they cannot see the card until it is face up on the table. There is definitely an advantage if a player looks at his card while hiding it from the opponent.)
4. Students race to add the 2 cards together. The first player to announce the correct sum wins both cards.
   

   
   

   

   First player to call "9" wins this pair.

   
   
5. Winner of that hand creates a new pile to hold his “winnings”. 
6. If there is a tie because both players call the correct sum at the same moment, then a tie breaker is necessary.  Both players deal another card.  The player who calls the sum first wins all 4 cards.
   

   

   3 + 1 = 4 was a tie.  The first player to call 18 wins all 4 cards.

   
   
7. When a player has no more cards in his hand, he moves his “winnings pile” over to replace his deck.
8. Play continues until one player has all the cards, or the teacher asks them to clean up.