What Is Nap?
Napoleon — usually called Nap — is a simple and exciting British trick-taking game where every player competes alone. There are no partnerships. Each hand, players bid how many of the five tricks they will personally win. The highest bidder plays alone against everyone else combined. The first card they lead determines the trump suit. Win your bid and collect chips from each opponent. Fail and pay everyone. The highest possible bid — Nap, meaning all five tricks — carries the biggest reward and biggest risk.
What You Need
- One standard deck of 52 playing cards
- Two to eight players — best with four or five
- Chips, coins, or a way to track points
Card Rankings
Standard ranking within each suit: Ace (highest), King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 (lowest). Suits have no inherent ranking — trump beats all non-trump.
Setting Up the Game
- Deal five cards to each player, one at a time.
- Bidding begins with the player to the left of the dealer.
Bidding
Going clockwise, each player either bids or passes. A bid is a number from 2 to 5 representing how many tricks you promise to win. You can only bid higher than the previous bidder. Once a player bids, subsequent players must bid higher or pass.
Special Bids
- Nap (bid of 5): You promise to win all five tricks playing alone. Win and collect double from each opponent. Lose and pay each opponent the standard amount.
- Wellington: Some groups allow a Wellington bid — only valid if someone has already bid Nap. It is also a promise to win all five tricks but at doubled stakes compared to Nap.
- Misère: Some groups allow Misère — a promise to win ZERO tricks with no trump suit. Usually worth the same as a bid of 3.
The highest bidder becomes the Caller and plays alone against all other players.
How to Play
- The Caller leads any card they choose. The suit of that first card immediately becomes the trump suit for the entire hand.
- Going clockwise, each other player must follow suit if they have a card of the led suit.
- If you have no cards of the led suit, play any card — including trump.
- The highest trump wins any trick where trump was played. If no trump, the highest card of the led suit wins.
- The winner of each trick leads the next one. Play all five tricks.
Settling Up — Chips
- Caller makes their bid: Each opponent pays the Caller chips equal to the bid amount. Bid 3 and succeed = collect 3 chips from each player.
- Caller fails their bid: The Caller pays each opponent chips equal to the bid amount.
- Nap made: Each opponent pays 10 chips (double the normal 5).
- Nap failed: The Caller pays each opponent 5 chips.
- Wellington made/failed: Double the Nap amounts.
Tips for New Players
- Bid 2 with two near-certain winners — an Ace plus one strong trump is usually enough for two tricks.
- Bid Nap only when you have four or five cards that are clearly the highest remaining cards in their suits.
- As a defender, cooperate with the other defenders — if the Caller leads trump, play your highest trump to try to win tricks back for the defense.