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Mafia

Find out who is part of the mafia before it kills you

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Submitted by Louis L.

 

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Number of players:

 

Needed: No item

Type of game: Strategy

Country of origin: Russia

 

Press any Play buttons below for the instructions to be read for you.

 

Other name(s): Werewolf


The setup

1) All players sit in a circle and someone stands around as the narrator. The narrator leads the different phases of the game but he doesn’t directly play.

2) The narrator asks everyone to go to sleep (put their head down) and selects two mafia members by tapping on their head. The narrator does then also the same to established one doctor and one detective. Everyone else who hasn’t got selected becomes a citizen.

To summarize, there should be at least six players with these different roles:

  • A narrator
  • Two mafia members
  • One doctor
  • One detective
  • One citizen

More players can be added by adding more citizens or even mafia members. An ideal ratio is three innocents for two mafia members.


How to play

Each ‘day’ of the game, the narrator leads the group into two phases:

The nighttime:

1) “It is nighttime, so everyone please go to sleep.”
Everyone puts their head down and closes their eyes.

2) “Mafia, please wake up.”
Only the mafia opens their eyes and they have to choose a person to eliminate with one of them pointing to someone else in the group. The narrator takes note of the person chosen.

3) “Mafia, please go to sleep.”
The mafia closes eyes and puts their heads down.

4) “Doctor, please wake up and choose someone you’d like to save from dying.”
The doctor, if still alive, wakes up and silently points to someone they would like to protect for that day.

5) “Doctor, please go to sleep.”
The doctor closes his eyes and puts his head down.

6) “Detective, please wake up.”
The detective, if still alive, points at someone who he thinks is a mafia member and the narrator can nod their head to say yes or no.

7) “Detective, please go to sleep.”
The detective closes his eyes and puts his head down.

8) “It’s morning. Everyone please wake up.”
Everyone opens their eyes and raises their head.

The daytime:

9) The narrator announces the person who was eliminated (if that person wasn’t saved from murder by the doctor). The person who was eliminated has to quietly leave the circle.

10) Everyone then nominates and votes for people who they suspect is a mafia member. Each person nominated can make a defense and plead their case. The person receiving a majority of votes (at least 50%) is eliminated. After the vote, a new day starts (return to step 1 above). The day may also be ending without any eliminations if the entire group decides to do so.

Once you are killed from the game, you are no longer allowed to speak and your identity is not revealed.


How to win

All innocents win if they successfully eliminate all mafia members.

The mafia wins if at least one of their member is part of the last two players in the game.