Napalm and poker don’t usually go together unless you happen to be playing your home game somewhere in Syria. In that case it is probably provided by the host along with cheese dip and 72 virgins. In the context of today’s article, Napalm is a variation on the game of poker. It is sort of an obscure one, but if you break out this version on your game night, your more eclectic friends will worship the ground you walk on.
This game can be played with four to seven players and requires a standard deck of fifty-two cards. There are no jokers allowed in this variation of the classic game (I mean the cards, not your friends). Standard hand rankings apply in Napalm as they do across most popular versions of poker. So this is no time to try to convince someone that a two of a kind beats a full house.
The objective of this game is eventually claim the ever growing pot by winning a specific amount of tokens. The number of tokens needed to claim the pot is decided before the game starts.
At the start of each hand, the players each ante one chip into the pot. Once the first ante has been done, each player is dealt two cards (hold’em style). After the deal each player, starting at the dealers left, have to say “yes” or “no” regarding whether or not they believe their two hole cards make the best hand. Obviously the best two cards to have in this situation is a pair of Aces, while a 2-3 combo is the worst. Your “yes” or “no” is written in stone unless everyone says “no” and the last player to declare (the dealer is generally the last player) says “yes”. At this point all the “no” players can change their declaration.
If only one player says “yes” (not counting the situation mentioned above), they win a token that goes toward winning the entire pot.
If two or more folks believe they have the best hand, they privately show their cards to one another and decide who really has the best two cards. The losers must pay the winner the equivalent of the pot out of their own stash of chips. For example, if the pot is six chips, and three people all said “yes” the two losers must each give the winner six chips for a total of twelve chips to the winner. No tokens are distributed for this victory. The money won is technically a side pot.
If two players who declared “yes” have the same hand, neither of them has to pay out any chips to the other. If there is someone else who declared “yes” and has a hand inferior to that of the two tied players, the losing player must pay each of the two winning players an amount equal to what is in the pot. In other words, if you lose and the winning players are tied, you have to pay out twice as much.
If nobody says “yes” no chips or tokens change hands.
Once all the bits with the first two cards are done, each player is dealt three more cards. Once the deal is done, players will declare whether or not they believe that the five cards in their hand make the best low hand at the table. In this case, Aces are still a high card. Straights and Flushes are now in play, and the best low hand is a 2-3-4-5-6-7. The action after this deal is identical to the action when declaring “yes” or “no” for the best pair of cards after the initial deal. If there is only one “yes” in the bunch, that person gets a token. Multiple yeses require the players to reveal their hands in order to win a side pot. No tokens are given if more than one person declares “yes”.
Two more cards are dealt to each player. Everyone now has a total of seven cards. Players will declare “yes” or “no” whether or not they think they have the best five card poker hand at the table. As always, a single “yes” wins a token, multiple yeses result in a side pot fight.
This concludes the hand, and the deal moves to the left. Players will ante again, and the whole thing keeps going until someone gets enough tokens to claim the pot.
I hope you have fun with this game!
