Rulebook

A gentle guide to Napoleon

Napoleon is a classic Japanese-style trick-taking game for five, built around a tug-of-war over the “face cards.” This guide walks you through everything a first-time player needs — from the goal, through card strength, to scoring. Read it once to get the shape of the game; the rest you’ll pick up fastest by simply playing.

⏱ Napoleon in 60 seconds

TeamsFive players split into the Napoleon team (Napoleon + Adjutant) and the Allied team (the other three).
GoalCompete for the 20 face cards (the A, K, Q, J and 10 of each suit). The Napoleon team wins by taking at least the number it declared during bidding; the Allied team wins by stopping them.
BidDeclare a trump suit and a number of face cards to take; the boldest bidder becomes Napoleon.
PlayEveryone plays one card per trick, ten tricks in all. Whoever plays the strongest card collects that trick.

Setup

02What you need

The game uses a 53-card deck — a standard pack plus one Joker (this app’s default; a no-Joker setting is also available). It’s played by 5 players, and you choose which CPU characters sit at the table.

5Players

53Cards (incl. Joker)

10Cards per hand

3Widow (face-down center)

20Scoring face cards

10Tricks per deal

“Face cards” are the cards that score

What decides the game are the A, K, Q, J and 10 of each suit — 20 cards in total. These are the face cards (the scoring cards). When you win a trick, any face cards in it go to your team’s score. Cards of 9 or below never score, but they’re essential tools for drawing out or burning off the strong cards.

The deal: the dealer gives each player 10 cards and places the remaining 3 face-down in the center as the widow (2 cards in the no-Joker setting).

Teams

03The two teams

The five players split into an “attacking” side and a “defending” side. The twist: who the Adjutant is stays secret at first, and their identity only comes to light as the cards are played.

♦ Napoleon team

Napoleon — the winner of the bidding — and their partner, the Adjutant. Together they win by collecting at least the number of face cards declared.

Napoleon + Adjutant (2 players)

♣ Allied team

The other three. Working together, they win by preventing the Napoleon team from reaching its bid — reading who the Adjutant is as they defend.

The 3 players who are neither Napoleon nor Adjutant

Solo Napoleon: if Napoleon names a card that’s in their own hand as the Adjutant card, it becomes a 1-vs-4 game with no ally. It’s harder — but a successful Solo Napoleon scores more.

Game flow

04How a deal plays out

One round (a “deal”) runs through the six steps below. Bidding decides the roles, a little setup follows, ten tricks settle the fight over the face cards, and finally the score is worked out.

Deal

The dealer gives each player 10 cards and places the rest face-down in the center as the widow.
Bidding

Starting to the dealer’s left and going clockwise, each player declares a trump suit and a number of face cards to take. A higher count outbids a lower one; on a tie, the stronger suit wins.

Suit strength is ♠ > ♥ > ♦ > ♣. A bid must be at least the minimum (default 12). You may pass; whoever keeps bidding to the end becomes Napoleon.

Judge by whether your hand is strong enough to gather that many face cards with that trump. Over-bidding is the classic way to lose.
Naming the Adjutant

Napoleon names exactly one card. Whoever holds that card is the Adjutant (Napoleon’s ally) — but their identity stays secret to everyone until that card is actually played.

Name a strong card (e.g., the trump Ace) and you’re likelier to get a reliable ally. Name a card in your own hand and you become a Solo Napoleon.
Widow exchange

Napoleon takes the widow into hand and discards the same number of unwanted cards, face-down. Any face cards discarded this way count for the Allied team.

A chance to reshape your hand around trumps by dumping a weak suit — but discard too many face cards and you’re handing points to the enemy.
Play (ten tricks)

Everyone plays one card, and five cards make one trick. The suit of the first card is the lead suit: if you hold that suit you must follow it; if not, you may play anything, including a trump.

Whoever plays the strongest card wins the trick and collects all five cards (any face cards score for their team). The winner leads the next trick. Napoleon leads the very first trick.

Card strength is covered next. For now, remember just two things: “trump > lead suit,” and “taking face cards scores.”
Scoring

After ten tricks, count the face cards the Napoleon team collected and check whether the bid was met — that decides the winner and the points (the scoring formula is your choice).

Card power

05Card strength

A trick is won by “whoever played the strongest card.” The base rule is trump > lead suit, and within a suit A > K > … > 2. On top of that sit the special cards that leap over the rest. From strongest to weakest:

Almighty ♠A. The single strongest card, beating everything. Also just called the “Mighty.”
Right Jack The J of the trump suit. Second only to the Almighty.
Counter Jack The J of the other suit of the same color as trump (black = ♠♣ / red = ♥♦; e.g., if trump is ♠, the ♣ J).
Joker Strong only when led (weakest when following). Its position when led is configurable in options, and leading it triggers a Trump Call.
Same-Two When all five cards on the table are the same suit, that suit’s 2 becomes strongest (not in the first trick; it still loses to the special cards above).
Trump The suit chosen in bidding. Beats the lead suit. Ranks A→2.
Lead suit The suit led into the trick. With no trump or special card present, the highest card of this suit wins. Ranks A→2.

The Joker’s Trump Call: when the Joker is led, anyone holding a trump must play one. It’s a way to drag out the opponents’ trumps.

Don’t forget to follow suit: if you hold the lead suit, you must play it. You may only play a trump or another suit when you have none of the lead suit.

Walkthrough

06A trick, worked through

Let’s take ♥ (Hearts) as trump and follow one trick. The lead suit is ♠ (Spades), the first card played.

K♠P1 lead

10♠P2

7♣P3

3♥P4 wins

Q♠P5

The lead suit is ♠. P1, P2 and P5 held Spades, so they followed. P3 had no Spades and threw a non-scoring ♣7. P4 also had no Spades, and here played the trump ♥3.

Among the Spades, ♠K is the highest here — but because a trump beats the lead suit, the ♥3 wins it for P4. P4 collects all five cards, and the face cards inside (♠K, ♠Q, ♠10 = 3) go to P4’s team. P4 leads the next trick.

What if the ♠A were here? If the ♠A (the Almighty) had been played into this trick, it would even beat the trump ♥3 — the Almighty is stronger than every other card (see “Card strength”).

Even a low trump (♥3) wins when only the lead suit has been played. Deciding when to spend a trump is the heart of the game.

Scoring

07Scoring & winning

After ten tricks, if the Napoleon team’s face cards reach the bid or more, the bid is met and the Napoleon team wins; fall short and the Allied team wins. How many points move depends on which of three formulas you pick (default is C).

AFixed

A fixed-allocation, zero-sum method: the winning side gains and the losing side loses. Bidding 20 (a full sweep) or a Solo Napoleon doubles the points.

BAdditive

Base points × a multiplier, awarded to the winning side only (no deductions). Whoever has the higher running total ranks higher. With no minus scores, it’s a relaxed way to play.

CBid-linked · default

A zero-sum method where a higher bid means both a bigger reward on success and a bigger penalty on failure — so bold bids carry real risk and reward.

Minimum bid defaults to 12 (changeable to 11 / 12 / 13 in options). Bidding starts from that count upward.

Options & local rules

08Local rules & options

Napoleon is a treasure trove of house rules that vary from region to region and group to group. This app lets you toggle the well-known ones. A good approach is to play with the defaults first, then add rules to taste as you get comfortable.

Swayoff by default: When the ♥Q and the ♠A (Almighty) appear in the same trick, the ♥Q beats the Almighty — a famous house rule. The supposedly-strongest card gets struck down, creating dramatic upsets.
No-Trump (NT)off by default: Lets you bid no trump suit in the auction. When on, ties rank NT > ♠ > ♥ > ♦ > ♣. With no trump to lean on it plays harder, so it’s off by default.
Joker strength when leddefault: below Counter Jack: Choose how strong the Joker is when led: just below the Almighty, just below the Counter Jack, or weakest. A Trump Call still occurs in every case.
Joker Calloff by default: When a designated card (♣3 or ♠3) is led, whoever holds the Joker must play it. A balancing rule that stops the Joker from being hoarded.
Number of Jokersdefault: 1: Choose 1 (53-card deck, 3-card widow) or 0 (52-card deck, 2-card widow). Zero gives a more classic setup.
Revolutiondefault: Allied team wins: What happens when the Napoleon team takes all 20 face cards. By default it becomes an “Allied team wins,” so a full sweep backfires — creating the tension of deliberately letting the Allies take one card to avoid a Revolution (changeable to “Napoleon team wins,” etc.).
Minimum bid · scoring · rounds: You can also set the minimum bid (11 / 12 / 13), the scoring formula (A / B / C), and how many deals you play (5 / 10 / 15).

Glossary

09Glossary

A mini-dictionary of the terms you’ll meet during play.

Face cards: The 20 scoring cards: the A, K, Q, J and 10. Also called the point cards.
Trick: One round in which every player plays a card. Ten tricks make up a deal.
Lead suit: The suit of the first card in a trick. If you hold it, you must follow suit.
Trump: The suit chosen in bidding. It beats the lead suit and is the axis of the game.
Lead: To play the first card of a trick. The winner of the previous trick leads.
Follow suit: The rule that you must play the lead suit if you hold it.
Almighty (Mighty): The ♠A. The strongest card, beating everything as a rule.
Right / Counter Jack: The J of trump (Right Jack) and the J of the other same-color suit (Counter Jack). Both are powerful special cards.
Same-Two: The 2 that becomes strongest when the whole trick is one suit (not in the first trick).
Widow: The cards that don’t deal out, placed face-down in the center. Napoleon swaps them into hand.
Adjutant: The ally holding the card Napoleon named. Their identity stays secret until that card is played.
Solo Napoleon: A declaration in which Napoleon names a card in their own hand and fights with no ally.

The best way to learn the rules is to play them.

With a tutorial and a practice mode, and 24 distinct CPU characters to play against. Free, no install.

▶ Play now 🃏 Characters