Casino War is an extremely simple card game that is offered by most online casinos. It is usually located in the Table Games category. Though the rules of play are materially the same, Microgaming Casino War offers slightly better payouts than the version offered by some of the other software providers. Hence this article discusses the Microgaming version. Microgaming Casino War can be played at online casinos like Spin Palace, Roxy Palace, All Slots and Platinum Play.

The valuation of the cards in Casino War is slightly different from the other card games. The cards from two to ten have their face values, the difference lies in the remaining cards. Jack, queen, king and ace are valued at 11, 12, 13 and 14 respectively. The Microgaming Casino War game begins with the player placing the ante wager. He then clicks the Deal button and one card is dealt face up to the player and one card to the dealer. If the cards are of different values according to the valuation described earlier, then the player wins the game if he has a higher value card and he loses the game if he has a lower value card. Some excitement is brought into the Casino War game if both the initial cards are of equal value. The player then has two options. He can either surrender or raise. If he surrenders then he gets half his ante wager back and the game ends. If the player decides to raise then he has to place a wager equal to the ante wager. Then a second card is dealt to both the player and the dealer. This time round there are no ties. The player wins if his second card is of equal or higher value than the dealer’s second card. The player can also place an optional independent tie wager along with the ante wager. This wager wins if the first cards of the dealer and the player have the same value.

Microgaming Casino War pays out as follows. The tie wager pays at 10 to 1 irrespective of the final outcome of the game. Even at this payout the tie wager has a high house edge and players at Microgaming online casinos usually avoid this bet. If the player loses the game then he forfeits the ante wager and the raise wager. If the player wins on the first cards then the payout on the ante wager is 1 to 1. If the player wins on the second card because he has a higher card the payout on the ante wager is 1 to 1 and the raise wager pushes. If the player wins on the second card because of a tie the payout on the ante wager is 2 to 1 and the raise wager pushes.

Cryptologic Casino War pays out in the same manner, but the payouts in the Realtime Gaming (RTG) version are different. If the player wins on the second card it does not matter whether that win is by virtue of his having a higher card or an equal value card. In both instances the ante wager pays out at 1 to 1 and the raise wager pushes. This makes RTG Casino War less attractive than the Microgaming version.