Mafia

Section 1: Introduction

Mafia is a conversational social-deduction game in which an informed minority, the Mafia, competes against an uninformed majority, the Town. Players receive secret roles, debate whom they trust, and vote to eliminate suspected opponents. The Mafia know one another and secretly remove players at night, while Town players must discover the Mafia through discussion, voting patterns, and careful observation.

One participant serves as the moderator and directs the alternating night and day phases. During the night, players close their eyes while eligible roles secretly perform actions. During the day, the moderator announces the public result of the night, the surviving players discuss the situation, and the group conducts an elimination vote.

Objective

• Town: Eliminate every living Mafia member.
• Mafia: Reach a position in which the Mafia equal or outnumber the other living players, provided no Town ability can immediately prevent Mafia control.
• Neutral roles: If included, achieve the special winning condition announced for that role before play begins.

The rules below present a complete casual version of Mafia. Because the game has no single universal governing body, groups commonly adjust role names, voting procedures, and special abilities. All house rules should be explained before roles are assigned, and hidden information should change only through the normal course of play.

Recommended First Game

For a simple introductory game, use seven active players and one moderator: two Mafia members and five Town members. Once the group understands the basic rhythm, one Town member may become a Detective and another may become a Doctor. Larger groups can add roles, but the moderator should keep the Mafia near one quarter to one third of the active players.

Section 2: Equipment

No physical equipment is required. A moderator may privately assign roles by whispering to each player or by using another agreed method that reveals each role only to its owner. The game can therefore be played entirely through spoken instructions, gestures, discussion, and voting.

Optional Play Aids

Groups often use role cards or folded paper slips to make assignment easier, but these are optional and are not required to compete. If role cards are used, each one should identify the role clearly and briefly explain its night action, team, and winning condition. Cards should have indistinguishable backs so that roles cannot be inferred before or during play.

A timer may be used to limit discussion, and a score sheet may be used during a series of games. Name tags, seating charts, or markers can help large groups track living and eliminated players. None of these aids changes the fundamental rules, and the moderator must not allow their appearance or placement to reveal secret information.

Preparing Role Information

• Prepare exactly one secret role for every active player.
• Count and verify the role distribution before assignment.
• State the roles that may appear in the game, unless the group has agreed to use a hidden setup.
• Explain unusual abilities and tie procedures without revealing who holds those roles.
• Keep unused roles out of sight so they do not reveal the final setup.

Section 3: Playing Area

Play in a quiet area where every participant can hear the moderator and every living player can take part in the discussion. A circle or arrangement around a table works well because players can see one another during the day while remaining in place during the night.

Seating and Visibility

• Seat players far enough apart that they cannot easily detect a neighbor's secret gestures.
• During the night, all players must be able to close or cover their eyes comfortably.
• The moderator should be able to observe every player and move or gesture without exposing hidden actions.
• Remove mirrors, reflective screens, or other surfaces that could reveal night activity.
• Use steady background noise if ordinary movement sounds would otherwise disclose a role.

Online Play

Mafia may also be played through voice or video chat. The moderator privately communicates roles and night choices through an agreed confidential channel. Living players participate in the main discussion, while eliminated players remain silent or move to a separate spectator channel. Private messages between players are prohibited unless the selected variation expressly allows them.

Player Access

The playing area should accommodate the needs of all participants. Players who cannot comfortably close their eyes may look downward, use an agreed visual barrier, or receive night prompts through a private accessible method. The moderator should establish nonverbal alternatives for players who need them and ensure that accommodations do not identify anyone's role.

Section 4: Players & Officials

Group Size

A practical game normally has six to twenty active players plus one moderator. Smaller groups tend to produce short, highly volatile games, while larger groups benefit from timed discussion and structured nominations. The moderator does not belong to either team and is not counted when checking a winning condition.

Core Roles

• Townsperson: Has no night action. Participates in discussion and voting and wins when all Mafia members are eliminated.
• Mafia member: Knows the other Mafia members and participates in selecting a night target. Wins when the Mafia control the vote by equaling or outnumbering the remaining opposition.
• Moderator: Assigns roles, conducts phases, records actions, resolves conflicts, counts votes, announces results, and protects all secret information.

Common Special Roles

• Detective: Each night investigates one living player. The moderator privately indicates whether that player is aligned with the Mafia. The Detective ordinarily belongs to the Town.
• Doctor: Each night protects one living player. If the Mafia target that player, the target survives. Before play, announce whether the Doctor may protect themself or protect the same person on consecutive nights.
• Vigilante: A Town-aligned player who may eliminate a target at night, often only once per game. This role is best used in larger groups.
• Roleblocker: Chooses a player whose night ability does not take effect. The moderator must announce how blocking interacts with other abilities before play.

Balance Guidelines

For six to nine active players, use one Mafia member for roughly every three or four players. For ten or more active players, a Mafia team near one quarter of the group usually creates a fair starting point. Strong investigative or protective roles favor the Town, while Mafia disruption abilities favor the Mafia. New groups should begin with few special roles and adjust future setups based on game length and player experience.

Player Responsibilities

Every player must keep their role secret unless the rules allow them to claim it during discussion. Players may bluff about their own roles, but they may not display hidden assignment material, use outside proof, communicate secretly without permission, or impersonate the moderator. Eliminated players cease participating except as silent spectators.

Section 5: Rules of Play

Setup

1. Select a moderator and agree on the role list, special-role interactions, reveal policy, voting procedure, and tie rule.
2. The moderator randomly assigns one secret role to each active player.
3. Players privately learn their roles and keep them concealed.
4. The moderator begins with a setup night so the Mafia can identify one another. Other roles act on that night only if the announced setup permits it.

Night Phase

The moderator instructs all players to close their eyes and remain silent. Roles are awakened one at a time in a consistent order. A common order is roleblocking, protection, investigation, Mafia elimination, and other killing abilities, but the moderator may use another order if all interactions have been settled in advance.

When called, the Mafia silently agree on one living target. If they cannot agree within a reasonable time, the moderator may accept the choice supported by a majority of participating Mafia members or declare that no Mafia elimination occurs, according to the announced procedure. The Doctor indicates a protection target, and the Detective indicates an investigation target. The moderator acknowledges each legal selection without speaking information that others could use.

After all actions are recorded, the moderator resolves them together according to the established priority. A protected Mafia target survives. A blocked player normally produces no action. An investigation returns the target's alignment unless a special role explicitly changes that result. Players eliminated during the same night do not normally lose an action already submitted unless the chosen house rules state that actions resolve sequentially.

Day Phase

The moderator tells everyone to open their eyes and announces which players, if any, were eliminated during the night. The moderator reveals only the information allowed by the chosen reveal policy. Living players then discuss suspicions, defenses, voting history, and role claims. Bluffing about one's role or reasoning is part of the game; using information obtained outside the game is not.

Nominations and Voting

1. A living player nominates another living player for elimination.
2. The nominee receives a fair opportunity to respond.
3. The moderator calls for votes using the method announced before play.
4. Each living player has one vote and may vote only as permitted by that method.
5. The player receiving the required result is eliminated and immediately stops participating.

For casual play, use a single simultaneous vote after discussion. The living player with the most votes is eliminated. If two or more players tie, conduct a runoff among the tied players after a short discussion. If the runoff also ties, no player is eliminated that day. The moderator should count visibly or repeat each recorded vote so the result can be checked.

End of the Game

After every elimination or completed action cycle, the moderator checks the winning conditions. The Town wins immediately when no Mafia members remain alive. The Mafia win when their living members equal or outnumber all other living players and no unresolved ability can stop them from controlling subsequent eliminations. If a neutral role is used, its special condition is checked at the time specified during setup.

Common House Rules and Variations

• No-role reveal: Eliminated players' alignments and roles remain secret, making deductions more difficult.
• Full reveal: The moderator announces an eliminated player's exact role. This is friendly to new players.
• Alignment reveal: Only Town, Mafia, or neutral alignment is announced.
• Timed days: Discussion lasts a fixed period, commonly five to ten minutes, followed immediately by nominations or a vote.
• Majority elimination: A player is eliminated only after receiving more than half of the living players' votes. The day may end without an elimination.
• Secret ballot: Votes are submitted privately to the moderator and announced after everyone has voted.
• Last words: An eliminated player may make one brief final statement but may not reveal physical proof of a role.
• Werewolf theme: Mafia members are called Werewolves and Town members are called Villagers; the underlying play remains the same.

Section 6: Scoring

A single game is normally decided by its winning condition rather than by points. All members of the victorious alignment share the win, including teammates eliminated earlier. A player does not lose team membership merely because they were eliminated, and surviving until the end is not a separate victory unless the group announces such a condition.

Match Play

For a casual series, award one match point to every player on the winning team. The moderator records no point for that round. Rotate the moderator so each participant has a similar number of opportunities to play. After the agreed number of games, the player with the most match points wins the series; tied players share the result.

Optional Balance Scoring

Groups that want to account for unequal team sizes may award each winning Town player one point and each winning Mafia player two points. This reflects that the Mafia team has fewer members, but it can overreward an unbalanced setup. Announce the scoring system before the first game and use it unchanged throughout the series.

Optional Achievement Bonuses

• A surviving member of the winning team may receive one bonus point.
• A Detective may receive one bonus point for correctly identifying a Mafia member through an investigation before being eliminated.
• A Doctor may receive one bonus point for successfully preventing an elimination.

Achievement bonuses are purely optional and can encourage players to prioritize personal rewards over their team's best strategy. Team-only scoring is recommended when cooperation and straightforward results are more important than individual statistics.

Section 7: Violations & Penalties

The moderator should correct minor mistakes consistently and reserve removal from the game for conduct that compromises hidden information, repeatedly disrupts play, or harms another participant. Whenever possible, a penalty should restore fairness without revealing more information than the violation already exposed.

Common Violations

• Opening one's eyes, peeking, or using reflections during the night.
• Speaking, signaling, or intentionally making identifying sounds during the night when not instructed to act.
• Showing role material or using outside proof to establish a claim.
• Communicating privately with another player when private communication is not part of the selected variation.
• Continuing to speak, gesture, vote, or provide strategic information after elimination.
• Consulting recordings, messages, spectators, or information from outside the current game.
• Deliberately delaying a choice or refusing to follow the moderator's procedure.
• Harassing, threatening, or targeting another participant with personal remarks unrelated to game strategy.

Penalty Guidelines

1. Correction: For an accidental procedural error with no useful information exposed, the moderator restates the rule and continues.
2. Warning: For a minor or repeated disruption, the moderator gives a clear warning. A second violation may lead to loss of a vote or removal.
3. Invalid action: An illegal night choice or vote is rejected. If time remains, the moderator may allow a legal replacement without identifying the player's role.
4. Removal: A player who intentionally cheats, repeatedly disrupts play, or ignores safety boundaries may be removed from the game. The moderator announces how that removal affects the setup without disclosing unnecessary secrets.
5. Restart: If exposed information makes fair continuation impossible early in the game, the moderator may cancel the round, reshuffle all roles, and begin again.

Moderator Errors

If the moderator awakens the wrong role, gives an incorrect investigation result, or reveals secret information, play should pause. The moderator should correct the error only when that can be done without creating a greater leak. If the error materially changes the game and cannot be repaired, the round should be declared void. An honest moderator mistake should not be treated as a player violation.

Disputed Results

The moderator's procedural ruling governs the current round. After the game, participants may discuss the ruling and clarify the house rule for future rounds. Secret roles should not be revealed during an active dispute unless play has ended or the round has been declared void.

Section 8: Safety Considerations

Mafia is a low-contact activity, but its themes involve accusation, deception, and fictional elimination. Before play, confirm that everyone is comfortable with the premise. Groups playing with children or participants who dislike crime themes may use Villagers and Werewolves, spies and agents, or another lighthearted theme.

Physical Safety

• Players should remain seated or still during night phases unless the playing area is clear and movement is required.
• Keep walkways free of bags, cords, and furniture hazards, especially when the room is dimmed.
• Do not turn off all lighting if doing so would create a fall risk.
• Do not touch another player to communicate a night action unless everyone has expressly agreed to that method.
• Allow players to keep their eyes lowered instead of tightly closed if closing them causes discomfort.

Emotional Safety and Respect

Accusations must stay within the fictional game. Players may challenge statements and strategies, but they should not use real-life secrets, protected characteristics, personal insecurities, or past conflicts as leverage. Shouting, intimidation, unwanted contact, and humiliating remarks are never legitimate deduction tactics.

Agree on a pause signal before play. Any participant may use it if discussion becomes overwhelming or uncomfortable. The moderator should pause without requiring the player to justify the request publicly. A player may leave the game at any time; the moderator should resolve the departure using the same announced procedure used for other removals.

Privacy and Accessibility

Do not record audio, video, private messages, or night actions without everyone's informed permission. Provide written role descriptions, repeated verbal prompts, or private accessible signals when needed. Timed discussions should allow reasonable communication accommodations, and no player should be penalized for using them.

Healthy Session Length

Take breaks during long sessions and stop if fatigue makes secret actions unreliable or discussion hostile. The purpose of Mafia is shared entertainment: deception belongs to the fictional roles, while consent, fairness, and respect govern the people playing them.