How to Play Mafia

Learn the rules to the party game Mafia quickly and concisely - This visually rich video has no distractions, just the rules. This is one of my favorite party games. There are many versions and ways to play Mafia (also called Werewolf). Here is one way. For more information and rules about Mafia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafia_(party_game) Check out the similar Werewolves game here: https://amzn.to/2KeraAL (This Amazon Affiliate link directly supports me)

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.