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Mafia (game)
Encyclopedia
Mafia is a party game
created in the USSR by Dimitry Davidoff in 1986, modelling a battle between an informed minority and an uninformed
majority. Players are secretly assigned roles: either "mafia", who know each other; or "townspeople", who know only the number of mafia amongst them. In the game's "night" phase the mafia covertly 'murder' a townsperson. During the day phase, all of the surviving players debate the identities of the mafia and vote to eliminate a suspect. Play continues until all of the mafia have been eliminated, or until the mafia outnumber the townspeople. A typical game starts with seven townspeople and two Mafiosi.
Department of Moscow State University
, spreading to classrooms, dorms, and summer camps of Moscow University. Wired attributes the creation to Davidoff but dates the first game to 1987, with 1986 being the year in which "Davidoff was starting the work which would produce Mafia". He developed the game to combine psychology research with his duties teaching high school
students. The game became popular in other Soviet colleges and schools and in the 1990s it began to be played in Europe (Sweden
, Germany, Romania
, Slovakia
, Czech Republic
, Hungary
, Poland
, England, Norway
) and then the United States. By the mid nineties a version of the game became a Latvian television series (with a parliamentary setting, and played by Latvian celebrities).
Andrew Plotkin
gave the rules a werewolf theme in 1997, arguing that the mafia "aren't that big a cultural reference", and that the werewolf concept fitted the idea of a hidden enemy who looked normal during the daytime. Although the game can be played with a deck of poker cards or slips of paper, Looney Labs
successfully marketed a commercial version of the game as Are You a Werewolf?, which was later followed by Asmodee Editions
under the title Werewolves of Millers Hollow, Mayfair Games
as Lupus in Tabula (Latin for Wolves at the Table) and Bezier Games
as Ted Alspach
's Ultimate Werewolf: Ultimate Edition. A Cthulhu Mythos
variant (Do You Worship Cthulhu) was published in 2006.
Mafia and a variant called Thing have been played at science fiction writers' workshops since 1998, and have become an integral part of the annual Clarion and Viable Paradise workshops. The Werewolf variant of Mafia became widespread at major tech events, including the Game Developers Conference
, ETech, Foo Camp
s, and South By Southwest
.
In 1998 the Kaliningrad
Higher school of the Internal Affairs Ministry published the methodical textbook "Nonverbal communications. Developing role-playing games 'Mafia' and 'Murderer'" for a course on "Visual psychodiagnostics", to teach various methods of reading body language
and nonverbal signals.
A variation of Mafia was used to promote the film Cry Wolf (2005), having one wolf and a number of sheep, with the computer acting as shepherd. Writer Adam Gopnik
described playing weekly Mafia games in New York City in Through the Children's Gate.
In March 2006 Ernest Fedorov was running a "Mafia Club" in Kiev
, using his own patent
ed variation of the rules. The club organizes games, rates players, and awards prizes (including a Sicily
trip for their tournament-series champion).
In June 2006, a Rockingham
school inquiry was launched after parents complained of the traumatic effects classroom Mafia was having on their fifth-grade
children.
Mafia was called one of "the 50 most historically and culturally significant games published since 1800" by about.com
.
Each night, the Narrator tells the Mafia to open their eyes and acknowledge their fellow members. They kill off one of the other players by silently gesturing to indicate their target and to show unanimity
. Then the Narrator instructs the mafia members to "sleep" (close their eyes again).
Now the Detective will open his or her eyes and point at a suspect; if that player is mafia-sided, the narrator nods. Then the Narrator instructs the Inspector to "sleep" and the Doctor to open his or her eyes; he or she points at someone to save, then goes back to sleep.
During the daytime phase, the players deliberate over which suspected Mafia member they wish to nominate for lynching. Once nominations are made, the narrator administers an election
between the nominees, in which all players vote - whoever receives the most votes is lynched
; they are "dead," and may no longer participate in the game in any way.
Because players have less information and more freedom to deliberate during the day, the day phase tends to be longer than the night phase. The day phase either has a set time limit, or continues until a lynch has been performed.
There may be additional night-time phases, allowing special-role characters to do "business" during the night, either before or after the Mafia.
In some variants, the Narrator may conceal the role or alignment of killed players, or allow killed players the choice of revealing their own card.
, or historical reasons. Also, the same role-name can have differing functions across different versions of the game. What follows is a general list of role types found in Mafia variants; since the specific names vary by milieu
it must be non-exhaustive.
Other win conditions that may be assigned include:
Usually, each player must vote, can only vote once and cannot vote for themselves. But some variants have a more complicated process of selecting players to be executed. Davidoff's original 'Mafia' allowed multiple day-time executions (per day), each needing only a plurality to action.
Voting variants abound
, but any lynching usually requires an absolute majority of the electorate, or votes cast. So, the voting is usually not by secret ballot
for multiple candidates, with the highest vote count eliminated; it is more usual for the voting to be openly resolved either by:
can be resolved by lot, or by killing the player with the scapegoat
special role.
The special case of one mafioso and one innocent remaining can be decided randomly, or be ruled a Mafia win (this is more usual in live play).
Another form, tie-breaking, can be had with a seance
of the person who was last killed by the mafia, since night has not yet fallen and they have not yet seen the mafia during the night phase.
However, when the number of survivors is even, "No Kill" may help the Innocents; for example, when three Innocents and one mafioso remain, "No kill" gives a 1/3 chance of killing the mafioso the next day, rather than a 1/4 chance today (assuming random lynching). Lynching an innocent either day gives a Mafia win.
to ensure unanimity.
as an alternative to execution. They can either be sent there by vote or at the discretion of an optional character. Imprisoned players move to a separate room, possibly with a separate narrator. Murders can happen in prison and certain roles or events can liberate players.
A similar variant is Kidnapping, which allows for a Kidnapper character to remove individuals from the game temporarily. If the kidnapper is killed (or, in some cases, investigated by an Investigative role), the kidnapped return. While kidnapped, players are inactive, and cannot watch night-time events.
of Gin
or Vodka
.
to be played in a subway metro. In this variation, players who are 'lynched' are kicked off the train (at the next stop), and must wait in shame for the following train – a kind of 'afterlife' train – to join a second, interwoven game." (Follow the link for a full description).
-play, although real-time browser-based implementations are also popular.
The standard human-moderated games in forum mafia require one or two moderators: a sign up thread is created announcing the game, and once the game has sufficient players, play can begin. Mafiosi communicate via email
or a similar system before submitting their kill to the moderator. The moderator then writes the appropriate death scene
for those that were eliminated, and posts a dawn scene. Software can automate the moderator function, but this is rarer. Players then discuss in the forum who they should execute, followed by an execution vote. Innocents are usually forbidden in-game communication outside of the public forum.
Mafia is also played on IRC (Internet Relay Chat) using private messages to send votes and channel modes to allow private communication during the night. There's a lot of variety in IRC mafia channels, and one IRC variant includes a graphical Flash client. The film Cry Wolf was promoted through a wolves vs sheep variant, played over AOL Instant Messenger
. Versions of Mafia have also been created on BYOND and Facebook
as well as for PBEM.
Fictional reality themes are common in online play, which will work with any group of well known characters. The Simpsons
, Hanna Barbera, The Lord of the Rings
, Lost
have been used, for example, because of their extensive character sets. Players are assigned characters from the theme, with matching roles. Generic themes are also popular - such as Werewolf-theme.
In 2006, the computer scientists Braverman, Etesami and Mossel proved that without detectives and with perfect players
the randomized strategy is optimal for both citizens and mafia
. They showed that when there are a large number
of players to give both groups similar probability of winning, the initial number of mafiosi m need to be proportional to the square root of the total number of players P, that is
.
With a simulation, they confirmed that 50 mafiosi would have almost a 50% chance to win among 10,000. The Mafia's chance of victory is
which is a good approximation when the right hand side is below 40%. If any detectives are added to the game, Braverman et al. proved that the number of mafiosi must remain at a fixed proportion of the total number of players for their chance of winning to remain constant.
In 2008, Erlin Yao derived specific analytical bounds for the mafia's win probability when there are no detectives.
In a paper from 2010, exact formula for the probability that the mafia wins was found. Moreover, it was shown that the parity of the initial number of players plays an important role. In particular, when the number of mafiosi is fixed and an odd player is added to the game (and ties are resolved by coin flips
), the mafia-winning chance do not drop but rise by a factor of approx.
(equality in the limit
of the infinite number of players).
suggests. Several reasons for this have been advanced:
But, the Mafia can win in live play; their best chance of winning occurs when mafioso bond
with their innocent neighbours and convince those neighbours to value that bond over dispassionate analysis. The game designers Salen and Zimmerman have written that the deep emergent
social game play in Mafia (combined with the fear of elimination) create ideal conditions for this.
Party game
Party games are games that some people play as forms of entertainment at social gatherings. Party games usually involve more than one player. There are a large number and styles of party games available and the one selected will depend on the atmosphere that is sought to be generated...
created in the USSR by Dimitry Davidoff in 1986, modelling a battle between an informed minority and an uninformed
Information asymmetry
In economics and contract theory, information asymmetry deals with the study of decisions in transactions where one party has more or better information than the other. This creates an imbalance of power in transactions which can sometimes cause the transactions to go awry, a kind of market failure...
majority. Players are secretly assigned roles: either "mafia", who know each other; or "townspeople", who know only the number of mafia amongst them. In the game's "night" phase the mafia covertly 'murder' a townsperson. During the day phase, all of the surviving players debate the identities of the mafia and vote to eliminate a suspect. Play continues until all of the mafia have been eliminated, or until the mafia outnumber the townspeople. A typical game starts with seven townspeople and two Mafiosi.
History
Dimma Davidoff is generally acknowledged as the game's creator. He dates the first game to spring 1986 at the PsychologyPsychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
Department of Moscow State University
Moscow State University
Lomonosov Moscow State University , previously known as Lomonosov University or MSU , is the largest university in Russia. Founded in 1755, it also claims to be one of the oldest university in Russia and to have the tallest educational building in the world. Its current rector is Viktor Sadovnichiy...
, spreading to classrooms, dorms, and summer camps of Moscow University. Wired attributes the creation to Davidoff but dates the first game to 1987, with 1986 being the year in which "Davidoff was starting the work which would produce Mafia". He developed the game to combine psychology research with his duties teaching high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
students. The game became popular in other Soviet colleges and schools and in the 1990s it began to be played in Europe (Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, Germany, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
, Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, England, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
) and then the United States. By the mid nineties a version of the game became a Latvian television series (with a parliamentary setting, and played by Latvian celebrities).
Andrew Plotkin
Andrew Plotkin
Andrew Plotkin , also known as Zarf, is a central figure in the modern interactive fiction community. Having both written a number of award-winning games and developed a range of new file formats, interpreters, and other utilities for the design, production, and running of IF games, Plotkin is...
gave the rules a werewolf theme in 1997, arguing that the mafia "aren't that big a cultural reference", and that the werewolf concept fitted the idea of a hidden enemy who looked normal during the daytime. Although the game can be played with a deck of poker cards or slips of paper, Looney Labs
Looney Labs
Looney Labs is a small game company based in College Park, Maryland, USA. It is named after its founders, Andrew Looney and Kristin Looney.- Card games :...
successfully marketed a commercial version of the game as Are You a Werewolf?, which was later followed by Asmodee Editions
Asmodée Éditions
Asmodée Éditions is a French publisher of board games, card games and role-playing games . The company was founded in 1995 by former employees of the RPG publisher Siroz Productions. The company publishes its own games, as well as French language editions of other publishers' games...
under the title Werewolves of Millers Hollow, Mayfair Games
Mayfair Games
Mayfair Games is a publisher of board, card, and roleplaying games. They also license German-style board games and publish them in English throughout the world...
as Lupus in Tabula (Latin for Wolves at the Table) and Bezier Games
Bézier Games
Bézier Games is an American manufacturer and publisher of board games and card games located in California. It was started in 2006 by Ted Alspach upon publication of Start Player...
as Ted Alspach
Ted Alspach
Ted Alspach is a board-game designer and the author of more than 30 books on graphics, publishing and the web. He is best known for his Adobe Illustrator-related books, including Illustrator for Dummies and the best-selling Illustrator Bible series...
's Ultimate Werewolf: Ultimate Edition. A Cthulhu Mythos
Cthulhu Mythos
The Cthulhu Mythos is a shared fictional universe, based on the work of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft.The term was first coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent of Lovecraft, who used the name of the creature Cthulhu - a central figure in Lovecraft literature and the focus...
variant (Do You Worship Cthulhu) was published in 2006.
Mafia and a variant called Thing have been played at science fiction writers' workshops since 1998, and have become an integral part of the annual Clarion and Viable Paradise workshops. The Werewolf variant of Mafia became widespread at major tech events, including the Game Developers Conference
Game Developers Conference
The Game Developers Conference is the largest annual gathering of professional video game developers, focusing on learning, inspiration, and networking...
, ETech, Foo Camp
Foo Camp
Foo Camp is an annual hacker event hosted by publisher O'Reilly Media. O'Reilly describes it as "the wiki of conferences", where the program is developed by the attendees at the event, using big whiteboard schedule templates that can be rewritten or overwritten by attendees to optimize the schedule...
s, and South By Southwest
South by Southwest
South by Southwest is an Austin, Texas based company dedicated to planning conferences, trade shows, festivals and other events. Their current roster of annual events include: SXSW Music, SXSW Film, SXSW Interactive, SXSWedu, and SXSWeco and take place every spring in Austin, Texas, United States...
.
In 1998 the Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad is a seaport and the administrative center of Kaliningrad Oblast, the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea...
Higher school of the Internal Affairs Ministry published the methodical textbook "Nonverbal communications. Developing role-playing games 'Mafia' and 'Murderer'" for a course on "Visual psychodiagnostics", to teach various methods of reading body language
Body language
Body language is a form of non-verbal communication, which consists of body posture, gestures, facial expressions, and eye movements. Humans send and interpret such signals almost entirely subconsciously....
and nonverbal signals.
A variation of Mafia was used to promote the film Cry Wolf (2005), having one wolf and a number of sheep, with the computer acting as shepherd. Writer Adam Gopnik
Adam Gopnik
Adam Gopnik, is an American writer, essayist and commentator. He is best known as a staff writer for The New Yorker—to which he has contributed non-fiction, fiction, memoir and criticism—and as the author of the essay collection Paris to the Moon, an account of five years that Gopnik, his wife...
described playing weekly Mafia games in New York City in Through the Children's Gate.
In March 2006 Ernest Fedorov was running a "Mafia Club" in Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
, using his own patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
ed variation of the rules. The club organizes games, rates players, and awards prizes (including a Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
trip for their tournament-series champion).
In June 2006, a Rockingham
Rockingham County, New Hampshire
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 277,359 people, 104,529 households, and 74,320 families residing in the county. The population density was 399 people per square mile . There were 113,023 housing units at an average density of 163 per square mile...
school inquiry was launched after parents complained of the traumatic effects classroom Mafia was having on their fifth-grade
Fifth grade
Fifth grade is a year of education in the United States and many other nations. The fifth grade is the fifth school year after kindergarten. Students are usually 10 – 11 years old, and are preteens...
children.
Mafia was called one of "the 50 most historically and culturally significant games published since 1800" by about.com
About.com
About.com is an online source for original information and advice. It is written in English, and is aimed primarily at North Americans. It is owned by The New York Times Company....
.
Basic gameplay
One person is the game's Narrator (popularly called the "God") - they moderate the game, rather than participating. Everyone else is dealt a card that gives them their secret role as a player.Roles
- Narrator
- Civilians (civilian-sided)
- MafiaMafiaThe Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
(Mafia-sided, win by killing off/outnumbering villagers) - Detective (civilian-sided, can inspect mafia members)
- Doctor (Village-sided, can elect someone to save in the night)
Night
The Narrator tells everyone to close their eyes ("It is now nighttime and all the villagers are asleep..."). The night phase can optionally be accompanied by all players tapping gently to mask any giveaway sounds of player movement. However, no suspicions are to be based on actions in the night.Each night, the Narrator tells the Mafia to open their eyes and acknowledge their fellow members. They kill off one of the other players by silently gesturing to indicate their target and to show unanimity
Unanimity
Unanimity is agreement by all people in a given situation. When unanimous, everybody is of the same mind and acting together as one. Though unlike uniformity, it does not constitute absolute agreement. Many groups consider unanimous decisions a sign of agreement, solidarity, and unity...
. Then the Narrator instructs the mafia members to "sleep" (close their eyes again).
Now the Detective will open his or her eyes and point at a suspect; if that player is mafia-sided, the narrator nods. Then the Narrator instructs the Inspector to "sleep" and the Doctor to open his or her eyes; he or she points at someone to save, then goes back to sleep.
Day
The Narrator tells everyone to wake up. Unless the doctor and the mafia selected the same target a murder is announced, sometimes with a little narrative detail. (For example, "David was shot seven times, stabbed three times, and drowned in the river.") This player is "dead" and may no longer participate in the game in any way.During the daytime phase, the players deliberate over which suspected Mafia member they wish to nominate for lynching. Once nominations are made, the narrator administers an election
Election
An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the...
between the nominees, in which all players vote - whoever receives the most votes is lynched
Lynching
Lynching is an extrajudicial execution carried out by a mob, often by hanging, but also by burning at the stake or shooting, in order to punish an alleged transgressor, or to intimidate, control, or otherwise manipulate a population of people. It is related to other means of social control that...
; they are "dead," and may no longer participate in the game in any way.
Because players have less information and more freedom to deliberate during the day, the day phase tends to be longer than the night phase. The day phase either has a set time limit, or continues until a lynch has been performed.
Win condition
If all Mafia members are killed, then the Townspeople win the game. If the villagers are outnumbered by the Mafia during the day, then the Mafia win.Variations
Naming for the various roles, factions, and other elements of play is theme dependent and has limitless variation. The following is in no way an exhaustive list, but gives standard alternative names that are widely recognized among players:- Narrator - the person running the gameGamemasterA gamemaster is a person who acts as an organizer, officiant for questions regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a multiplayer game...
is often called God, Host, Facilitator, Moderator, Judge, Destiny, Mayor (although the Mayor is a player role in other variants) or Storyteller. Some variants call for multiple narrators, each having a distinct role and name. - The Mafia players have be rethemed as Werewolves, Worshippers, Assassin, Wolves, Scum, Killers, or Witches.
- Sheriff (alternatively, Informant, Seer, Commander, Detective, Inspector, Leader, King, Angel of Knowledge, Cop, Police, or Prophet)
- Nurse (alternatively, Doctor, Bodyguard, Healer, Medic, Priest, Witch, Saving Grace, or Guardian Angel)
- Townspeople (alternatively, Citizens, Villagers, Innocents, Sheep, Townies, Vanillas, or Civilians)
There may be additional night-time phases, allowing special-role characters to do "business" during the night, either before or after the Mafia.
In some variants, the Narrator may conceal the role or alignment of killed players, or allow killed players the choice of revealing their own card.
Optional roles
These additional roles are named differently in the many versions of Mafia, for thematic flavorSetting (fiction)
In fiction, setting includes the time, location, and everything in which a story takes place, and initiates the main backdrop and mood for a story. Setting has been referred to as story world or milieu to include a context beyond the immediate surroundings of the story. Elements of setting may...
, or historical reasons. Also, the same role-name can have differing functions across different versions of the game. What follows is a general list of role types found in Mafia variants; since the specific names vary by milieu
Social environment
The social environment of an individual, also called social context or milieu, is the culture that s/he was educated or lives in, and the people and institutions with whom the person interacts....
it must be non-exhaustive.
Investigative roles
Players with these roles use their own night-phase to discover something about other players. Though the standard game now includes the basic "Detective", these roles are optional, and games can exclude them entirely (such as the "stool pigeon" variant, or Davidoff's original rules).Investigative roles (standard)
- —"Detective", "Seer", "Commandant", "Sheriff", etc.
- Allied with the Innocents, the "DetectiveDetectiveA detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...
" can detect whether a player is a mafioso. They will typically "wake up", and point at one person; the Narrator will silently indicate to the Detective whether that player is Mafia or Innocent. In some versions of the game, the Detective's investigation result is announced publicly by the Narrator, for example "the Detective found a Mafioso!". More commonly, no announcement is made. As with other roles, which player is the detective is not generally known, leaving anyone the option of pretending to be the Detective. - A "Detective" is usually included in modern games. For example, somebody is always assigned this role in all commercial card gameCard gameA card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games...
versions, and almost all internet-based, and most face-to-face games start with at least one detective. Multiple detectives either act in separate night phases (unaware of the identities of other detectives) or work together as "the police" (an "association" role).
Investigative roles (less common)
- —"Psychic", "Wizard", "Fortune Teller", "Oracle", etc.
- "PsychicPsychicA psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot...
", "Psychologist", or "Sorcerer"-type investigators can determine other players' roles, rather than their alignments. Roles which detect other roles are usually implemented in the same way as the Detective's ability to determine alignment. For example: the PsychologistPsychologistPsychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
points to a player (at night) for a "Thumbs-up" from the moderator if the "Vigilante" is pointed to. A "Tracker" may see what someone's night action was, or the target of their action. - Information revealed to investigators is fallible (in more complicated variants). Online versions can give information with a confidenceProbabilityProbability is ordinarily used to describe an attitude of mind towards some proposition of whose truth we arenot certain. The proposition of interest is usually of the form "Will a specific event occur?" The attitude of mind is of the form "How certain are we that the event will occur?" The...
level, and in other variants the Narrator deceives the Detective by showing all players as Innocent, all as Guilty, giving reversed results, or random information (these can be termed as "Naive", "Paranoid", "Insane", or "Random" respectively). Additionally, some Alignment roles give immunity to successful investigation. - In some games, there are Mafia Detectives, who have the power of a normal detective but are on the Mafia side. The "Super Commandant" has the standard power of a "Detective", while also protecting the investigated from night-time attack.
Omniscient roles
- —"Witness", "Child", "Little Girl", etc.
- Instead of having to investigate, some innocent roles give complete information on the entire mafia: The "witnessWitnessA witness is someone who has firsthand knowledge about an event, or in the criminal justice systems usually a crime, through his or her senses and can help certify important considerations about the crime or event. A witness who has seen the event first hand is known as an eyewitness...
" is told who the mafia are during the first night, while the mafia are not told the witness's identity (differing from the "stool pigeon" in not being a part of the mafia). - The "Little Girl" in Werewolf and Werewolves of Miller's Hollow is allowed to secretly peek and watch as the werewolves choose their victim; if discovered doing so by the Werewolves, she dies of fright.
Protective roles
- —"Guardian Angel", "Doctor", "Healer", "Bodyguard", etc.
- Allied with the Innocents, the "Doctor"-type role defends others at night. Typically, they will "awaken" at night after the "Mafia" have "gone back to sleep" and point at one person to protect; that person will survive any night-time attack. They are typically allowed to protect themselves, and are commonly barred from protecting the same target on successive nights. A "Guardian Angel" can only protect others. The "Nurse" gains the Doctor's abilities if the Doctor dies. The Firefighter, or the HerbalistHerbalistAn herbalist is:#A person whose life is dedicated to the economic or medicinal uses of plants.#One skilled in the harvesting and collection of medicinal plants ....
can protect from some night-time attacks but not others (in Werewolf, for example, they choose one person to protect with wolfsbane, but that person may still be killed by the Serial KillerSerial killerA serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
). Other games limit this ability to a certain number of times.
Killing roles
- —"Vigilante", "Hunter", "Bomb", "Woodcutter", etc.
- Aside from Mafia, Werewolves, and Serial Killers (solitary guilty parties), the Innocents may have some roles with the ability to kill at night. The VigilanteVigilanteA vigilante is a private individual who legally or illegally punishes an alleged lawbreaker, or participates in a group which metes out extralegal punishment to an alleged lawbreaker....
is an "innocent" who kills every night, in his own night-time phase, in some variations, having a limited "bullet" supply for the entire game. Some variations introduce a time limit of two nights before the player in the Killing Role can exercise his right to kill again. The Bomb may only trigger if targeted at night (not necessarily for death) by another role. Variants exist where this person can kill during the daytime cycle (e.g., the Terrorist / Gravedigger), sometimes only if executed during the daytime. The "Woodcutter" or "Hunter" can take one other person with them whenever they die.
Alignment roles
- —"Miller", "Godfather", "Alpha Wolf", "Wildcard", etc.
- Some roles can fool investigations to determine their alignments: the Miller is an Innocent who appears guilty (usually because they are an outsider); the Godfather, on the other hand, appears innocent despite being the Mafia leader. The "Alpha Wolf" or "Master Werewolf" have the same role as the Godfather in Werewolf settings.
Double-agent roles
- —"Godfather", "Traitor", "Possessed", "Undercover Cop", etc.
- The Traitor is not a mafioso, but works with their vote during the day cycle to protect the Mafia and hamper the town (he wins only with a Mafia victory). Conversely, "The rat", "stool pigeonInformantAn informant is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law enforcement world, where they are officially known as confidential or criminal informants , and can often refer pejoratively to the supply of information...
" or "undercover cop" is a moleMole (espionage)A mole is a spy who works for an enemy nation, but whose loyalty ostensibly lies with his own nation's government. In some usage, a mole differs from a defector in that a mole is a spy before gaining access to classified information, while a defector becomes a spy only after gaining access...
within the Mafia group (winning with the innocents). The "stool pigeon" may be the only optional role in play —one of the few modern forms played without an investigative role. The "stool pigeon" is often used in midwestern Mafia games. - "Judas" is an innocent who survives but becomes a "Traitor" when lynched (or vice versa, becoming a "Rat").
- There is an alternative definition of "Godfather" role from the Alignment role Godfather (who is immune to alignment-detection). This "Godfather" behaves as a standard mafioso, but wakes again (after the Mafia sleep) for an extra kill. This Godfather-role wins only if he survives.
Role manipulators
- —"Role-blocker", "Bus Driver", "Thief", "Barman", etc.
- These roles can stop or alter the night actions of others; for instance, they may prevent a protection or investigation from occurring, or they may change the target. The "Role-blocker" can block the Vigilante for a night, while the "Thief", "Prostitute" or "Hypnotizer" might be able to disable the powers of any selected target.
- When the "thief" is used in Werewolves, an additional townsfolk card is added before dealing, and the Thief may choose on the first night to "steal" the role of another player or to take the unused role card. The player whose role was stolen gets the unused role card and the Thief card is discarded.
Recruitment Roles
- —"Godfather", "Psychiatrist", "Piper", "Cult Leader", etc.
- The Mafia GodfatherCrime bossA crime boss or boss is a person in charge of a criminal organization. A boss typically has absolute or near-absolute control over his subordinates, is greatly feared by his subordinates for his ruthlessness and willingness to take lives in order to exert his influence, and profits come from the...
may be able to recruit innocent players into his faction under certain circumstances. The YakuzaYakuza, also known as , are members of traditional organized crime syndicates in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them bōryokudan , literally "violence group", while the yakuza call themselves "ninkyō dantai" , "chivalrous organizations". The yakuza are notoriously...
is a regular mafia player with an extra power: they may sacrifice themselves from the second night (during the night) and choose an innocent to join the mafia. - Each night, the scientistScientistA scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
selects a player to "cure"; if a mafioso is "cured", they awaken as an innocent. The PsychiatristPsychiatristA psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
is an innocent with the ability to convert the Serial KillerSerial killerA serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
into a normal innocent. - Cult LeadersCultThe word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
recruit "followers" at night instead of kill; they act as an independent faction, usually with the ability to talk at night. The "Piper" wins by "charming" every surviving player; she "charms" players at night, who then know each other (but not the piper) but are otherwise unaffected.
Association roles
- —"Freemasons (Masons)", "Siblings", "Lovers", "Police", etc.
- Possessors of these roles know one another and what their roles are. On the innocent's side, a "Mason" usually has no special abilities, but knows the identity of all other Masons and that all Masons are also innocent. Every member of "the detectives" or the police knows all the rest, because they collaborate at night to investigate someone (sharing the powers of the "Detective" role between them).
- SiblingSiblingSiblings are people who share at least one parent. A male sibling is called a brother; and a female sibling is called a sister. In most societies throughout the world, siblings usually grow up together and spend a good deal of their childhood socializing with one another...
pairs typically consist of one Mafia and one Innocent; if one dies, both die. CupidCupidIn Roman mythology, Cupid is the god of desire, affection and erotic love. He is the son of the goddess Venus and the god Mars. His Greek counterpart is Eros...
in Werewolves chooses a pair of "Lovers" on the first night. In this variant, the Lovers can also win the game (regardless of whether they are Mafia, Innocents, or both) by being the last two standing. In most versions, if one "Lover" is killed the other dies immediately.
Election roles
- —" "Doublevoter", "Priest", "Rabble Rouser", "Lawyer", etc.
- Until the "Rabble Rouser" dies there are two lynchings per day.
- In some games there are players who can change the vote count. Some players have 2 votes (Doublevoter); some players can only cast the final vote to kill a player (Actor); cannot vote to lynch (Voteless Innocent); must delegate someone else to vote for them (Fool), or require one fewer vote to lynch (Hated Innocent). The Priest cannot place the final vote (this role is not necessarily the same as the Reanimation-role priest). The lawyerLawyerA lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
selects someone during the night, and if that person tops the lynching vote the next day, saves them (a different lawyer role releases the willsWill (law)A will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...
written by players killed up to that point, when she dies).
Public roles
- —"Mayor", "Judge", "Sheriff", "President", etc.
- This role is taken in addition to the assigned role, and it endows the player with additional, overtOpennessOpenness is the quality of being open. It sometimes refers to a very general philosophical position from which some individuals and organizations operate, often highlighted by a decision-making process recognizing communal management by distributed stakeholders rather than a centralized authority...
, powers (particularly during the daytime). Empowerment can be random, but is usually made by vote. For instance, the "Mayor" or "Sheriff" can be elected each morning, and gain two lynching votes, or a Judge could moderate discussion in parliamentaryParliamentary procedureParliamentary procedure is the body of rules, ethics, and customs governing meetings and other operations of clubs, organizations, legislative bodies, and other deliberative assemblies...
fashion (to the advantage of their "team"). The elected "PresidentPresidentA president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
" has the sole lynching vote.
Handicapped roles
- —"Murr", "Village Drunk", "Teenage Werewolf", etc.
- This may be a secondary role, taken in addition to the assigned role. However, it has the opposite effect, giving the bearer a handicap, like speaking only gibberishGibberishGibberish is a generic term in English for talking that sounds like speech, but carries no actual meaning. This meaning has also been extended to meaningless text or gobbledygook. The common theme in gibberish statements is a lack of literal sense, which can be described as a presence of nonsense...
in the case of the Village Drunk, etc. - Alternatively, it may be a standard role with a particular constraint, such as the teenage werewolfI Was a Teenage WerewolfI Was a Teenage Werewolf is a 1957 horror film starring Michael Landon as a troubled teenager and Whit Bissell as the primary adult. It was co-written and produced by cult film producer Herman Cohen, and was one of the most successful films released by American International Pictures...
, who must say the word "werewolf" at least once each day.
Handicapper roles
- —"Silencer", "Dentist", etc.
- The Dentist may select any other player at night, and remove all of their teeth to prevent them speaking during the following day. The "Silencer" is a mafioso with the identical power, except that they may not silence the same player on successive days. The silenced individual wakes in the morning and is immediately instructed not to talk until the end of the day. They can still raise their hand to vote in live games, but being silenced in online games typically prevents any postings, including that needed to vote.
Post-mortem roles
- —"Dark Background", "Priest", "Medium", "Coroner", etc.
- The "dark background" roles are standard (mafia or innocent) except for revealing a deceptive alignment when killed. The "M.E.Medical examinerA medical examiner is a medically qualified government officer whose duty is to investigate deaths and injuries that occur under unusual or suspicious circumstances, to perform post-mortem examinations, and in some jurisdictions to initiate inquests....
" gathers information from the killings that can help the innocents, while the "Priest" learns about the alignment of the dead in the same way that the Detective learns about the living. The MediumMediumshipMediumship is described as a form of communication with spirits. It is a practice in religious beliefs such as Spiritualism, Spiritism, Espiritismo, Candomblé, Voodoo and Umbanda.- Concept :...
can interrogate dead players. While the coronerCoronerA coroner is a government official who* Investigates human deaths* Determines cause of death* Issues death certificates* Maintains death records* Responds to deaths in mass disasters* Identifies unknown dead* Other functions depending on local laws...
survives, the narrator will explain the means of death in all night kills.
Reanimation roles
- —"Reviver", "Governor", "Martyr", "Witch", etc.
- Revivers and "Master Revivers" are able to resurrect dead players, Master Revivers can bring the revived into their association (e.g., the Masons: see Association roles). The players resurrected by a Necromancer are converted to the Necromancer's alignment; those revived by the voodooistBokorBokors in the religion of vodou are sorcerers or houngan or mambo for hire who are said to 'serve the loa with both hands', meaning that they practice both dark magic and light magic...
join a separate "zombie" group. The "Governor" can reprieve those killed during the daytime, as can the "Martyr" if he sacrifices himself. The Witch has a (single-use) revival potionElixirAn elixir is a clear, sweet-flavored liquid used for medicinal purposes, to be taken orally and intended to cure one's ills. When used as a pharmaceutical preparation, an elixir contains at least one active ingredient designed to be taken orally....
. At night, she's shown who will die in the morning, and can choose to save them.
Rule-immune Roles
- —"Bulletproof", "Oracle", Elder", etc.
- The "Bulletproof" innocent is invulnerable at night, though usually with limits; for example, the "Elder" will survive the first night attack, but not the second.
- The OracleOracleIn Classical Antiquity, an oracle was a person or agency considered to be a source of wise counsel or prophetic predictions or precognition of the future, inspired by the gods. As such it is a form of divination....
has an investigative role similar to a "Seer" but also has the power to talk when inactive (talking in a "sleep" phase is usually a rule infraction).
Special roles
- —"Baker", "Village Idiot", "Cobbler", etc.
- The baker is on the side of the innocents. During the night, the baker gives one player a "loaf of bread", potentially revealing his identity. If the baker dies, the innocents have just three nights to dispose of the mafia, or the innocents starveStarvationStarvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy, nutrient and vitamin intake. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage and eventually, death...
, and the mafia win. The Cobbler, "Village IdiotVillage idiotThe village idiot in strict terms is a person locally known for ignorance or stupidity, but is also a common term for a stereotypically silly or nonsensical person. The term is also used as a stereotype of the mentally disabled...
", or Jester has the objective of convincing the town to kill him, or is required to vote in favor of all proposed lynchings. Sometimes, successful lynching of the "Village Idiot" results in the mafia being able to kill two people that night.
Complicated roles
Additional variations exist, sometimes with even more specialized or complicated abilities. There are endless special roles, and many moderators design novel roles for each game.Rule variations
Over the years, players have created Mafia variants that include additional characters and rules; some of these are listed here.Variations on the win conditions
If there are as many mafioso as innocents in the day-phase then a mafia victory is declared immediately, under vanilla Mafia rules. (Barring the use of role powers it would then be impossible for the innocents to vote off all mafia members before all innocents are killed.) Other variants suspend this rule, and only declare the game after every member of one faction has been eliminated. There are several reasons not to end the game while innocents are alive:- It makes the game easier to explain, and run.
- The variant may have mechanics that allow the out-numbered innocents to win (e.g. via protection or resurrection of innocents)
- Or because other win conditionsVictoryVictory is successful conclusion of a fight or competition..Victory may refer to:**strategic victory**tactical victory** Pyrrhic victory, a victory at heavy cost to the victorious party**Victory columns**Victory Monuments**Victory personified...
are in-play for certain players, and need the game to finish to be judged.
Other win conditions that may be assigned include:
- The "Cupid and the Lovers" variant; the Lovers can also win by being the last two in the game even if one is Mafia while the other is Innocent -in these cases the game is played until a definite outcome is reached. (Even if three mafioso and two innocents remain it is important to the Lovers which of the innocents is killed.)
- If a game has a card assigned "Head Mafia" or Don role, a variation has the Innocent members win when they vote successfully for the execution of the Don, regardless if there are other surviving Mafia members remaining.
- The Survivor is a neutral player, and wins when any other team or player wins (the survivor merely needs to avoid elimination).
- To win, a player must be lynched (the "jester").
Election variants
Nominees for lynching may be allowed to make a speech in their own defense.Usually, each player must vote, can only vote once and cannot vote for themselves. But some variants have a more complicated process of selecting players to be executed. Davidoff's original 'Mafia' allowed multiple day-time executions (per day), each needing only a plurality to action.
Voting variants abound
Voting system
A voting system or electoral system is a method by which voters make a choice between options, often in an election or on a policy referendum....
, but any lynching usually requires an absolute majority of the electorate, or votes cast. So, the voting is usually not by secret ballot
Secret ballot
The secret ballot is a voting method in which a voter's choices in an election or a referendum are anonymous. The key aim is to ensure the voter records a sincere choice by forestalling attempts to influence the voter by intimidation or bribery. The system is one means of achieving the goal of...
for multiple candidates, with the highest vote count eliminated; it is more usual for the voting to be openly resolved either by:
- A nomination or series of elections structured to ultimately offer a choice between two candidatesTwo-round systemThe two-round system is a voting system used to elect a single winner where the voter casts a single vote for their chosen candidate...
, or - An option to lynch (or not lynch) one suspect (with a new suspect produced if the last one survives the vote).
Tied votes
Deadlocked electionsSplit vote
A split vote is normally used synonymously with "deadlocked", "hung", or "evenly split" vote. It indicates a vote in which no decision can be made, as neither side has the majority....
can be resolved by lot, or by killing the player with the scapegoat
Scapegoat
Scapegoating is the practice of singling out any party for unmerited negative treatment or blame. Scapegoating may be conducted by individuals against individuals , individuals against groups , groups against individuals , and groups against groups Scapegoating is the practice of singling out any...
special role.
The special case of one mafioso and one innocent remaining can be decided randomly, or be ruled a Mafia win (this is more usual in live play).
Another form, tie-breaking, can be had with a seance
Séance
A séance is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word "séance" comes from the French word for "seat," "session" or "sitting," from the Old French "seoir," "to sit." In French, the word's meaning is quite general: one may, for example, speak of "une séance de cinéma"...
of the person who was last killed by the mafia, since night has not yet fallen and they have not yet seen the mafia during the night phase.
Optional lynch variant
The Innocents can choose not to kill anybody during the day. Although commonly unsure of Mafia identities, the Innocents are more likely to randomly kill a mafioso than are the Mafia (at night). Therefore, not lynching anyone (even at random) will typically favor the Mafia.However, when the number of survivors is even, "No Kill" may help the Innocents; for example, when three Innocents and one mafioso remain, "No kill" gives a 1/3 chance of killing the mafioso the next day, rather than a 1/4 chance today (assuming random lynching). Lynching an innocent either day gives a Mafia win.
Timed days
A public timer is set to a pre-determined length at the beginning of each day. If the players lynch someone, then the day ends immediately. If time runs out, the day is over and there is no lynching, or the person with the most votes is lynched.Mafia killing methods
Some variants require all Mafia members to choose the same victim independently for a kill to succeed. This can be achieved either by waking the Mafia members up separately, or by having them write their kills. Under this variant, Innocent players write the word 'honest' on a piece of paper; Mafia members write the name of a player for elimination. If all the mafia notes have the same name on them, that player is considered killed by the Mafia. In some online versions of the game, a particular player (the Godfather or a designated mafioso) must send in the kill. Another variant requires the night-time vote to be secret and unanimous, but allows multiple players to be added to the execution queueQueue area
Queue areas are places in which people queue for goods or services. Examples include checking out groceries or other goods that have been collected in a self service shop, in a shop without self service, at an ATM, at a ticket desk, a city bus, or in a taxi stand.Queueing is a phenomenon in a...
to ensure unanimity.
Random narrator
To eliminate the inconvenience of being killed first, this variant has the Innocent killed on the first night become the Narrator. The Mafia must inform this victim of their death without revealing themselves. The writing variant works best.Multiple families
Multiple, independent groups of mafia or werewolves act and win independently, giving faster game-play and the potential for "cross-fire" between the factions.Imprisonment
This allows players to be sent to prisonPrison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
as an alternative to execution. They can either be sent there by vote or at the discretion of an optional character. Imprisoned players move to a separate room, possibly with a separate narrator. Murders can happen in prison and certain roles or events can liberate players.
A similar variant is Kidnapping, which allows for a Kidnapper character to remove individuals from the game temporarily. If the kidnapper is killed (or, in some cases, investigated by an Investigative role), the kidnapped return. While kidnapped, players are inactive, and cannot watch night-time events.
Plague
A random player dies of plague each morning. A player who had targeted the plagued player the previous night may be infected.Punishment
This variant is generally used as a drinking or risk based game. When a person is killed in the game they are made to take a punishment. In drinking circles this may be a shotShot glass
A shot glass is a small glass designed to hold or measure spirits or liquor, which is either drunk straight from the glass or poured into a mixed drink....
of Gin
Gin
Gin is a spirit which derives its predominant flavour from juniper berries . Although several different styles of gin have existed since its origins, it is broadly differentiated into two basic legal categories...
or Vodka
Vodka
Vodka , is a distilled beverage. It is composed primarily of water and ethanol with traces of impurities and flavorings. Vodka is made by the distillation of fermented substances such as grains, potatoes, or sometimes fruits....
.
Lives
This variant requires the Narrator to keep track of the players' lives on a piece of paper, because every player has two or more lives. This extends the game when there are too few players for the standard rules. Kills (in the night & day phases) reduce these lives, until a player reaches zero lives and is eliminated. Mafia 'kills' which reduce lives are usually not announced to the innocents.Attributes
In this variant, players are given two cards: the first contains their role, the second an attribute. Attributes were originally derived from roles that could apply to both Mafia and Innocent alignments such as Bulletproof (cannot be killed at night), Mayor (has two votes in the lynch), and Siamese Twins (more commonly known as Siblings or Lovers).Ultimate Werewolf
The day time rounds remain the same as players sit around a table or in a circle in the candlelit "base". The night time rounds are played roaming around the house in complete darkness. Innocents are "killed" by the werewolf tapping the victim on the shoulder in the dark. The victim must wait fifteen seconds until screaming in order to allow the werewolf to get away. Once an innocent is killed by the werewolf, everyone re-assembles in the base for the day time round. This variant of the game includes the "Little Girl" character who is allowed to collect a flash light from a prearranged place (e.g. at the bottom of the stairs) at the beginning of each night time round. Innocents who have been killed in the game become "zombies" and roam around in the dark (after a 30 second advantage on the innocents) in each night time round. Lovers need to find each other in the dark and protect each other from the werewolf.Quantum Werewolf
This variant was developed by Steven Irrgang and used for a puzzle in the 2008 CISRA Puzzle Competition. He later published more formal rules so that it could be a fully playable variant. The difference from a standard game of Mafia is that players are not initially assigned roles, but rather on each day are given the probabilities describing the game's current quantum state. Each player with a non-zero probability of being a seer or a werewolf performs the appropriate night actions (which may not be effective if it is later determined that the player did not have that role). When a player is killed, the wave function collapses and the players are given updated probabilities.Train Mafia
Traditional Mafia re-envisioned and heavily modified by the Copenhagen Game CollectiveCopenhagen Game Collective
Copenhagen Game Collective is a multi-gender, multi-national, non-profit game design collective based in Copenhagen, Denmark. The collective comprises a tight network of different companies, non-commercial projects, and creative individuals....
to be played in a subway metro. In this variation, players who are 'lynched' are kicked off the train (at the next stop), and must wait in shame for the following train – a kind of 'afterlife' train – to join a second, interwoven game." (Follow the link for a full description).
Online play
Mafia is commonly played online. These games last longer, and allow player's votes and words to be reviewed more easily. Online play typically means Internet forumInternet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
-play, although real-time browser-based implementations are also popular.
The standard human-moderated games in forum mafia require one or two moderators: a sign up thread is created announcing the game, and once the game has sufficient players, play can begin. Mafiosi communicate via email
Email
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
or a similar system before submitting their kill to the moderator. The moderator then writes the appropriate death scene
Scene (fiction)
In fiction, a scene is a unit of drama. A sequel is what follows; an aftermath. Together, scene and sequel provide the building blocks of plot for short stories, novels, and other forms of fiction.-Characteristics of a scene:...
for those that were eliminated, and posts a dawn scene. Software can automate the moderator function, but this is rarer. Players then discuss in the forum who they should execute, followed by an execution vote. Innocents are usually forbidden in-game communication outside of the public forum.
Mafia is also played on IRC (Internet Relay Chat) using private messages to send votes and channel modes to allow private communication during the night. There's a lot of variety in IRC mafia channels, and one IRC variant includes a graphical Flash client. The film Cry Wolf was promoted through a wolves vs sheep variant, played over AOL Instant Messenger
AOL Instant Messenger
AOL Instant Messenger is an instant messaging and presence computer program which uses the proprietary OSCAR instant messaging protocol and the TOC protocol to allow registered users to communicate in real time. It was released by AOL in May 1997...
. Versions of Mafia have also been created on BYOND and Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
as well as for PBEM.
Fictional reality themes are common in online play, which will work with any group of well known characters. The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
, Hanna Barbera, The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
, Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
have been used, for example, because of their extensive character sets. Players are assigned characters from the theme, with matching roles. Generic themes are also popular - such as Werewolf-theme.
Mathematical study
Mafia is a complicated game to model, so most analysis of optimal play has assumed both: (a) that there are only townsfolk and mafiosi, and (b) that the townsfolk never have a probability of identifying the Mafia that is better than chance. Early treatment of the game concentrated on simulation, while more recent studies have tried to derive closed-form equilibrium solutions for perfect play.In 2006, the computer scientists Braverman, Etesami and Mossel proved that without detectives and with perfect players
Homo economicus
Homo economicus, or Economic human, is the concept in some economic theories of humans as rational and narrowly self-interested actors who have the ability to make judgments toward their subjectively defined ends...
the randomized strategy is optimal for both citizens and mafia
Nash equilibrium
In game theory, Nash equilibrium is a solution concept of a game involving two or more players, in which each player is assumed to know the equilibrium strategies of the other players, and no player has anything to gain by changing only his own strategy unilaterally...
. They showed that when there are a large number
Asymptotic analysis
In mathematical analysis, asymptotic analysis is a method of describing limiting behavior. The methodology has applications across science. Examples are...
of players to give both groups similar probability of winning, the initial number of mafiosi m need to be proportional to the square root of the total number of players P, that is
.With a simulation, they confirmed that 50 mafiosi would have almost a 50% chance to win among 10,000. The Mafia's chance of victory is
which is a good approximation when the right hand side is below 40%. If any detectives are added to the game, Braverman et al. proved that the number of mafiosi must remain at a fixed proportion of the total number of players for their chance of winning to remain constant.
In 2008, Erlin Yao derived specific analytical bounds for the mafia's win probability when there are no detectives.
In a paper from 2010, exact formula for the probability that the mafia wins was found. Moreover, it was shown that the parity of the initial number of players plays an important role. In particular, when the number of mafiosi is fixed and an odd player is added to the game (and ties are resolved by coin flips
Coin flipping
Coin flipping or coin tossing or heads or tails is the practice of throwing a coin in the air to choose between two alternatives, sometimes to resolve a dispute between two parties...
), the mafia-winning chance do not drop but rise by a factor of approx.
(equality in the limitLimit (mathematics)
In mathematics, the concept of a "limit" is used to describe the value that a function or sequence "approaches" as the input or index approaches some value. The concept of limit allows mathematicians to define a new point from a Cauchy sequence of previously defined points within a complete metric...
of the infinite number of players).
Results in live play
In live (or videoconference) real-time play, the innocents typically win more often than game theoryGame theory
Game theory is a mathematical method for analyzing calculated circumstances, such as in games, where a person’s success is based upon the choices of others...
suggests. Several reasons for this have been advanced:
- The physiological stress of sustained lying degrades the initial ability of mafiosi to deceive the innocents, much more than a model of perfect play would predict, especially if the innocents can get the town emotionally involved in the game's outcome:
- The information revealed by the mafiosi voting patterns tells against them later in the game. One of the game's fans in the software industry, Max Ventilla, has found, "If the villagers are allowed to keep a pencil and paper, they always win."
- As players get more experienced their strategic sophistication and ability to spot and use deception increasesLearningLearning is acquiring new or modifying existing knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, or preferences and may involve synthesizing different types of information. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals and some machines. Progress over time tends to follow learning curves.Human learning...
. They will typically get better at the skills needed for playing innocents faster, being villagers more often than mafiosi.
- The Metagame aspect: Dimma Davidoff has said, "Past connections will always lose to future collaborations". When playing severalRepeated gameIn game theory, a repeated game is an extensive form game which consists in some number of repetitions of some base game . The stage game is usually one of the well-studied 2-person games...
Mafia games with the same people, it's more helpful to be known for honestyHonestyHonesty refers to a facet of moral character and denotes positive, virtuous attributes such as integrity, truthfulness, and straightforwardness along with the absence of lying, cheating, or theft....
than for deceit. Davidoff considers that so important that he thinks the advantages of playing the mafioso role "honestly" outweigh the disadvantages.
But, the Mafia can win in live play; their best chance of winning occurs when mafioso bond
Human bonding
Human bonding is the process of development of a close, interpersonal relationship. It most commonly takes place between family members or friends, but can also develop among groups such as sporting teams and whenever people spend time together...
with their innocent neighbours and convince those neighbours to value that bond over dispassionate analysis. The game designers Salen and Zimmerman have written that the deep emergent
Emergent gameplay
Emergent gameplay refers to complex situations in video games, board games, or table top role-playing games that emerge from the interaction of relatively simple game mechanics....
social game play in Mafia (combined with the fear of elimination) create ideal conditions for this.
External links
- The original Mafia ruleset
- Hungarian Mensa Society - first Mafia page on the net
- Werewolf at BoardGameGeekBoardGameGeekBoardGameGeek is a website that was founded in January 2000 by Scott Alden and Derk Solko as a resource for the board gaming hobby. The database holds reviews, articles, and session reports for over 45,000 different games, expansions, and designers. BoardGameGeek includes German-style board games,...
- How to play mafia: A wiki how-to article
- Mafiascum Mafia Wiki - explanation on terminology, strategy & roles of mafia play, in particular "forum" mafia