Rank Up! 2023

In Rank Up! the players are competing to win the most cards through a series of rounds where all players compare a statistic chosen by the round leader. The core of this game builds on the classic “war” card game that most kids already know how to play.

Design features added in this game include: 1) rolling a game-specific wooden die that will determine whether the highest or lowest stat wins the round, 2) players (usually) get to look at 2 cards each round and choose which to play, 3) a memory game element of needing to remember the cards looked at, and 4) the lead player choosing 1 of 4 stat categories for that round’s comparison rather than the simple comparison in “war” of the traditional card rank value. The winner of a round is the lead player for the next round.

Another significant difference from “war” is that this game is “once through the deck” and see who has the most, rather than the “win all the cards” victory condition of traditional “war” card games. This significantly shortens the game play and allows for a predictable playing time. The publisher says 20 minutes, although that may be a bit optimistic when playing with younger kids.

There are 100 game cards with 4 factual statistic categories on each. Also on each card is a fun fact which is not used in play of the game. Initially the publisher is releasing two versions of this game of “Amazing Animals” and “Countries of the World”.