All good things come in twelves: disciples, days of Christmas, bottles of wine; and now we're going to bring you twelve articles on bridge coups every year! What do we mean by a coup? Well, you certainly won't find the beloved Bath Coup here. There won't be any brilliant Scissors Coup or Deschapelles Coup, no example of the Vienna Coup or Crocodile Coup. The coups we're interested in are the ones you won't find in any of the textbooks and fall broadly into two categories: the ones your opponents would be ashamed of, and the ones your grandmother would be ashamed of! Some are strictly illegal, others legitimately prey on your opponents' weaknesses and there is plenty of grey area in between. Call it cheating if you like, we think these plays deserve their own place in the bridge literature.