Ultimate Book of Card Games: The Comprehensive Guide to More Than 350 Games (67 page)

1. DIFFICULTY
   :
   low
   
2. TIME LENGTH
   :
   medium
   
3. DECKS
   : 1
   

Napoleon was the emperor of France, king of Italy, and Protector of the Confederate of the Rhine. This game evolved in England (of course) as a tribute to the two generals—Wellington and von Blücher—who defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, sparing England from French domination. Americans will recognize this game as a distant cousin of Euchre.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS
2 to 6

HOW TO DEAL
Start with a fifty-two-card deck, and deal each player five cards in batches of 3-2. Card rankings are standard, with aces always high.

SCORING
If the bid winner makes the bid, she scores the points shown below. If she falls short, subtract the corresponding bid from her score.

There is no bonus for winning extra tricks. Games of Napoleon are typically played to 25 points.

HOW TO PLAY
Starting from the left of the dealer, each player has one chance to bid or pass. You’re bidding on how many tricks you may win. Suits are not mentioned, and each bid must be higher than the previous one. The bids in Napoleon are (low to high):

THREE
Bidder to win three tricks (3 points)

NO TRICK
Bidder to lose all tricks (3 points)

FOUR
Bidder to win four tricks (4 points)

NAP
Bidder to win all five tricks (5 points)

WELLINGTON
Bidder to win all five tricks; used to
overcall
when a previous player bids nap (10 points)

BLÜCHER
Bidder to win all five tricks, may be bid only after other players have already bid nap and Wellington (20 points)

If all players pass, the hand is dead, the cards are reshuffled, and new hands are dealt.

The bid winner plays the first card, and the card’s suit determines trump for the hand. All players must follow suit if they can; otherwise they may play any other card. Tricks are won by the highest trump, or by the highest card in the leading suit. The trick winner leads the following trick. Scores are tallied once all cards are played, and the deal rotates left.

1. DIFFICULTY
   :
   low
   
2. TIME LENGTH
   :
   short
   
3. DECKS
   : 1
   

Despite being a simple game to learn, Oh Hell is surprisingly difficult to win. It’s also a great game for spoilers—those people who get a thrill from sabotaging other people’s hands.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS
3 to 7 (ideal for 3 or 4)

HOW TO DEAL
Start with a fifty-two-card deck. In the first round, all players receive one card, in the second round two cards, etc. The number of rounds depends on the total number of players:

3 players: 15 rounds

4 players: 13 rounds

5 players: 10 rounds

6 players: 8 rounds

7 players: 7 rounds

Card ranking is standard, with aces always high.

SCORING
Players who make their bid exactly score 10 points plus the value of the bid (so a successful bid of 2 scores 12 points). Otherwise no points are scored.

HOW TO PLAY
Once all cards are dealt, the dealer turns up a card from the deck to determine trump for the round. Next, the player to the left of the dealer opens the bidding. Players bid only once, from zero up to the total number of cards in the current round. The bid winner must win
exactly
the number of tricks bid—no more, no less.

After the bidding is complete, the player to the left of the dealer plays a card. Tricks are won by the highest trump (which may be played at any time), or by the highest card in the leading suit. The trick winner leads the next trick. The last trick of every round is always played “no trump,” which means there is no trump suit. Scores are tallied once all cards are played. The deal rotates left.

1. DIFFICULTY
   :
   medium
   
2. TIME LENGTH
   :
   medium
   
3. DECKS
   : 1
   

The joy in this game is watching your opponents’ hands swell with cards as you nimbly dump cards from your own hand. Watch out, though—this game is alternatively known as “Karma,” because it’s a fact of life (and of Palace) that what goes around eventually comes around.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS
3 to 6

HOW TO DEAL
Start with a fifty-two-card deck (add one joker if six are playing). Deal each player a row of three face-down cards, followed by three face-up cards (covering the face-down cards just dealt), followed by a threecard hand, dealt face down. The remaining cards are the stock.