How to Play Napoleon

By Jaques of London · Est. 1795 · Updated 2026-08-17

Napoleon, commonly called Nap, is a trick-taking card game for two to six players using a standard 52-card deck. It is straightforward enough to teach in five minutes yet offers genuine depth in bidding judgement and card reading, which is why it has remained a fixture at kitchen tables, pub back rooms, and family gatherings for well over a century.

The game's appeal lies in its clean structure: one bold player backs their hand against all comers, everyone else pools their efforts to stop them, and the stakes escalate sharply the higher the bid. Rounds are fast, the social dynamic is lively, and the scoring keeps every player invested right to the end.

A little history

Nap is widely documented as a British adaptation of the French bidding game Napoléon, which became popular in England during the latter half of the nineteenth century. Its name almost certainly references the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, though whether the link is purely nominal or reflects some earlier Continental lineage is unclear. By the 1880s and 1890s the game was well established in British households and appears frequently in Victorian card-game compendia. It was particularly popular as a gambling game during that period, and many of its scoring conventions reflect that heritage.

Setting up

1. Seat players around a table and agree on a points target or a fixed number of rounds before play begins.
2. Decide whether to play for fun or with a stake (chips or a points ledger) and agree any optional bids such as Wellington or Blucher before the first hand.
3. Choose a first dealer by any agreed method, such as cutting for highest card. The deal passes clockwise after each hand.
4. The dealer shuffles the deck and offers it to the player on their right to cut.
5. Deal five cards face down to each player, one at a time, clockwise, starting with the player to the dealer's left.

How to play

1. Once all players have five cards, the bidding begins with the player to the dealer's left and proceeds clockwise.
2. Each player, in turn, either passes or makes a bid. A bid is a number from two to five, representing the number of tricks the player declares they will win out of the five available.
3. A bid must be higher than any bid already made. A player who passes cannot bid again in that round.
4. The highest available bid is five tricks, which is declared as 'Nap'. Special bids (Misère, Wellington, Blucher) are used only if the table has agreed them in advance.
5. If all players pass without a bid, the hand is thrown in, the cards are gathered and reshuffled, and the deal passes to the left.
6. The highest bidder becomes the declarer. They lead the first trick; the suit of that first card automatically becomes the trump suit for the entire hand.
7. Play proceeds clockwise. Each player must follow the suit led if they can. If they cannot follow suit, they may play any card, including a trump.
8. The highest trump in a trick wins it. If no trump is played, the highest card of the suit led wins.
9. Card ranking within each suit, from highest to lowest, is: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.
10. The winner of each trick leads the next one.
11. After all five tricks have been played, check whether the declarer won at least as many tricks as they bid.
12. Score the hand according to the result (see Winning and Scoring below), then gather the cards, pass the deal to the left, and begin the next hand.

Winning and scoring

If the declarer makes their bid, they score one point (or chip) per trick bid from each other player. If they fail, they pay one point per trick bid to each other player. A bid of Nap (five tricks) pays double: the declarer collects two points per player if successful, or pays one point per player if they fail. When playing with a target score, the first player to reach the agreed total wins. When playing a fixed number of rounds, the player with the highest score at the end wins. In gambling variants, chips settle immediately after each hand rather than accumulating to a final total.

The fine points

The most common dispute concerns the trump suit: the trump is determined solely by the first card the declarer leads, not by any declaration before play. If the declarer accidentally leads from the wrong suit to what they intended, the trump is still whatever card they played. There is no take-back once the card has left the hand. A second frequent argument arises when a player fails to follow suit despite holding a card in the suit led. This is a revoke. The standard ruling is that if a revoke is established (the trick is turned over), the revoking player pays the full bid penalty regardless of the final trick count, and any tricks already taken by a revoking declarer do not count in their favour.

In a five- or six-player game, players sometimes question whether the non-declarer side must actively cooperate or may play selfishly. The rule is that all opponents share the same interest, but there is no obligation to signal or sacrifice; each plays their own hand. Misplaying as an opponent carries no formal penalty beyond the natural consequence of handing the declarer their tricks.

How to win more often

• Bid on your own hand alone. Do not assume partners will plug your weak suits; in Nap there are no fixed partners and opponents will try to attack your shortest suit first.
• When you win the bid, lead your strongest trump on the first trick to draw out opponents' trumps before establishing your side-suit winners.
• As an opponent, the player who wins the first trick should generally lead back the highest card of the suit the declarer avoided leading from. That is almost certainly their weak point.
• Count the trumps that have fallen. If you hold two trumps after three tricks, you know exactly how much stopping power remains in the field.
• Be conservative with bids of four. The difference in penalty between failing a bid of four and failing a bid of three is significant; only stretch to four when you have genuine control in at least two suits.

Variations

Misère

Misère (sometimes called Misery) is an optional bid sitting between three and four in value. The declarer undertakes to win no tricks at all. There are no trumps in a Misère hand. If successful, the declarer collects three points from each other player; if they take even one trick, they pay three points to each player. Some tables play a Misère open variant where the declarer's hand is laid face up on the table after the first trick has been played.

Wellington

Wellington is only available after another player has bid Nap (five tricks). It is a counter-bid that also promises all five tricks but, if successful, pays and costs double the Nap rate. Some rule sets require the Wellington bidder to be the player sitting immediately after the Nap bidder; others allow anyone to overcall. Agree the detail before play begins.

Blucher

Blucher is only available after a Wellington bid has been made. It overcalls Wellington on the same all-five-tricks basis but at triple the standard Nap payment. This variant is relatively rare and significantly escalates the gambling element, so it is worth confirming that all players are comfortable with the stakes before including it.

Purchase Nap

In Purchase Nap, after the initial deal each player may discard any number of their cards face down and buy replacements from the remaining deck, paying one chip per card into a central pool before bidding begins. The pool is taken by the first player to make Nap successfully. This variant rewards hand management and adds a light push-your-luck element to the pre-bid phase.

Napoleon: frequently asked questions