You are head of a family in an Italian city-state a city run by a weak & corrupt court You need to manipulate bluff & 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 In Coup you want to be the last player with influence in the game with influence being represented by face-down character cards in your playing area Each player starts the game with two coins & two influence – ie two face-down character cards; the fifteen card deck consists of three copies of five different characters each with a unique set of powers Duke Take three coins from the treasury Block someone from taking foreign aid Assassin Pay three coins & try to assassinate another player&s character Contessa Block an assassination attempt Captain Take two coins from another player or block someone from stealing coins from you Ambassador Draw two character cards from the Court (the deck) choose which (if any) to exchange with your face-down characters then return two Block someone from stealing coins from you On your turn you can take any of the actions listed above regardless of which characters you actually have in front of you or you can take one of three other actions Income Take one coin from the treasury Foreign aid Take two coins from the treasury Coup Pay seven coins & launch a coup against an opponent forcing that player to lose an influence (If you have ten coins you must take this action) When you take one of the character actions – whether actively on your turn or defensively in response to someone else&s action – that character&s action automatically succeeds unless an opponent challenges you In this case if you can&t reveal the appropriate character you lose an influence turning one of your characters face-up Face-up characters cannot be used & if both of your characters are face-up you&re out of the game If you do have the character in question you reveal it the opponent loses an influence then you shuffle that character into the deck & draw a new one perhaps getting the same character again & perhaps not The last player to still have influence – that is a face-down character – wins the game!