Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is mafia?
Mafia is a popular activity/game played at parties, retreats, and in many occasions. Mafia game is a strategic game, a role play that involves your brain and teamwork. There are two teams, one team are the mafias (or 1 mafia) and the others are the honest people which consists of civilians, police, and a nurse (optional).

2. What is required in order to play?
A deck of playing cards, 6 players or more, and plenty of time!

3. How many players are needed?
A minimum of 6 players are required if you want to implement all the different roles (explained below). There are no maximum number but there should be a limit to the party if you want the game flowing smoothly and maintain the fun factor.

4. Minimum age to play?
There really is no minimum age to play mafia. However, the mafia game is not recommended for young audience for various reasons. I personally have not seen junior high school students play mafia but I don't think a reason why they can't play mafia. I would not recommend anything younger than 6th grade to play mafia because they will not fully understand the objective of the game, not enough brain power, unable to focus because of ADD and alike, can't realize the fun factor, and etc., but I can be proved wrong of course.
There is no minimum age for the game so play according to the availability of the players.

5. Objective of the Game
Mafias need to kill all the innocent people which includes the civilians, cops, and the nurses.
The civilians will need to find out who the mafias are and get them out through a vote.


Originally posted on 28th December 2005 - 12:26 AM in the Resource forum.
Mafia Activity/Game for Retreats
Learn How To Play and Strategies

Mafia
Mafia's objective is to 'kill' all innocent members in the party. If the mafia(s) survive until the end of the game, the mafia party wins the round. The round ends based on the ratio of the surviving mafia with the surviving civilians. For instance, if there 3 mafias left in the party and 2 civilians left in the round, the mafias have won the round. If there are 3 civilians left along with the 3 mafias, then the game continues until all the mafias are killed or until the mafia outnumbers the civilians.


Cop (a.k.a Sheriff)
The police's objective is to figure out who the mafia(s) are during the daytime phase and during the nighttime phase. During the nightime phase, all the cops (or 1 cop) will need to select a player(s) that they believe is the mafia and let the narrator know. The narrator will let the cop(s) know if the selected player is the mafia by giving a thumbs up or down, up meaning 'yes' and down meaning 'no.' [The narrator can also nod up and down to signal 'yes' or shake head left and right to signal 'no.'


Nurse
Card: Queen (Q)
The nurse's role is to save an individual's life during nightfall. During nightfall, the narrator will call out the nurse(s) and ask the nurse to select one player that they would want to save. If there are more than 1 nurse, the nurses must all agree upon one player whom they want to save. The narrator will acknowledge the nurse(s) decision and ask the nurse to put their head down.
It is then daytime and all players are back into game.


Civilians
Civilian's role is to detect who the mafia(s) are through teamwork with the help from other civilians, cops, nurse, and sometimes mafias. Civilian's are the real detectives and also the victims during the game as their life can be swept away during the nightfall. The civilians should role play by sharing valuable insights and tips that they can gather during the round. Civilians have the power to unite and select who they think are the mafia, accuse them, and get a player out through consensus. But civilians must be careful not to accuse anyone because they might be accusing a civilian by mistake.
This is where the game gets good. Not is 100% sure who the mafias are in the beginning of the game but eventually, as the rounds pass by and players go down, the mafia(s) will gradually get revealed.


Narrator
There is always one narrator for all rounds. The narrator narrates and moderates the game from the beginning to the end. Their role is crucial in the game.
The narrator must announce the daytime, nightfall, and call out the mafia, cops, and the nurses during the nightfall. During the daytime, the narrator must moderate the game by announcing the accusations, defense, and votes presented by the players.