Q&A for How to Play Mafia

He was walking down the street, minding his own business. A black car came and someone shot him. No one knows who did it.

No, this is mafia win. Any time there are equal numbers of mafia and town members left alive, the win should go to the mafia. There are no draws in this game.

Then the officer is killed. Keep playing the game.

Yes. Write the roles on the slips of paper, fold them in half, and have each person randomly pick a slip. This works great when you don't have a deck of cards on hand.

The game ends when all mafia are killed. The mafia can't be killed by the sheriff. The sheriff can only find out if they are a member, then without revealing they are the sheriff, try to persuade everyone else to vote for the member. If someone is killed, they leave the game until the next game.

Yes. However, since you're allowed to lie about your role at any time, other people might not believe you. Fortunately, there's an easy way to convince people you're the sheriff. If accused, say something like, "I'm not the mafia, I'm the sheriff. I investigated X, and found them to be the mafia. Lynch them, and if they weren't the mafia, kill me next round." Most sensible players will kill off the person you've discovered as the mafia. If you're still accused, ask if anyone else is the sheriff. The person you accused will probably lie and say they're the sheriff.

It varies based on how many people you have, with about five it can take 5-10 minutes, with about ten it could take 10-30 minutes, depending on how many mafia members you have.

Yes, but it’s silly and the other mafia would vote against it, because, otherwise, it would bring their numbers down. However, it could confuse the villagers and take them off your scent.

You can't, unless of course you make an alliance with other people, or if you add some of the extra roles.

Yes, you just need the moderator to tell everyone their role and it will be fine.

All you do is make more mafia, and add other roles, like a grandma with a shotgun or lawyer. You can find the extra roles above.

Then you treat it as a hung jury and move on in the game without using the votes. It's good for the mafia, as they won't get caught.

Yes, the individual mafia members can kill other mafia members if they are directed to do so or if they choose to do so.

Something along the lines of this: "So the magician apparently was able to track down one of the mafia and kill him with a (insert something a magician uses that can be deadly if not used correctly). The magician has killed one mafia and now there are (insert number of mafia left) mafia left that are still in hiding!"

See "The Peeping Tom" in the article. It's the same thing. That person can open their eyes at any time.

Most of the time, yes, but sometimes each mafia member can select a hit target.

Vigilantes are characters in the "Mafia" video game series, not the card/party game.

The game will continue until only one team remains. However, if the mafia takes a 3-2 majority, the game can be forefited since the mafia will automatically have the numbers to eliminate everyone else.

No. If you decide to play with two competing mafia groups, each group will have their own phase where they open their eyes during the night cycle.

Mafia can be played over Zoom or via headphones from multiple places. However, rules will have to be adapted accordingly to accommodate an online environment and prevent cheating.

TikTok mafia has nothing to do with this game, it is based on roleplaying as gangsters.

This depends on the school. The title "mafia" may be flagged by some parents and teachers as promoting gang violence. Though this is not the game's goal, consider changing the name of the game to something more kid-friendly and changing the term "kill" to "eliminate."

The moderator plays in a sense. They keep track of eliminations, saves, accusations, and they tell unique stories. However, there is no way for the moderator to participate in eliminations or accusations.

The mafia "kills" (eliminates) players from the game during every night cycle (the part of the game when players close their eyes)

The detective and doctor can reveal their identities as long as they don't show their cards to confirm what they're saying is the truth.

If by active, you mean involves physical activity, no. It can be played sitting down or standing up, and it does not require running around.

You can still play, but the detective will not investigate someone and only the townspeople can vote who to kill.

Since no one knows each other's roles, then the doctor could possibly save someone who is the mafia. The doctor can save anyone, even the mafia.

Yes, although it would be useful to create teams and extra roles to make playing easier.

That amount of players would be hard to play with, At least have 6 people, that is enough. At this rate, have 1 mafia and 1 sheriff if there are 6 players. If there are 4, have only 1 mafia and 3 innocents. If there are rather a lot of people, like 15, 2 mafia, 2 sheriffs, 1 lawyer, 2 doctors, 1 savior, and the rest are innocent people, they can have various names like innocents, survivors, etc., (optional) or you could make it fantasy, example: 2 vampires (mafia), 2 pixies (healers), etc.