Scott DeMers says he likes "games that minimize, or even completely remove, luck yet retain enough variability that the game does not have a standard strategy." His entry in the 2005 About.com Deduction Game Design Competition, Coup D'Etat, does just that.

What's your favorite recently played (for the first time) game?

Tigris and Euphrates: I know that I am "coming to the party a little late" as this game has been out for a while, but every one of us probably has a board game we have always meant to play, but which has fallen through the cracks. T&E was the game that fell through for me. Now that I have played it, I love it. It reminds me a lot of Avalon Hill's Acquire game in a more historical context. I think the scoring and mechanics of the game are the height of elegance.

What game do you want to play most that you haven't played yet?

I would love to play a historical multi-player game like Age of Napoleon or something similar. I have craved the "next generation" of a Diplomacy game forever. Something that adds more elements to a solid and proven underlying game system.

Of course, I suffer from the same problems as many of us with tracking down people who are willing and able to play these games face to face. I also continue my search for an elegant, simplified version of "Magic Realm" by Avalon Hill that maintains the majority of the depth of that game -- one of my real all-time favorites.

Please tell us about the process of designing Coup D'Etat.

I like games that minimize, or even completely remove, luck yet retain enough variability that the game does not have a standard strategy that one can use every game. The setup rules for Coup D'Etat are meant to allow creative freedom as each player can choose to be bold and unconventional or more conservative in their approach to hiding their leader amongst the populace.

The deduction component enters into Coup D'Etat through the restrictions in placement on the wife which must be touching your leader and the son, which must be touching the wife. Hence, if you can find one of those folks you can follow a trail to the leader and then send in the assassins. You can also win by turning the populace against the leader.

The multiple paths to victory means that one player may be pursuing a more measured path to victory while another pursues the "home run." I like games that challenge you to play differently each time and I also like that the game can be played in 10-15 minutes.

What do you like about your entry, and do you think there's anything that could be improved?

I like its expansion possibilities a lot. This is critical, I think, when considering if a game design has actual market potential. I think the game design could easily be expanded to 4 players which would produce some serious mayhem. I would love to play that version. I also think the design would transfer real well to the web and could include some real challenging AI.

Certainly there is room for improvement in the design. I think having additional unit types would be great. I would love to get feedback from the community on what they think works and what they think does not work or could be improved.