How to Play ‘Paper War’ & Other Pen & Paper Games

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Wage pencil wars against your friends with our simple gameplay guide
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Are you looking for a quick paper-and-pencil game you can play when you’re bored? Paper War, also known as Paper Battlegrounds or Pencil Wars, is the perfect choice for an easy but strategic game. If you’re the first to knock out the enemy soldiers and stick figures, you’re the winner! Keep reading to learn more about how to play , the different variations to try, and strategies for winning.

Paper War Game: Quick Overview

Fold a paper in half and draw 5 stick-figure soldiers on each side of the fold. Players take turns placing a dot on their side of the paper. When the paper’s folded, knock out an enemy soldier if the dot lines up with their head or body. If you’re the first to knock out all of your opponent’s soldiers, you win.

Section 1 of 4:

How to Play Paper War

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  1. Take any piece of regular notebook paper and fold it in half along the long side (hamburger style). Then, unfold the paper and draw a line along the crease. One side of the crease is your battlefield and the other half is your opponent’s battlefield. [1]
    • Paper War is meant to be a 2-player game, but you can split into teams and alternate who takes a turn if you have more people.
  2. Use a pen or pencil to draw the stick people on your side of the battlefield. Place them anywhere you want, but make each soldier a little smaller than 1 inch (2.5 cm) tall. Once you both have set up your soldiers, you’re ready to start the game! [2]
    • For a slightly simpler game, just draw 5 small circles instead of stick people. Make the circles about 1 ⁄ 4  in (0.64 cm) in diameter.
    • Once you place your soldiers, you can’t move them again unless you’re playing with one of the game variations covered later on this page.
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  3. Choose a random person to take the first turn of the game. When you take a turn, use your pen or pencil to place a dark dot somewhere on your side of the battlefield. This dot represents one of your soldiers taking a shot at your opponents across the battlefield. [3]
  4. Fold the paper along the crease again and locate where you placed the dot. Scribble your pen or pencil on the back of the sheet in that spot to transfer the mark to your opponent’s side of the battlefield. Then, unfold the paper to check the spot you targeted. [4]
  5. If the dot hits a stick figure anywhere on its head or body, then that soldier is eliminated. Cross out the soldier with a large X so you know not to target it anymore during future attacks.
    • If the dot only hit a stick figure’s arms or legs, they’re still safe and in the game!
    • If you didn’t hit any soldiers, your shot missed and your opponent got lucky this time,
  6. After your turn, your opponent takes their turn drawing a dot on their side of the paper and checking if their shot hits. Keep alternating turns until you reach the end of the game.
  7. After you hit all 5 soldiers on your opponent’s side of the paper, they aren’t able to shoot anymore and you win the game! [5]
    • If you want a rematch or play the best 2 out of 3, get a fresh sheet of paper, fold it in half, and draw new soldiers.
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Section 2 of 4:

Winning Strategies for Paper Warfare

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  1. Grouping your soldiers close together makes them easier targets because shots are more likely to hit their heads or bodies. Instead, spread them out across your side of the paper so it’s a little more difficult for your opponent to line up their shots.
  2. Soldiers closer to the center crease and along the edges of the paper are easier to hit because you can better predict where your shot lines up. Take out these soldiers first so you can knock them out right away and take your time with the more difficult ones to aim for.
  3. If you’re using notebook paper or graph paper, count how many lines are between your target and the center crease. Then, count the same number of lines on your side of the paper so ensure that you’re aiming in the right place to take down an enemy soldier.
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Section 3 of 4:

Fun Variations of Pencil Wars

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  1. Instead of making a dot when you’re shooting on your turn, place the tip of your pencil on one of your soldiers. Put your finger on top of your pencil and push down to hold it in place. Then, use your other hand to flick the pencil and draw a line on your paper. Make a dot wherever the line ends and take your shot from there.
    • If your pencil goes off the paper, then your shot doesn’t count.
  2. For a little extra strategy, add a small box somewhere along the bottom edge of your side of the paper. Each fort can take 3 hits before its destroyed, so it makes your game a little longer and more strategic.
    • For a longer game, give each fort 5 health instead and flick the pencil to shoot at your opponents.
  3. Rather than just including soldiers, agree on different units that you want to include. You can replace soldiers with other units, or use them in addition to soldiers for an even longer game. Some of the units you can try out include:
    • Tank: Tanks take 2 hits from soldiers to defeat or 1 hit from another tank
    • Missile Launcher: Trace a penny and damage any unit inside the radius. You can only destroy a missile launcher if a shot hits the barrel.
    • Bomber: Trace a quarter on the battlefield. Any unit inside the circle is destroyed.
  4. Allow each player to move one of their units on their turn before making an attack. Soldiers can move 1 inch (2.5 cm) in any direction, so use a ruler to mark their new spot before erasing and redrawing the soldier there.
    • Alternatively, cut out pieces of paper with your soldiers and apply a loop of tape to the back of them. That way, you can pick up and move the units without having to erase them.
    • You can only move units that haven’t already been shot.
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Section 4 of 4:

Other Paper and Pencil Games

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  1. 1
    B.A.S.H. B.A.S.H. is short for “Battleship, Airplane, Submarine, Helicopter.” Draw a map with random shapes for islands. All the spaces between are considered water. Place your 4 units on your side of the paper. Place the tip of your pencil on a unit and flick it. Wherever the pencil ends is where the unit moves. If you run into another player’s unit, they’re destroyed. Win the game if you destroy all your opponent’s units before they destroy yours.
    • Battleships and submarines can only move in water spaces. If you flick your pencil and it ends on land, your unit is destroyed.
    • Airplanes and helicopters can travel anywhere on the map.
  2. 2
    Battleship Battleship is a classic war game that you can easily play on sheets of graph paper. Make a 10 x 10 grid, and position your ships inside the grid. Take turns calling out coordinated on the grid and letting your opponent know if they hit one of your ships or missed. Whoever sinks all their opponent’s ships first wins the game!
    • The 5 ships are:
      • Aircraft carrier (5 squares long)
      • Battleship (4 squares long)
      • Submarine (3 squares long)
      • Cruiser (3 squares long)
      • Destroyer (2 squares long)
  3. 3
    Dots and boxes To play Dots and Boxes , draw a grid a 4 x 4 grid of dots on your paper. On your turn, draw a line that connects 2 dots. If you add the last line that closes off a box, write your initials inside the box and take another turn. After all the boxes have been closed off, whoever has their initials in the most wins!
  4. 4
    Nim Draw rows of lines on your paper to set up the game. On your turn, cross off as many lines from a single row as you want. As you take turns, your choices will be more limited. Whoever crosses off the last line wins the game.
    • Row 1: 1 line
    • Row 2: 3 lines
    • Row 3: 5 lines
    • Row 4: 6 lines
  5. 5
    Hangman Hangman is the perfect game to play with one other person or a group of people. Select a word or phrase and write out blank spaces for each letter. Have the other players guess letters. If the letters appear in the phrase, then fill in the blanks. If they guessed a wrong letter, then start drawing a stick figure for the hangman. The game ends when the players correctly guess the word or when the stick figure is complete.
    • Want some good words or phrases for your game? Check out our list of hangman phrases to try out.
  6. 6
    Tic-Tac-Toe If you’re looking for a really simple game that only takes a minute, draw a 3 x 3 tic tac toe board. One player places Xs on the board while the other player places Os. Whoever can get 3 of their symbols in a row wins the game!
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Community Q&A

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  • Question
    What are some ways I could make the game more interesting?
    Community Answer
    Here are a few ideas: Objectives, walls you have to destroy to get to the enemy, a prize to compete for, being able to move your "soldiers" on your turns before shooting (might want to draw things in pencil in this case), being able to re-draw one soldier after five turns, drawing each side in different colors and having a few of your soldiers on their side that you have to avoid hitting or you'll lose points, and a points system. Abilities (magical?), building structures like tents, troops needing supplies that you only get from destroying the enemy, and different kinds of soldiers with different abilities that you can attack with instead the base, like snipers and tanks.
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  • Question
    Can I play with a group of friends?
    Community Answer
    You could if you played in teams, and it might be possible for 4 people if you fold it in fourths, but I haven't tried this.
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  • Question
    Would this work for any size paper?
    Pyti
    Community Answer
    Yes, but if the paper is too small you might not have enough space to draw the figures. A paper from a regular notebook is best for the instructions given.
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      • Mix and match different variations of pencil wars to make your game truly unique! Just make sure whoever you’re playing with knows all the rules so they don’t feel left behind.
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      References

      1. ↑ https://youtu.be/1jfDTZV4_jM?t=20
      2. ↑ https://youtu.be/yabDfUTSzVY?t=18
      3. ↑ https://youtu.be/1jfDTZV4_jM?t=60
      4. ↑ https://youtu.be/yabDfUTSzVY?t=63
      5. ↑ https://youtu.be/yabDfUTSzVY?t=101

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