Napoleon is a fun, social card game that can be enjoyed by two to six players.
Players will need to bid and take tricks to win the game!
Find the video tutorial and written explanation for how to play the card game Napoleon below.
Napoleon Tutorial
Needed
Two to six players; 52 card deck; poker chips
Setup
Each player starts with an equal amount of chips.
Deal
Each player is dealt five cards in sets of three and two cards at a time.
Objective
Napoleon is a trick-taking game. The object of the game is to bid and win tricks. A trick is created by players playing a card into the middle. The player with the highest ranking trump card played wins the trick. If no trump card was played, the highest ranking card in the lead suit will win the trick.
Card Rank
Highest to lowest: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2
The trump suited cards for the round will outrank all other suits for the round.
Bidding
The player left of the dealer is first to make a bid or pass on bidding. A bid is the amount of tricks the player thinks they will win in the round. Each player gets one turn to bid or pass. The player that makes the highest bid is the bid winner.
Game Play
The bid winner will lead the first trick. The suit of the first card led is the trump suit for the round. Players must play a card in the same suit that was led, whenever possible. When a player cannot follow the lead suit, the player can play any card.
The player of the highest ranking trump card wins the trick. If no trump suited cards were played, the highest ranking card in the lead suit wins the trick. The player that wins the trick will lead the next trick. Players continue playing to tricks until all cards have been played.
Winning
Players will count the number of tricks won at the end of the round. If the bid winner takes at least the amount of tricks bid, they are successful. With a successful bid, the bid winner will take chips for the amount bid from each player.
If a bid winner is unsuccessful in winning the required amount of tricks, they would pay each opponent the amount bid.
The game is played for an agreed upon amount of deals, the player with the most chips after the agreed upon amount of deals wins the game.
Rule
When a player bids five it is known as bidding Nap. If the player wins all five tricks, they win ten chips from each player. If the player fails to win all five tricks, they will pay the other players five chips each.