Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
Napoleon is a 5-6 player standard deck playing card game with shifting and secret partnerships. A standard deck of cards is dealt evenly, with the remaining cards being placed in the kitty.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Auction/Bidding
Bid against other players to determine who receives an item, action, or priority.
Trick-taking
Play one card each and award the trick according to suit and rank rules.
Secret Unit Deployment
Place or assign units secretly before their positions are revealed.
Team-Based Game
Players compete in fixed teams and coordinate toward a shared team result.
Read the full game description
Napoleon is a 5-6 player standard deck playing card game with shifting and secret partnerships. A standard deck of cards is dealt evenly, with the remaining cards being placed in the kitty. Players bid on the number of face cards that will be captured by their team. The player with the highest bid becomes Napoleon. Upon winning the bid, Napoleon names trump, the secretary card and may exchange cards with the kitty. The owner of the secretary card becomes Napoleon's secretary. The secretary's identity is kept hidden from all players, including Napoleon. Napoleon and Napoleon's secretary must meet or exceed their bid to score points, the other players must block Napoleon and his Secretary from reaching their bid count to score. Many different point systems and variants are used for this game.