So, I covered Sheriff of Nottingham as a game of lying, bluffing, and deal-making, but how about we take out the deal-making portion and make the game entirely about lying and bluffing?
Let's look at
Coup!
Coup is a game for 2-6 players where the objective is to be the last person standing. Thematically, the players represent those in power in a dystopian future, wanting to eliminate the influence of their rivals in order to attain absolute power. In practice, everyone sits at a table with two face-down cards in front of them.
The game consists of fifteen cards and a bunch of cardboard coins. In the fifteen card deck are three copies of five different roles.
From left to right, the roles are Contessa, Ambassador, Captain, Assassin, and Duke.
Each role has either an action, a counteraction, or both. Before the game begins, each player is dealt two cards from the deck, which they look at and then place face down on the table in front of them. They also receive 2 coins. The remaining cards are left on the table as a Court Deck. A player is chosen to start, and they then choose an action to perform.
All players can choose the following actions:
- Income - take 1 coin
- Foreign Aid - take 2 coins
- Coup - pay 7 coins, select a player to discard one of their cards
Then, the various roles have the following actions:
- Duke - Tax - take 3 coins
- Assassin - Assassinate - pay 3 coins, select a player to discard one of their cards
- Ambassador - Exchange - draw 2 cards from the Court Deck, then choose 2 cards from among those drawn and those the player already had and place them on the bottom of the Court Deck. This means a player may end up with the same cards they already had in front of them, one new card, or two completely new cards.
- Captain - Steal - take 2 coins from another player
- Contessa - NO ACTION
Looking at the list of actions, you may be wondering, "Why would any player take Income, when Foreign Aid gives them 2 coins instead of 1?" Well, that's where the counteractions of the roles come in. They are:
- Duke - Block Foreign Aid
- Assassin - NO COUNTERACTION
- Ambassador - Blocks Stealing
- Captain - Blocks Stealing
- Contessa - Blocks Assassination
Other than the Duke, the player targeted is the only one who can Block an action. In the Duke's case, any player with the Duke can block another player from performing the Foreign Aid action. So now you can see that Income is guaranteed to work, whereas Foreign Aid has a high chance of being blocked, depending on the number of players.
Well....actually it has a high chance of being blocked no matter what, because here's the real beauty of Coup. A player can claim to have ANY role when they take their action or declare a counteraction! Have a Contessa and Ambassador in front of you but want a bunch of money? Say you are using your Duke's power to Tax and take 3 coins from the bank. Who's going to stop you?
In truth, anyone. Whenever someone makes a claim for an action or a counteraction, any player can challenge the claim. If challenged a player needs to reveal the card they claimed. If they don't have it, they must turn one of the cards in front of them face up and no longer has access to that card, and whatever action or counteraction they were attempting is cancelled. If they
do have it, the player who challenged them must turn one of their cards face up. The challenged player then has to place their revealed card back in the Court Deck, shuffle it, and draw a new card.
If both of their cards are face up, a player is out of the game.
The ability to lie about what you have or to challenge others can lead to some very dangerous plays. For example, Player 1 pays 3 coins to Assassinate one of Player 2's cards. Player 2 will lose one of their cards unless they claim to have the Contessa or challenge that Player 1 has an Assassin. If Player 2 challenges Player 1 and is incorrect, then one card will be turned face up for being wrong, and their other card will be turned face up for the successful Assassination! Alternately, if Player 2 claims to have a Contessa, Player 1 (or any player) can choose to challenge that claim. If the challenge is correct, Player 2 would again lose both cards! But, of course, all the players would know this, so surely Player 2 wouldn't be so foolish as to claim to have a Contessa and not have one, right? A dangerous bluff, but one that can pay off if it works.
If a player has 10 or more coins, they MUST perform the Coup action on their turn, which is an unblockable attack on another player. No one wants their opponents to have enough money for the Coup action, so everyone will be rushing to steal money using Captains or trying to get the other players out quickly with Assassins, whether they actually have these roles or not. With only three of each role, it's hilarious when you've got five people claiming to have the Duke so they can Tax on their turns, or everyone seems to have a Captain to Steal or block Stealing. Also, it's both amazing but limiting to have two of the same card in front of you, as that means there can only be one more at the table, giving you better odds at calling someone's bluff, but limiting the actions you can safely perform.
The average game of Coup lasts about 15 minutes, meaning it's easy to fit a number of games in a game night, or even during a lunch break at work if your co-workers are amenable. It's light and breezy, so it's great as a warm-up game, or something to end the night with, or if everyone's having fun with it, it can just be replayed again and again for hours. Personally I like it as filler, but I'd rarely if ever turn down a game of Coup.
There is also an expansion called
Coup: Reformation which adds another 15 cards, allowing up to 10 players, and also puts players into one of two factions, where the players can only target members of the opposing faction until just one faction remains, at which time it devolves into the infighting of the base game. I have never played using the expansion, so I cannot comment upon it, but I do like the idea of being able to handle more players in the game, though this would mean that those eliminated early would likely have a longer wait before the next game.
For under $15, it's hard not to recommend
Coup for any but those who cannot tell a lie to save their life.
