How to play.

Last influence standing

Coup is played with 15 cards: three each of Duke, Assassin, Captain, Ambassador and Contessa. Each player has two secret influence cards and starts with two coins. In a two-player game, the starting player begins with only one coin. A player whose two cards are revealed is out; the final player remaining wins.

Choose one action

Income takes one coin and cannot be stopped. Foreign aid takes two, unless anyone claims a Duke to block it. A coup costs seven coins, cannot be blocked or challenged, and forces its target to reveal one card. At the start of your turn with ten or more coins, you must launch a coup.

Claim a Duke to tax for three coins; Captain to steal up to two from another player; Assassin to pay three coins and force another player to reveal a card; or Ambassador to draw two cards and privately return any two of your unrevealed cards and the new cards to the Court.

Bluffs, blocks and challenges

You may claim a character you do not have. Any other active player can challenge that claim before it resolves. If you prove the card, the challenger loses an influence; you shuffle the proven card into the Court and take a secret replacement. If you cannot prove it, you lose an influence and your action fails, with its cost refunded.

The target may claim Contessa to block assassination, or Captain or Ambassador to block a theft. Anyone may claim Duke to block foreign aid. Every block can itself be challenged. A successful block stops the action, but an assassination’s three-coin cost stays spent. A failed block lets the action continue. Defending against assassination can cost two influence if you lose a challenge and the assassination still hits.

At this table

Claims and blocks wait for each active player’s decision in turn. Your private influence and exchange choices are visible only to you. A missed decision is handled automatically so the table can continue.