Players and cards
Use a standard 52-card deck without Jokers. Two players is usual, though three can play. Suits do not matter for matching: a book is any four cards of the same rank.
Commerce · 2 players
James
Bond.
A fast race to collect six matching piles. Pick up one pile at a time and swap cards with the center row.
B
BotIts piles stay hidden until the race ends.
Center rowOne card for one card
Open one of your six piles to see its cards.
Y
YouOpen only one pile at a time.
Open a pile to see four cards
Select a pile, choose one of its four cards, then choose a center card. Each exchange swaps exactly one card. Close the pile before opening another.
Recent exchanges
01 How to play
Six piles.
One race.
James Bond is a simultaneous matching game. There are no turns: both players work at once to complete all their piles.
Set up the table
With two players, deal six face-down piles of four cards to each player. Place the last four cards face up between them. With three players, each receives four piles of four; the center still has four cards.
Look at one pile
After the start signal, pick up just one of your piles and look at its four cards. Put it back face down before opening another pile. The other player's pile contents remain private.
Exchange one card
Take one face-up card from the center and replace it with one card from the pile you are holding. Every exchange is one-for-one, so all piles keep four cards and the center keeps four. You may exchange repeatedly, but one card at a time.
Make six books
Try to turn each of your six piles into four equal ranks, such as four Queens. Once all six piles match, call “James Bond” and reveal them to win. On this page, press the Call James Bond button to claim your victory.
Playing against the bot
The bot also works on one pile at a time. It uses only the cards in that pile and the four public center cards for its exchanges; it does not inspect your hidden piles. The bot claims victory automatically when its six piles are complete.
02 History & variants
A game with
many names.
Where it is played
James Bond is described as a relatively recent children's game. It is documented in California and has also been reported among players in Sweden, Britain and Finland. The exact place and date of its invention are not established.
Its name is part of the fun: the winner shouts the local name when every pile is complete. In Finland, one reported name is Lännen nopein, meaning “Fastest in the West.”
Local variations
Atlantis and Chanhassen are other reported names. Some groups announce “book” whenever they complete a pile; others keep their progress quiet. A faster variation permits trading two cards at once, but this version uses the standard one-card exchange so that every swap is clear.
A three-player game uses four piles per player instead of six. The online table currently plays the usual two-player form against a bot.