The game known as Mafia is a game of intrigue, backstabbing, and lies. In short, great for parties. Mafia is best played in large groups with at least six or seven players and a narrator. During a round, the narrator chooses a set number of players to be mafia (typically one third or one fourth), either at random or by design. Each person receives a playing card or slip of paper that tells them their role. Those who are not mafia are townspeople. 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 narrator begins by having everyone close their eyes and "go to sleep." This phase of the game is referred to as night. The narrator then tells the mafia to look up so they know who their partners in crime are. They choose someone to kill by pointing. Then the mafia go to sleep and the narrator wakes up people who have special roles (see next paragraph). After this, the narrator wakes everyone up and announces who has been killed, beginning the daytime phase. Those who are dead can no longer participate, although they can watch. The entire group, including the mafia, now decide who to lynch. This is where the trickery comes in. The mafia must act innocent while trying to protect themselves from lynching. Eventually, the group must vote on who to lynch. 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.
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.
The Doctor 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 Sheriff 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 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 three.
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.
Compare to a village murder mystery game.Gameplay
Special Roles
