Mafia (part 2!)

December 5th, 2008 6PM, game starts around 7/7:30 sharp - Call me for directions. Bring a snack/drink/adult beverage to share. Changes to house rules below in RED.

Setup:

The group should sit in a circle so that everyone can see everyone else. One person acts as the moderator and does not play. All players close their eyes and the moderator selects four people, at random, from the group. These people are:

Mafia 1

Mafia 2

The Detective

The Untouchable

Round 0:
This Ezra's idea. It's a good one. Before beginning the game, the group has five minutes to deliberate over one person to eliminate. While this is painful for everyone, at least it gives everyone a fighting chance to make it through the first round.

Round 1:

The moderator asks everyone to close their eyes and look down. The moderator asks the two mafiosa to open their eyes and find each other. The moderator asks the mafiosa to agree upon a single player to eliminate. This should be done in complete silence, otherwise they put themselves at risk for exposure. Plus, you are sitting in a room with 20 other people. If you make a noise, or move too much, when selecting someone, people will notice! They then put their heads back down and close their eyes.

The moderator asks the Detective to open their eyes. The detective should select a single player to "investigate." The moderator will then tell the detective whether the selected player is a member of the mafia or not. This should also be done in complete silence, as the mafia will want to eliminate the detective to protect themselves. The Detective then puts their head down and closes their eyes.

The moderator will then ask the Untouchable to open their eyes. The Untouchable should select a single player to be protected from the mafia. If this same player is selected for elimination by the mafia, they will be saved. The moderator will not reveal which person the Untouchable has selected. The Untouchable will then close their eyes.

The moderator will then ask all players to open their eyes and announce which player has been eliminated. If the Untouchable saved the same player that was eliminated, then the moderator will announce that no one was eliminated in this round. The group then has a maximum of 5 minutes to deliberate and determine which players are the mafiosa. People can make claims, false accusations, lie about their identity, make alliances, whatever they think will preserve themselves and help them to survive to the next round.

The group must vote to eliminate one of their members. The goal is to eliminate one of the mafiosa. Mafia hopes that a civilian, untouchable, or especially, the detective, is eliminated. The rest of the group hopes that a mafia member is eliminated.

Subsequent rounds:

The next rounds begin with the same process. Detectives can use their knowledge from the prior round in a number of ways. If they determine the identity of a mafia, they can either covertly try to get people to vote to kill that person by staging an argument as to why, or they can announce themselves as detective and state they know with certainty that the person is mafia. This is dangerous if both mafia still are alive since the detective risks being eliminated in the next round. However, if only one mafia is left then it can be a good way to end the game since the object is to eliminate both mafia.

Once both mafia are eliminated the game ends and the moderator (or a new moderator) can start a new game. However, if one or two mafia still alive, the game continues as the citizens try to eliminate the mafia through the voting process and the mafia try to eliminated the citizens one by one until none are left. If only one mafia is alive and the game progresses to where there are only three players left, if the vote ends up eliminating a citizen (leaving only one mafia and one citizen) the second citizen automatically loses and the mafia win the game.

House rules:

While deception, reverse psychology, and cunning are the name of the game, please refrain from using statements like "swear to God," "promise on the Bible" because that either ruins the fun of tricking other people or, you know, compromises your relationship with God ;-)

The moderator reserves the right to remove/add rules (such as requiring those eliminated to reveal whether or not they are mafia) in order to make the game more fun, interesting, or aggravating.

The moderator's decisions are final. Because we had some problems with everyone keeping quiet when it was the moderator's turn, we will introduce "The Cowbell." If the group doesn't come to order when asked, the moderator may ring "The Cowbell". The first person caught talking five seconds after the bell is rung is eliminated, regardless of their role in the game. Don't test the moderator. They are benevolent dictators.