LET'S PLAY
Coup is the game where lying is strategy and friends are temporary. In just 15 minutes, you’ll bluff, bribe, and betray your way to power—or get unceremoniously exposed as a fraud. It’s fast, brutal, and exactly how a good game night should feel.
Object
Be the last player standing by eliminating all other players.
To do this, you must bluff, block, and outwit your opponents using your hidden roles and timely coin management.
What You Need
2 to 6 players (but 3 to 6 is where the magic happens)
A Coup Game, with:
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15 role cards, 3 each of:
Duke
Assassin
Captain
Ambassador
Contessa
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50 coins
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1 reference card per player (optional, but helpful)
A decent poker face and a tolerance for betrayal
Set Up
Shuffle all role cards and deal 2 face-down to each player—these are their influence (a.k.a. lives).
Everyone starts with 2 coins.
Place the remaining deck in the center with a shared coin bank.
Determine a first player—previous round’s winner or roll for it.
Watch the step by step guide here!
Gameplay
On your turn, take one and only one of these actions:
Basic Actions (available to all, no bluffing):
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Income: Take 1 coin (can’t be blocked).
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Foreign Aid: Take 2 coins (can be blocked by Duke).
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Coup: Pay 7 coins to eliminate an opponent’s influence. Mandatory if you have 10+ coins.
Character Actions (must claim or bluff a role):
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Duke: Take 3 coins.
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Assassin: Pay 3 coins to kill a player (blocked by Contessa).
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Captain: Steal 2 coins (can be blocked).
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Ambassador: Draw 2, return 2.
You can bluff and claim a character you don’t have. Anyone may challenge. If you’re caught bluffing, you lose a card. If you were honest, they lose a card.
Special Rules
Blocking:
Some actions (stealing, assassinations, Foreign Aid) can be blocked by specific characters. Players can bluff if they don't have said cards.
Challenging:
If someone challenges your claim and they’re wrong, they lose a card. If they’re right, you do. Lost cards (lives) go face up in front of the player.
Card Swapping:
Only the Ambassador can exchange cards with the deck. They take 2 cards and can choose to keep any or none, but must return 2 back to the draw deck and reshuffle them.
Card Eliminations
If you lose a challenge or get hit by an action like a Coup or Assassination, you have to choose one of your face-down cards and reveal it permanently. That card is now out of the game. Once revealed, it stays face-up in front of you and no longer counts as influence—you’ve lost one of your two lives.
You don’t get to replace it (unless it was shown during a successful challenge defense—more on that in a sec).
If you still have one face-down card left, you stay in the game. Lose both? You’re out.
Now, if you’re challenged and you were telling the truth, you show the card, discard it into the center, and draw a new card from the deck as a replacement. You keep the bluff going, but your hand might look a little different afterward.
In short:
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Lose a challenge or get hit by a Coup/Assassination = lose a card = lose a life.
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Lose both cards = eliminated.
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Successfully defend against a challenge = reveal correct card, discard it, draw a new one.
Winning the Game
When all other players have lost their two influence cards, the last player standing wins.
Strategy Tips
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Never underestimate the power of a quiet player.
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Bluff early to test the table, but don’t get greedy.
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If you’re holding a Duke, consider faking an Assassin—most people won’t risk challenging a murder.
Final Thoughts
Coup is a masterclass in deception packed into a 15-minute game. It’s fast, sharp, and surprisingly strategic once you start reading the room. No two games are ever the same, but every game ends with someone bitter.