Coup

 

Today's review is of the 2012 release, Coup. For 2-6 players, it takes 15 minutes.

Overview

You have two secret roles as you vie for influence in a world of intrigue. Your goal is to be the last person standing with at least one role card . . . can you prevail?

In Coup, each player is dealt two role cards (kept secretly, placed face-down in front of you) and given 2 coins. Remaining role cards are placed in the center of the table as the "court deck."

The roles (Duke, Assassin, Captain, Ambassador, Contessa) grant special abilities:

• Duke: take 3 coins from the treasury
• Assassin: pay 3 coins to kill another player's role card
  
• Captain: steal 2 coins from another player. Also blocks stealing.
• Ambassador: exchange cards (draw 2 role cards from the court deck, keep two roles and put the other two back in the court deck, shuffling afterwards). Also blocks stealing
• Contessa: block an assassination attempt

On your turn, you take one of the following actions:

• General actions (available to all players):
• Income (take 1 coin from the treasury; cannot be blocked or challenged)
• Foreign Aid (take 2 coins from the treasury; can be blocked by the duke)
• Coup (pay 7 coins to kill another player's role card; cannot be blocked)
• Character actions (available to players claiming to be a given role):
• see above explanations for the Duke, Assassin, Captain, and Ambassador.

If you ever exceed 10 coins, you  must take the "Coup" action to kill another player's role card.

The core of the game is social deduction. Since your role is hidden, if you take a character action, you can be challenged. Example: on my turn, I could say "I am a Duke, so I am taking 3 coins from the treasury." If nobody challenges me, I get the 3 coins. If somebody does, I must flip over my Duke role card. If I have it, that person kills one of their role cards, and I shuffle my Duke role into the court deck and draw another secret role. If I don't have it, I kill one of my role cards. Once a player has both role cards killed, they are out, and play proceeds without them until there is a winner.

Review

This is a decent game. It says it can accommodate 6 players, but we played with 8 and enjoyed it well enough. It plays quickly and is a nice opener or closer to a game night.

Rating: B