Mafia

This game requires a large group of people, divided into two factions; the innocent and the mafia. The innocents should outnumber the mafia at the beginning of the game, although the exact numbers for each team do not matter. It is recommended to have the mafia number a third of the innocents, although there should be at minimum two. There should also be a “moderator” who runs the game.

The game has two phases; night and day. During “night” all players shut their eyes and stand still. The moderator then asks the mafia to open their eyes and indicate a target to kill by pointing at her. Without speaking, the mafia members must come to a unanimous decision on which innocent to kill, and when they are agreed the moderator instructs them to close their eyes, and the game phases moves on to “day”.

At the beginning of the “day”, the moderator announces which innocent was killed the previous night. That player must then sit out from the game, and not attempt to influence it as it continues. The remaining players must then discuss amongst themselves who they think the mafia members are. At any point any player may accuse another of being a mafioso, and players then vote whether or not to lynch that person. The majority vote wins, and if the player is lynched then the moderator announces whether they were in fact mafia or innocent and the game phase turns to night again. If the majority vote against lynching, the phase continues until a player is lynched.

The phases then continue in this fashion until all the mafia have been lynched, or until the mafia outnumber the remaining innocents.

Additional roles may be introduced to give the game further depth and complexity.