Coup is a good game for people that don’t play games. It has bluffing, hidden roles, variable player powers, a dash of deduction, a pinch of probability, and many more modern game design goodies in a very compact package. When it exploded back in 2012 with a chorus of claims that it is “a lot of game” for its size, that’s because in a way it was. It’s an impressively deft design that mixes myriad mechanics with ease. The problem is these eclectic elements don’t add up to much, and Coup greatly misses the mark in several key areas such as narrative, balance of risk/reward, and social impact. This is a last-man-standing player elimination game where the winner is often the player that played the most passively. This is a bluffing game without bids or bribes, a hidden information game without much information in the first place, and a filler that is — in direct contrast with the genre’s name — unfulfilling. What Coup wants to be is a game about political espionage and subterfuge. To start off, you shuffle the deck of 15 role cards (3 each of 5 different types) and deal 2 face-down to each player alongside an initial supply of 2 coins. Players then take turns performing 1 of 7 actions. 3 of these are general actions, while the other 4 are tied to specific role cards. The general actions are: 1) take 1 coin from the bank, 2) take 2 coins from the bank, and 3) pay 7…