The Ambassador lets you exchange your cards with cards from the central draw deck. The Captain can steal two coins from another player.

The Duke, for instance, lets you take three coins from the bank. On your turn, you can also use the special powers of your characters.

Knock out the other players’ characters by flipping up their cards to win. At the beginning of the game, players are dealt two face-down character cards, which represent members of the court they hold influence over. In Coup, players take on the role of high-level government officials jostling for power in a cyber-punky dystopia, where they must bluff, steal, and kill to become top dog. It’s also cheap, quick to play, easy to teach, and an absolute blast with almost any group. With a total component count of 15 cards, a handful of money tokens, and a few player aids, Coup is the simplest game on our list today. Pick one of these titles up for your New Year's Eve extravaganza. You want to make sure that no one is going to get their feelings hurt too badly by being lied to, but you might be surprised by just how ruthlessly cunning your 90-year-old grandparents can be when they’re trying to hide something. These games are perfect for holiday gatherings because they’re quick and easy to teach, generally short, and entirely based on social interaction. Today, Ars Cardboard sifts through the scores of bluffing and social deduction party games to bring you a look at four games that define the genre. As it turns out, people love lying to each other. In modern board games parlance, “bluffing” is a nice word for “games where you lie through your teeth to the people who trust you most.” And the “lying games” business is booming. I looked up from the table and met my mother’s eyes. I needed to be on that team so I could tank the mission and secure the win for the bad guys. Our last mission had failed because of a betrayer, and my mom was in charge of assembling the team for our next mission. We had already played several rounds of The Resistance that night, and I had drawn one of the spy cards every game. Welcome to Ars Cardboard, our weekend look at tabletop games! Check out our complete board gaming coverage right here-and let us know what you think.

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