Coup: City State Card Game First Impressions

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Jesta ThaRogue

There were only 5 of us ready when an evening of gaming started so we played the filler ‘Coup’ while waiting.

How was it?

Coup is great for a filler game and I enjoy it quite a bit. It plays 3-6 players and lasts around 15 minutes.

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 game has just 15 cards, 3 copies of 5 different ‘classes’ and they are known as your ‘influence’. Each player is dealt 2 face down and the goal is to remove all the other player’s cards before you run out.

Removing someone’s influence makes them turn their card face up, revealing it to all players and narrowing down the number of cards hidden from you.

These are the characters and your options and on your turn, you can do one of them. For example, you can say that you are going to tax with your Duke and take 3 coins.

Now, you may not even have a Duke, your cards are face down, no one will know. It’s up to your opponents to use the knowledge of the cards they’ve seen so far to determine if you’re bluffing.

Calling Out

They have a chance to call you out. If they’re right, you choose an influence to lose by turning one of your cards face up.

If they are wrong, you reveal your card, and they lose an influence. The revealed card is shuffled back into the deck and a new card is secretly drawn.

I came second in the first game feeling confident not having to bluff with my Duke and Assassin combo.

EDIT: I recently learned most new players don’t bluff!

I knew what to do pretty much, I did make a n00b error when I played a Coup which pretty much cost me the game but you live and learn.

The second game was harder. I had an Assassin and a Contessa. The plan in my head was “Bluff Ambassador and get some new cards”. I went third and the players before me all used the Ambassador ability revealing all 3. That messed me up a bit, I wasn’t thinking and I just used Income. Should have just used Tax with my faux Duke. Bah.

Anyway, great game, look forward to playing it again.

Needs to learn about Social Deduction games, read my tips page!