Napoleon (card game)
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| Origin | France |
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| Alternative names | Nap |
| Type | Trick-taking |
| Family | Trick-taking |
| Players | 3-7 (5 best) |
| Skills required | Tactics & Strategy |
| Cards | 28-52 |
| Deck | Anglo-American |
| Play | Clockwise |
| Playing time | 20 min. |
| Random chance | Medium |
| Related games | |
| Loo, Rams | |
Napoleon or Nap is a straightforward trick-taking game in which players receive five cards each; whoever bids the highest number of tricks chooses trumps and tries to win at least their bidden number of tricks. It is a simplified relative of Euchre, and has many variations throughout Northern Europe. The game has been popular in England for 200 years and has given the language a slang expression, "to go nap", meaning to take five of anything. It may be less popular now than it was, but it is still played in some parts of southern England and in Strathclyde. Despite its title and allusions, it is not recorded before the last third of the nineteenth century, and may have been first named after Napoleon III.
The old game of Napoleon consists simply of five cards dealt out singly with the various players bidding in their turn how many tricks they think they can make. The player to the dealer's left has the privilege of bidding first, and then every player after him may bid up to the limit, Napoleon, which is a declaration to take all five tricks. Whoever bids highest leads first, the card led determining the trump for that round, and the winner of the trick then leads to the next. The cards are not gathered or packed together, but left face upwards on the table in front of their owners, except for the winning card, which must be kept turned face down on the table.
This is the simplest form of Napoleon, requiring only that the players judge the value of their hands regarding the number of players and any bid that may have been previously made.
Nap is best for four to five players using a stripped pack from 28 to 52 cards. If four play, 28 to 32 cards are used, if five, 36 to 40 cards. When six play the dealer deals himself no hand, but pays or receives the same as the other players.
The cards in each suit rank from high to low (ace high). The dealer deals five cards to each player. Deal and play are clockwise, and the turn to deal passes to the left after each hand.
The players cut to determine the dealer for the first deal. The player with the lowest card deals first. The ace ranks below the two.
After the shuffle, the pack is cut by the player at the dealer's right. The cut must leave at least four cards in each packet.
Each player receives five cards, dealt in a round of three at a time, followed by a round of two at a time.
The bidding starts with the player to dealer's left, and goes clockwise round to end with the dealer. Each player is allowed only one bid and it must be higher than the preceding bid (or a pass).
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Wikipedia