Card game
Coup
Claim any character, bluff boldly, and be the last one standing
- Players
- 2–6
- Best with
- 4-6
- Play time
- 15 min
- Age
- 14+
- Rules
- Easy
- Language
- Little reading
Coup is a quick bluffing card game for 2 to 6 players aged 14 and up. You secretly hold two character cards, claim powers you may or may not have, and try to be the last player with a card left. It suits teens and adults who enjoy calling each other's bluffs, and a game takes about 15 minutes. There's no Indian edition. Indie Boards & Cards' Coup was also sold on Amazon.in on 5 October 2026, and note that misspelt look-alikes are common.
Is Coup right for your table?
A good pick for
- Teens and adults who enjoy bluffing, arguing and catching each other out
- Cousins and friends on a late festival night, in groups of 4 to 6
- Trips and cafés, since it's a small box of cards and coins
- Fans of Mafia or Werewolf who want something that works with fewer people and no moderator
Skip it if
- Your group includes younger children, or people who don't enjoy lying even in fun
- You usually play with only two
- Some players hate sitting out. Once you lose both cards you wait for the game to end, though games are short
How Coup plays
The deck has 15 character cards: three each of the Duke, Assassin, Captain, Ambassador and Contessa. Everyone gets two cards face down and 2 coins, and the rest of the cards form the Court deck. Your two hidden cards are your influence. Each time you lose influence you turn one of them face up, and when both are face up you're out.
On your turn you take one action. Anyone can take Income (1 coin), Foreign Aid (2 coins, which a player claiming the Duke can block) or launch a Coup. A Coup costs 7 coins and makes a player of your choice lose an influence, and nobody can stop it. If you start your turn with 10 or more coins, you must launch a Coup.
The characters give stronger actions. The Duke takes 3 coins. The Assassin pays 3 coins to make a player lose an influence, but the target can block by claiming the Contessa. The Captain steals 2 coins from another player, who can block by claiming the Captain or the Ambassador. The Ambassador draws two cards from the Court deck and swaps any of them with your hidden cards.
Here's the twist: you can claim any character, whether you hold it or not, and so can anyone blocking you. Any player may challenge a claim. If you're challenged and can show the card, the challenger loses an influence, and you shuffle that card back into the Court deck and draw a new one. If you were bluffing, you lose an influence and your action fails.
The last player with any influence wins. Games are short, so it's easy to play several in a row. In a two-player game the starting player takes only 1 coin, and the rules include an optional two-player setup.
Takes about 10 minutes to teach. The six summary cards list every action and block in English, so one person can explain the five characters in a few minutes. After that the game is all talk: claims, challenges and accusations work just as well in Hindi, Tamil or Hinglish.
Buying Coup in India
There's no Indian edition, and we found no official Indian distributor, so every genuine copy is an import. On 5 October 2026 Indie Boards & Cards' Coup was also sold on Amazon.in. Gameistry listed it at ₹1,790, but it was out of stock. Board Games India also has a Coup page, but its bot check stopped us reading the price.
This page recommends Indie Boards & Cards' standard Coup (the box with 'The Resistance Universe' on the front, barcode 722301926246), the version on Amazon.in and at Gameistry. The game first came out in 2012 from La Mame Games, and older Indie Boards & Cards boxes say 'The Dystopian Universe'. Coup: Reformation is an expansion that needs the base game. It adds the Inquisitor, factions and 15 more character cards, and takes the game up to 10 players. Gameistry listed it at ₹1,200 (out of stock on 5 October 2026). Coup: Rebellion G54 is a separate standalone game with a larger pool of 25 roles. It was also sold on Amazon.in, as was its Anarchy expansion (5 October 2026).
How to make sure you get a genuine copy
Clone risk: High- Check the spelling and the brand. The real game is 'Coup' by Indie Boards & Cards. Listings spelt 'Cooup', or with no brand in the title, are not from the publisher.
- Check the price and the seller. The genuine Amazon.in listing is B00GDI4HX4. Much cheaper look-alikes with few or no ratings also appear.
- Look at the box. The genuine box carries the Indie Boards & Cards logo and a band reading 'The Resistance Universe' ('The Dystopian Universe' on older printings).
- Check the contents: 15 character cards (three each of the Duke, Assassin, Captain, Ambassador and Contessa), 6 summary cards and 50 coins, plus some extra alternate-art character cards.
- Remember that Reformation is only an expansion. Unbranded 'Coup Reformation' listings with no ratings appeared on Amazon.in, while Gameistry listed the Indie Boards & Cards expansion at ₹1,200.
On 5 October 2026, an Amazon.in search for 'Coup card game' showed several cheap look-alikes ranked above the genuine listing: misspelt 'Cooup' boxes, an unbranded 'Coup' and two unbranded Reformation listings. Pick the listing that names Indie Boards & Cards, and check the seller and that the price is in line with Indian store prices.
If Coup isn't quite right
Love Letter
Another tiny card game of hidden cards and bluffing, gentler and fine from age 10
Codenames
A better pick for bigger mixed groups, with teams and no one knocked out
Exploding Kittens
Another quick, cut-throat card game with player elimination, but lighter and fine for kids
Also worth a look (not in our catalogue yet): The Resistance: Avalon – Indie Boards & Cards' team hidden-role game for 5 to 10 players.
Questions people ask about Coup
Is Coup available in India?
Yes, as an import. On 5 October 2026 Gameistry listed Indie Boards & Cards' Coup at ₹1,790 but was out of stock. It is also sold on Amazon.in. There's no Indian edition, so be careful with cheap look-alikes.
Can you play Coup with 2 players?
Yes. In a two-player game the starting player takes only 1 coin, and the rules include an optional two-player setup. It works, but the bluffing has more bite with 4 to 6 players.
Can more than 6 people play Coup?
Not with the base game, which takes 2 to 6. The Coup: Reformation expansion adds 15 more character cards and faction rules and takes it up to 10 players. You need the base game to use it.
What age is Coup suitable for?
Retailers such as Asmodee UK list it as 14 and up, and Indie Boards & Cards' website says 13+. The rules are simple, but the game is about lying convincingly and spotting lies, and players get knocked out, so it suits teens and adults more than young children.
Sources
Facts on this page come from the publisher, Indian distributors and the store listings below. Prices were checked on 5 October 2026.
Prototype notes for review (won't appear on the live site)
- Amazon match: exact link, high confidence. Listing title seen: "Adult Coup Board Game for Playing (2-6 Players (one result set showed it as 'Indie Boards and Cards Adult Coup Board Game for Playing (2-6 Players')".
- How it was found: COMPOSIO_SEARCH_AMAZON on amazon.in, 5 October 2026, queries 'Coup card game', 'Coup card game Indie Boards and Cards', 'Indie Boards Cards Coup', 'Coup bluffing card game 2-6 players Indie' and 'Coup Reformation Indie Boards and Cards expansion'. B00GDI4HX4 showed ₹1,999 with about 11,700 ratings (4.8). A web search shows the same ASIN as Indie Boards & Cards' Coup (IBCCOU1) on Amazon.ca, Amazon.nl and Amazon.co.za. In the 'Coup card game' search, several low-priced look-alikes ranked above it.
- Seller, stock and import status of Amazon.in listing B00GDI4HX4. The ₹1,999 price and about 11,700 ratings come from search results, and Amazon pages were not opened, per policy.
- Age: Asmodee UK, Noble Knight and the Amazon listings say 14+, while Indie Boards & Cards' website says 13+.
- Year: Wikipedia gives 2012 for the first edition (La Mame Games), and Noble Knight lists the Indie Boards & Cards edition as 2013.
- The number of alternate-art character cards (12) comes from a retailer's rules summary and was not checked against the box.
- Board Games India has a Coup page (boardgamesindia.com/imported-games/coup-indie-boards-and-cards), but its bot check blocked access to the price and stock.
- Toycra's Coup page from search results now redirects to a 'not found' page. Bored Game Company's old site had Coup: Reformation and Rebellion G54 pages, but neither is on its current site.
- A Flipkart listing naming Indie Boards & Cards is sold by a third-party toy seller, not the brand, so it was left out.
- The image is Indie Boards & Cards' product image. It was identified as the box front from its printed text ('The Resistance Universe … secret identities · deduction · deception') rather than checked by eye.
- No Indian edition or official Indian distributor was found, but this was not confirmed with the publisher. Who makes the low-priced 'Cooup' and unbranded Coup listings on Amazon.in was not confirmed.