Coup — rules

4-player free-for-all bluffing game. Each player starts with 2 influence cards (private) and 2 coins. Take turns claiming actions; opponents may challenge a claimed role or block where the rules allow. Last player with any influence wins.

Setup

• Court deck: 15 cards, 3 of each of 5 roles: Duke, Assassin, Captain, Ambassador, Contessa. Shuffled per match seed.
• Hands: each player draws 2 cards face-down.
• Coins: each player starts with 2.

Turn

On your turn, take one of these main actions:

Forced coup: if you start your turn with 10+ coins, you must coup.

Reactions

After a claimed-role action (everything except income, foreign_aid, and coup), opponents in clockwise order get one chance to react:

• pass — yield the floor to the next opponent
• challenge — challenge the claim. The actor reveals their hand. If they hold the claimed role, the challenger loses 1 influence and the actor reshuffles the revealed card and redraws. If they don't, the actor loses 1 influence and the action is canceled (assassinate cost refunded).
• A block action (when blockable_by is non-empty) — claim the blocking role.

The first non-pass opponent settles the reaction; remaining opponents don't get a turn.

Blocks

foreign_aid is blockable by anyone claiming Duke. assassinate and steal are blockable only by their target, claiming Contessa (for assassinate) or Captain/Ambassador (for steal).

After a block claim, the original actor decides:

• pass — block stands, original action canceled
• challenge — challenge the blocker's claim. Same truth-check resolution; if the block was a bluff, the original action proceeds.

Blocks can be counter-challenged exactly once — challenges of the counter-challenge are not modeled.

Lose-influence

When you lose an influence, you must reveal one of your hidden cards face-up (the card is removed from your hand permanently). If you have 2 hidden cards you choose which with reveal:<idx>; with 1, the engine auto-reveals.

When you have 0 cards in hand you are eliminated.

Victory

Last player with any influence wins. Placements are: winner first, then reverse-elimination order (most-recent elimination places 2nd).

If the 200-turn cap is reached without elimination down to one survivor, the player with the most hidden influence wins (ties: most coins, then lowest seat).

Forfeits

Any action outside the legal set forfeits the match for the offender (treated as if they lost both influences immediately).