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| Mafia |
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| Players: |
7 or more |
| Age range: |
12 and up |
| Setup time: |
< 5 minutes |
| Playing time: |
15–60 minutes1 |
| Rules complexity: |
Medium |
| Strategy depth: |
High |
| Random chance: |
Low |
| Skills required: |
Strategic thought
Team play
Roleplay |
| 1 Play time varies greatly depending on the number of players. |
Mafia is a party game of intrigue, backstabbing, and lies. Mafia is best played in large groups with at least six or seven players and a narrator. During a game, the narrator chooses a set number of players to be mafia, often at random (typically one-third or one-fourth of the players). Each person receives a
playing card or slip of paper that tells them their role. Those who are not mafia are townspeople. (Alternately, the Narrator may choose roles by announcing each
role in turn, then walking around the circle and touching the heads of the players chosen for that role).
The mafia's goal is to kill enough townspeople to gain a majority, and the
townspeople's objective is to eliminate all of the mafia.
The game is also known as 'werewolf'; when played under this name, the mafia
characters are called 'werewolves', townspeople are 'villagers' and the sheriff (see below) is called the 'seer'.
Gameplay
The narrator begins the game by having everyone close their eyes and "go to sleep."
This phase of the game is referred to as night. Night takes place in four steps:
- The narrator then tells the mafia to look up. This reveals to the mafia who their partners in crime are.
- The mafia chooses someone to kill by pointing, then go back to sleep
- The narrator wakes up people who have special roles (see next section) in turn. Those people act, and the narrator provides
them with information (or does not), according to their roles.
- After this, the narrator wakes everyone up and announces who has been killed (or who has avoided a murder attempt, if that is
the case; see "Doctor" in special roles below), beginning the daytime phase. Variants differ on whether the special role of a
killed player is revealed.
During the daytime phase, those who are dead can no longer participate, although they
can watch (although, in some variants, the person who has just been "killed" gets to say their "last words" before they
"die").
The entire group, including the mafia, now decides who to lynch. This is where the
trickery comes in. The mafia must act innocent while trying to protect themselves from lynching. Any form of accusation and
evidence is admitted in the discussion, even outright lies, and players are alowed to lie about their secret roles. This part
usually takes the longest, and the topics and arguments that come up can be anywhere from sane to outlandish.
Eventually, the group must vote on who to lynch. In some variants, a majority vote is required to convict a player (and variants differ on what to do if a
majority is not achieved), while, in others, a plurality of the vote is enough to
eliminate an accused player. Variants also differ on what to do in the case of a tie.
When a decision is reached, the lynched player is out of the game. In many, but not all, variants, it is revealed if the
player was a member of the mafia. In some variants, the player's secret role may be revealed by the narrator at this time no
matter what their role is.
After the lynching, night falls again. The cycle of night and day repeats until either the mafia have a majority or the
townspeople have killed all of the mafia.
Special Roles
Most games have roles that go beyond the basic townsperson/mafia roles. Some are on the side of the townspeople and some are
on the side of the mafia. This is by no means a comprehensive list, and many narrators may invent their own special roles. These
are just the most common. Also, these jobs can have different names; for example, the role listed under "Doctor" is often called
the "Guardian Angel"
The Doctor (Guardian in Werewolf variants) is on the side of the
townspeople. During the night, he chooses one person to save. If this same person is a mafia target, he survives the night, and
the narrator announces the next morning that there was an unsuccessful attempt on the person's life. Some narrators allow the
Doctor to save himself; others do not.
The Guardian Angel is a townsperson to whom the narrator
secretly reveals the identity of all mafia members. During the daytime, the guardian angel tries to inform the townspeople of who
the mafia are without arousing suspicion and being killed. This role introduces another complication to the game because a member
of the mafia may publicly claim to be the guardian angel and try to lead the townspeople to lynch innocents.
The Sheriff (Seer in Werewolf variants) is also a townsperson role.
Each night, the Sheriff may investigate one person by pointing to that person. The narrator will inform the Sheriff whether that
person is mafia, unless...
The Godfather (Master Wolf in Werewolf variants, a term coined
on Flash Flash Revolution's message boards) is a member
of the mafia who is immune to investigation. If the Godfather is investigated, he will come up innocent.
The Miller is the opposite of the Godfather, a townsperson who will come up
guilty if investigated. This role is a little less common than the first four.
The Devil's Advocate is the opposite of the Sheriff,
investigating people each night in an attempt to figure out who the Sheriff is. Since they are on the mafia's team, they then try
to kill the Sheriff either through lynching or informing the mafia of their identity. If investigated by the Sheriff, the Devil's
Advocate will come up innocent.
The Little Girl can "peek" during the killing phase. She is found in Werewolf-themed games.
The Vigilante is on the side of the townspeople, and can kill one person during the daytime at his discretion. The
narrator must confirm his role when he makes the kill, thus it cannot be faked.
Some of the larger games have Masons and Serial Killers. Masons are townspeople who know each other. They can work together because they
know for sure that the other ones are innocent. Serial Killers operate on their own. They win only if they are the last one left.
They get one kill a night in the same way that mafia do.
There are a wide variety of other possible roles and ways to play the game. Some narrators give clues pointing to the members
of the mafia. Sometimes everyone has a special role of some sort, but no one knows what all the roles are.
Although Mafia is usually played face to face with large groups, some enthusiasts play online using bulletin boards. This adds
a new dimension to the game, making it last longer and allowing people to have a record of what others have said and how they
have voted. Online, the "Werewolf" variant is more commonly used, and the colloquial term "The Werewolf Game" is used to refer to
it.
History
The "Graduate Mafia Brotherhood" at Princeton University
provides a number of claims about the history of Mafia [[1] (http://www.princeton.edu/~mafia/history.htm)]. There are claims of a very similar game being
played under the name "Murderer" in 1967. A similar game may date to England in 1957. A Dimitry Davidoff claims to have refined
it into a recognizable version under the name "Mafia" in 1986.
Andrew Plotkin learned about Mafia in 1997 [2] (http://www.eblong.com/zarf/werewolf.html). Plotkin claims to be responsible for rebranding
the game from Mafia to Werewolf. Looney Labs also gives him this credit in
their version [3] (http://www.wunderland.com/LooneyLabs/Werewolf/Rules.html).
da Vinci Games rebranded
the game with a Wild West theme and more involved rules (including a "shootout"
simulation) as "Bang!" in 2002.
External links
- The Graduate Mafia
Brotherhood of Princeton University (http://www.princeton.edu/~mafia/)'s page
includes a great many variations
- MafiaScum.net (http://www.mafiascum.net) provides detailed strategies and forum for playing online
- The German language Mafia! (http://www.mafiaspiel.de) website provides
new roles and an online version
- Werewolf Statistics (http://www.eblong.com/zarf/werewolf-stats.html) analyzes the likelyhood of the villagers
winning based on the number of players and the number of Werewolves.
- Rules and Variants
- Online Play
- Commercial Versions
- Board Game
Geek (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/) lists lists several commercial variants of Mafia (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/viewitem.php3?gameid=925)
- Looney Labs' commercial version "Are You a Werewolf? (http://www.wunderland.com/LooneyLabs/Werewolf/Index.html)" repopularized the game among
role-playing game players in the early 2000s
- da Vinci Games rebranded
the game with a wild west theme and added a more involved rule set as "Bang! (http://www.davincigames.com/page_eng.cfm?sez=01&gioco=bang!)".
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