What is Peace?
Peace plays War in reverse. The deck is dealt out as usual and each battle is still one card from every player, but the lowest rank takes the cards: a two beats everything, and an ace, the best card in War, loses to everything. Suits still don't count.
When the lowest cards tie, the players make peace rather than war. Each player still in the game lays five cards face down, one for each letter of P-E-A-C-E, then turns one card face up, and the lowest face-up card takes everything on the table. Another tie starts another peace. A player with too few cards lays down what they can and turns their last card face up. As in War, you win by collecting every card; a game still going after 1,000 battles ends in a draw, however many cards each player holds.
Rule changes
| Rule | Standard War | Peace |
|---|---|---|
| Who takes a battle | Standard WarThe highest card; aces are high and twos are low. | PeaceThe lowest card; twos are the best cards and aces the worst. |
| A tie | Standard WarWar: the highest face-up card turned in the war takes all the cards. | PeacePeace: the lowest face-up card turned in the peace takes all the cards. |
| Cards face down before the deciding card | Standard WarThree from each player. | PeaceFive from each player, one for each letter of the word peace. |
| Very long games | Standard WarNo limit: the game goes on until one player holds every card. | PeaceA game still going after 1,000 battles ends in a draw, even if one player holds more cards. |
| Other options | Standard WarTwo players by default, with three face-down cards in a war. | PeacePlay with 2, 3 or 4 players; with more than two, a tie for the lowest card starts a peace that every player still in the game makes. The one-card-down choice doesn't apply, as a peace always uses five face-down cards. |
History
Peace appears in lists of War variations as the version in which the lowest card always wins. A tie is usually settled with five face-down cards, one for each letter of the word peace, which is how this site plays it.
Like War itself, Peace is a family game passed on by word of mouth rather than a game with fixed published rules, and the details of how ties are settled differ between sources.