“You are head of a family in an Italian city-state, a city run by a weak and corrupt court. You need to manipulate, bluff and bribe your way to power. Your object is to destroy the influence of all the other families, forcing them into exile. Only one family will survive…” the Coup City State game instructions read.

Coup is a board game that consists of cards, coins and bluffing. This game creates a fun and safe environment for friends to become rivals, and rivals to work together. But in the end, only one player will be left, so a fifteen minute game can include twists, turns and tons of fun.

Two cards are given to each player. The cards must remain face down during the game. Players are allowed to look at their own cards at any time, though. Each card depicts a character, and there is three of each character.

The characters a player can get are the Duke, Assassin, Contessa, Captain, and Ambassador. Each character has certain actions it can take, and in game coins are used to pay for actions and gain influence in the game. Coins can be gained through several means in the game and are used in many ways. Every player takes a turn executing one action each round.

The goal of the game is to kill the other players’ characters and be the one with the last face-down card. When a character is eliminated, the card is turned face-up and cannot be used.

The game is full of bluffing, trickery and backstabbing. A lot of the players try to figure out what every player has. Players are allowed to bluff, which makes it particularly difficult to discern other players’ cards. Calling a bluff can be dangerous, because if you are wrong you lose a card, but if you’re right, the other player loses a card.

The Coup franchise includes expansion packs and alternate versions including: Coup Kickstarter, Coup Reformation, and Coup: The Resistance Universe. These packs include new characters and new gameplay.

Here’s some friendly advice from a group of students who often play Coup:

Freshman Spencer Larson said, “Always bluff Duke on the first round.” The Duke has the advantage of gaining coins quickly, so bluffing on the first round is a good way to get a head start.

“Never call out bluffs on the first round,” sophomore Stephen Boe said. There is usually a very high risk of calling a bluff on the first round, calling a bluff on the first round is a good way to lose a card.

“Ambassadors are really useful the first round, even [when] bluffing it,” Sophomore Alexiana Larson said. Experienced players often bluff Ambassador because it has the advantage of getting different cards.

To play and find out more, here is a link to Amazon to buy the game:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=coup+game