How to Play Mafia
648,401
Published 2014-12-05
Para verlo en español, mira este video: • Cómo jugar a la Mafia
Being the Moderator is the hardest role because one slip of the tongue with a pronoun or other detail can quickly ruin that player's game.
RULES:
There are two teams: The Mafia and the townspeople. The mafia’s objective is to kill all the townspeople. The townspeople’s objective is to figure out who the Mafia is and kill them before they are all dead. This game is played best with 12-16 players
Setup
One player must be a non-playing moderator who narrates and runs the game. Get a standard deck of playing cards and take out 1 card for each player playing (again the moderator is not playing) Based on how many players are playing about a fourth of the cards should be Jacks up to a maximum of 4, how ever many Jacks you have subtract 1 and have that many kings. Have 1 ace and the rest are the numbered cards.
Shuffle the cards and give 1 to each player. Players keep these hidden from one another. If you have a Jack you are a Mafia. If you have a King, you are a sheriff, if you have the ace, you are the doctor, and if you have any other card you are a townsperson. The Sheriffs and Doctor are on the townspeople team.
The game has repeatable stages for each round that mimics a day. The start of each round is night, and all the players “go to sleep” close their eyes. The moderator then indicates to the Mafia to “wake up” and open their eyes. Then through silent communication of pointing, the Mafia comes to a unanimous decision about which player they would like to kill. The moderator takes note and has the Mafia go back to sleep. The Moderator then wakes up the sheriffs, and again through silent communication of pointing, the Sheriffs unanimously accuse one person of who they think might be the Mafia. The Moderator then nods or shakes his to indicate if that player is a Mafia. The sheriffs go back to sleep and the Doctor is woken up. Through silent communication of pointing the doctor chooses one person to prevent the mafia from killing (they may choose themselves). The moderator nods or shakes his head at the doctor to indicate if the doctor picked the same player that the mafia picked. The Doctor goes back to sleep, then everyone wakes up.
The Moderator tells a story about who the mafia killed and if the doctor saved them, the victim is the only identity revealed. If the victim wasn’t saved by the doctor, they reveal their card and are out of the game.
The next phase is the daytime trial when the townspeople get to kill someone. All the players now begin talking and accusing whoever they think is the Mafia. To put someone on trial that person needs to be accused, 2nd and 3rd by 3 different people. That person is now on trial and all other accusations stop. (If after some time no one is accusing anyone else and moderator has asked for an accusation and there is none, everyone goes to back sleep.)
Back to the trial. Whoever first accused the defendant is on trial with him. Starting with the accuser, he makes a 30 second case as to why the defendant needs to die. The defendant then gives a 30 second reason why he shouldn’t die.
Next everyone votes simultaneously with a thumbs up or thumbs down as to whether the defendant should live. If the majority give a thumbs up he lives and continues playing the game; but if the majority gives a thumbs down he dies and reveals his identity card and is out of the game. This ends the round and everyone goes back to sleep.
However, should the defendant receive majority thumbs up then the accuser stands trial and must give a defense.
The game continues until all the Mafia are dead, and the townspeople win, or until there are 3 people left at the end of the day and one of them is still Mafia, then the Mafia wins.
All Comments (21)
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finally I can understand what Bts keeps playing. Edit: BTS meaning beyond the summit, it's an e-sports organization, apparently there is some k-pop band named BTS also that plays this game? Anyway I meant beyond the summit not the k-pop band🤣 thanks for so many internet points tho!!
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So that's how Mafia works..
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The version I used to play is different. 2 Mafia, 1 Sheriff, 1 Doc. Almost no matter what group size provided it doesn't go over 20.
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Me: "I think I can try this," This Guy: "This game should be played by 12-16 players" Me: "..."
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We play this at school with around 20-25 students it’s harder but still fun. Usually we never get time to finish unless the detective is killed. We didn’t use cards though we would sit in a circle on the floor and the teacher would say “if I tap you on the head your are the doctor” etc. then she would tap someone on the head.
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I play at like this: -at least 5 players -roles are: Mafia Detective Nurse Innocent (at least 2) Everyone sits in a circle. The narrator/moderator gives out pieces of paper saying what role you have. Once you can remember it forever, you put your card upside down into the middle of the circle. (Also, If there are more than 5 players, there can either be more innocents or another mafia.) Everyone closes their eyes when the narrator says, “it’s nighttime.” Then, when everyone’s asleep, the moderator says; “Mafia, awaken.” Then the Mafia awakens. “Who would you like to kill?” The Mafia points to the person who they want to kill. “Mafia, go back to sleep. Nurse, awaken.” The nurse wakes up. “Who do want to save, or would you rather save yourself?” The nurse either points to themselves or the person they want to save. “Nurse, go back to sleep. Detective, awaken.” The Detective opens their eyes. “Who do you think the Mafia is?” If they get it right, the moderator says, “That is the Mafia.” Or, if they’re wrong, they say “That is not the Mafia.” They go back to sleep. When the moderator says so, everyone awakens. The Narrator tells a story about what had happened last night, and then after that, everyone in the circle says what they did that night and who they think the Mafia is. It’s sort of like a vote. Whoever is the most suspected, dies on the chopping board. Then the Mafia tells who was the nurse, who was the detective, and who was the Mafia.
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Who’s here because of NCT?😂
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Now i know that i cant play this game.... I dont have any friends....
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According to Wikipedia, the Mafia Win if they have the Majority, which makes sense because the Mafia can both control the Voting and can also kill at Night. Also worth noting that other roles can be added to the Game, some of which are also listed on the Wikipedia Page. It is also Recommended that the Mafia has a 3rd of the players on their team.
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This is the og Among Us
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The real Among us
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Yeahh since were playing this game as a class were doing a deluxe mafia😂 (we are 38 in the class😅)
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Knowing the Mafia game is an essential skill for an NCTzen. ^_^
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I could understand what twice is playing finally!!
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I commend your clear and articulate explanation of this game.
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3 sheriff are you insane its super hard for the mafia you then we usually just do one power guard on the citizens side
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12-16 players is a lot, wish i had enough friends for that lmao. anyways we play just fine with 5 (and a narrator)
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Nice. I play with this except with the following changes: There’s a new role, Mafia Boss. That player is in the Mafia team and has the ability to kill one additional player if he’s the last Mafia member alive(so if all Mafia players die but the boss himself/herself then every night the Mafia Boss gets to kill two people every nighttime) . Other than that the characters remain the same. The Mafia Boss is symbolised by a Spades of Jack card. After announcing the story, the player who’s the moderator grabs his phone with the wheel and every daytime they’ll spin it. Depending on where the wheel lands on, a Special event occurs: Shield of Reflect: One random player gets the Shield of Reflect that lasts until the next daytime. Anyone who tries to kill the player with the Shield of Reflect dies instead, except if it was by voting. Burning Revenge: The player who is dead at the previous nighttime, chooses a player to kill. Mafias can be killed that way. Drop the Bomb: A random player is picked and that player has the Bomb. If two game days have passed or that player is dead by any method(except if the player who has the Bomb is shot by Poison Arrow, in which the Bomb corrodes and doesn’t explode), then the Bomb explodes and the player who has the bomb with the players who’s one place within him dies. Possible to killing multiple Mafia members. Embargo: All special characters skills are disabled until the next daytime, except the Mafia’s initial kill(Mafia Boss’s Bonus Kill is also inactive if this event is active). If Drop the Bomb is during the Embargo and it doesn’t explode then the Bomb is defused and won’t explode. Shocker!: A random player is picked just before everyone wakes up the next nighttime, and that player dies instantly. Sleep-Powder: A player is randomly selected in daytime. That player cannot speak, vote, accuse or be accused or activate their ability until the next daytime, and must remain their eyes closed. Poison Arrow: The player who gets executed will choose a player to die with him. If the player dies that way the targeted player's skills are disabled and the Bomb(from drop the Bomb event) will corrode and will not activate. Ban-Hammer: The moderator selects a player to possess the Ban-Hammer ability. Before the voting begins, the moderator asks if the player who got the ban hammer wants to use it. If so, the player with the ban hammer selects one player, and kills them immediately, with no last words and skills disabled, and nighttime begins, unless the game is over after the Ban-Hammer is used. If the player with the ban-hammer doesn't want to use it, then it is gone and the voting round starts as normal. Mafia members can choose to kill themselves during the night, or proceed to self-destruct in daytime to end it immediately.
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love it how jkparty plays this
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In my family we used to have another role called the "Village Idiot". The village idiot is on neither team and their only goal is to die of accusation during the day-time trial. If he does get accused and dies, he wins the entire game.
