Napoleon
Five cards each. Bid the tricks you’ll take, or go Nap and take them all. 2–6 players.
How to play Napoleon
- 1Everyone gets 5 cards. Starting left of the dealer, each player gets one chance to bid how many tricks they'll take (2, 3 or 4) or pass. Each bid must be higher than the last. Bidding Nap means taking all five, and nothing beats it.
- 2If everyone else passes, the dealer has to bid at least 2.
- 3The highest bidder leads first, and the suit of that first card is trump for the deal. Follow suit if you can, otherwise play anything. The highest trump takes the trick, or else the highest card of the suit led. Aces are high, and the winner leads next.
- 4Everyone else plays together against the bidder. Play stops as soon as the bid is made or can no longer be made.
- 5Make your bid and every other player pays you that many points (10 each for Nap). Fall short and you pay each of them that many instead (5 each for Nap).
- 6The deal passes to the left. The game lasts about ten deals, with everyone dealing the same number of times, and the highest score at the end wins.
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