Get ready to dive into the dark and intriguing world of Coup, where your family's survival depends on your cunning, bluffs, and, of course, a few good coins! In this lightning-fast card game, you assume the role of a family head in an Italian city-state, a place where the court is weak and corrupt, and power is everything. Your goal? Simple: eliminate the influence of all other families, forcing them into exile, until yours is the only one left. Each player starts with two coins and two face-down character cards, which represent their 'influence.' The main deck has fifteen cards, with three copies of five unique characters: Duke, Assassin, Contessa, Captain, and Ambassador. Each has a special power, and the trick is that you can declare you have any character and use their action, even if you don't actually hold them! But beware, a bluff can be called out. On your turn, besides using character abilities, you can opt for basic actions like 'Income' (take one coin), 'Foreign Aid' (two coins), or the dreaded 'Coup' (pay seven coins to eliminate an opponent's influence). If you have ten or more coins, initiating a coup is mandatory! The core mechanic revolves around challenging: if you use a character action and someone doubts your word, you must prove you have the card. If you do, the challenger loses an influence, and you shuffle your card back into the deck, drawing a new one. If you don't have it or choose not to reveal it, you lose an influence. Losing both influences means you're out of the game. The last player with active influence wins! An expanded version includes the Inquisitor, which replaces the Ambassador and adds new layers of manipulation, allowing you to force an opponent to reveal a card or swap one of yours. Coup is an intense social deduction game, perfect for those who enjoy a good bluff and a dose of adrenaline.