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CPU Wars: my chip can beat up your chip

A card game of trumps will see you pitting CPU against CPU in, perhaps, the geekiest battle we've ever seen.

Michelle Starr Science editor
Michelle Starr is CNET's science editor, and she hopes to get you as enthralled with the wonders of the universe as she is. When she's not daydreaming about flying through space, she's daydreaming about bats.
Michelle Starr
2 min read

A card game of trumps will see you pitting CPU against CPU in, perhaps, the geekiest battle we've ever seen.

(Credit: CPU Wars)

Around 28,693 Kickstarter projects have been successfully funded since the site's beginnings, but here's one that has actually shipped.

CPU Wars is elementary, really: each of 30 cards detail the specs of a CPU chip. The deck is split evenly between the players; as your turn comes around, you lay out your mightiest card, in the style of Pokémon or Magic: The Gathering, in order to try and get all of the cards.

Instead of spells or moves, the specs are clock speed, bus speed, the year the chip was launched, transistor count, data width, manufacturing process, die size and max TDP. If you don't know what these things are, you'll probably learn pretty quickly — each card has a brief description of the CPU, so there's a lot of potential for education here.

(Credit: CPU Wars)

The concept came from engineer Harry Mylonadis, who wanted something quick and fun to do in his work breaks to let his mind relax. He spent six months researching CPU specs, actually collecting the chips and creating the game before launching to Kickstarter. He made a whopping US$17,752 of his US$3500 goal, and now he has opened up a website where everyone can purchase the game.

A single deck comes in at £7.99 (around AU$12.20), two decks at £13.99 (AU$21.35) and five decks at £28.99 (AU$44.23) — for all your super-nerdy party needs.

Head on over to the CPU Wars website to snare the game for yourself.