Napoleon
BGG rank
BGG #19,316
BGG rating
6.5

Napoleon

1800

Rules assistance for Napoleon

Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.

  • 2–6 players
  • 60 min
  • Complexity 2.2/5

Rules assistant for Napoleon

What would you like to know?

Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.

Napoleon is a board game released in 1800 for 2–6 players and 60 minutes per game. Its main mechanics are Auction / Bidding, Secret Unit Deployment, and Team-Based Game.

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About the game

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.

Questions and answers

Napoleon supports 2–6 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.