Free game alert! Petite and punchy hidden roles game Coup has made the jump to mobile thanks to a brand new iOS version from Banana & Co, and I’ve been tucking into it this morning to see if it’s worth the bother.
Short answer – maybe? It’s a beautiful port of the board game, a 15 minute-long cracker which is as sharp and potent as a squirt of lemon juice to the eye. Each player starts with two secret characters – Dukes, Assassins, Captains, Ambassadors or Contessas – and uses their individual abilities to try to knock out the other players. Because cards are hidden, however, the game actually hinges on bluffing about which characters you’re holding to sneak through much-needed actions you don’t technically have – if no one calls you out, you get to do the action anyway. Get pulled up by another player, though, and whoever was wrong loses one of their precious pair of cards, massively limiting options and putting you one false move from losing the game.
Throwing another spanner into this already spanner-heavy, erm, spanner box is that some characters also have counter-abilities, which can ALSO be bluffed with. This simple mechanic means stakes are high, and winning the game is as much about reading the expressions from your friends’ sweaty faces as it is holding the right cards for the situation.
And that’s where the app first falters a little, really – obviously you can’t see any of your opponents, so picking up on those subtle hints and opportunities for double-bluffs goes right out of the window straight away. It’s not a game killer, but definitely sucks away a lot of the tension piled on players when they’re looking you in the eye. Banana & Co have tried to mitigate this a little with the Spies expansion – which weighs in at a hefty £4.99 mind – that allows you to look at opponents’ current stats to help get an inkling about their play style. EXCEPT! If your opponent also owns the Spies pack, they can opt to mask their details from other players, putting you all back to square one.
Problem 2! Part of Coup’s charm is its pacey nature, which often sees calm, early tactical manoeuvring replaced in a flash with challenge and counter-challenge as the game nears its end. Coup Mobile gives every player TEN MINUTES to choose their action, which is frankly ridiculous. My experience so far has been people taking up much of this time every turn (or failing to make a move at all), practically a death knell for what’s presumably supposed to be a rapid, switch-on-and-play game which you can wrap up in a few stolen minutes here and there. The turn times drop as you eventually rank up, but I feel this is an opportunity lost.
BUT – do you know what, it might be worth a go after all. If you’ve never played Coup (or any other hidden role game for that matter), this is probably the quickest, most practical way of learning how to play I can think of. The tutorials are short and clear, and I’d recommend giving them a run-through if you’ve just bagged the physical version rather than leafing through the (admittedly small) rulebook. Careful if you do, mind – for speed reasons(!) the mobile developers have taken out the ‘Take Foreign Aid’ ability normally open to each player in the card game, so bean up on this before you deal out that deck.
Give it a try – there’s plenty of stuff to spend real pound coins on in the game, but none of it is essential to have a good time. Different art, removal of ads (which are pretty minimal anyway at the moment), and artificially firing yourself up the leaderboard are what the in-app purchases buy you, and can easily be ignored. Give it a try! Then grab a copy of the tabletop top game and demand your pals come round to be assassinated. Figuratively of course. No sense wasting perfectly good board game opponents.
