How to play Mafia, with every role and a narrator script

Mafia is a party game for a narrator and at least five players, in which a few players are secretly the Mafia and everyone else is the town. At night the Mafia choose someone to eliminate. By day the town argues, then votes someone out. The town wins when the last of the Mafia is gone, and the Mafia win once they match the town in number.

Dimitry Davidoff made it up as a psychology student at Moscow State University, and he sums it up as "the uninformed majority versus the informed minority". Andrew Plotkin, who learned it at a puzzlers' convention in 1997, credits Davidoff with inventing it in 1986. Plotkin also gave it the werewolf theme it often goes by now, and the rules are the same under either name.

Everything a first game needs is below. There are the rules, every role and what it can do, how many Mafia to deal, and a narrator script to read aloud from the first night to the last.

Mafia game rules, step by step

You need a narrator who does not play, five or more players, and a card or a folded slip for each player with a role on it. A deck of playing cards works: pick one card to stand for each role, and number cards for the town.

1. Deal the roles. Everyone looks at their card in private and keeps it secret for the rest of the game.
2. Night falls. Everyone closes their eyes. The narrator wakes the Mafia, who silently agree on someone to eliminate, then sleep. The Doctor wakes and points at someone to save. The Detective wakes and points at someone to check.
3. The Detective's answer. The narrator gives it in silence: a thumbs-up for Mafia, a thumbs-down for not.
4. Dawn. Everyone opens their eyes, and the narrator announces who was eliminated, or that nobody was. The narrator never says who was saved.
5. Day. The town talks. Anyone still in can say anything, true or false. Anyone eliminated stays silent.
6. The vote. Everyone still in votes to eliminate one player, or votes for no elimination. The player with the most votes is out, and a tie eliminates nobody.
7. Repeat night and day until one side wins. The town wins when no Mafia are left. The Mafia win when they are at least as many as everyone else still in.

The house rules every group argues about

Four rules change from group to group. Settle them before the cards are dealt, because changing one mid-game always favours somebody.

Is a player's role revealed when they are out? Reveal it for a first game. The town learns something from every elimination, and the game moves. Davidoff's own rules went the other way: Plotkin records that in them, lynched players do not reveal their identity. Keeping roles hidden makes a harder and longer game.

Can the Doctor save themselves? Let them. A Doctor who cannot is the Mafia's easiest target once they have been spotted. Some groups forbid saving the same person two nights running, which stops a Doctor from guarding one player all game.

What does the Detective learn? Mafia or not, and nothing more, told in silence. A Detective who is eliminated that night learns nothing.

What happens on a tie? Nobody goes. It keeps the vote honest, because a town that cannot agree pays for it with a day.

Mafia roles and what each one does

Role	Side	At night	Goal
Mafia	Mafia	Agree on one person to eliminate	Eliminate the town without being caught.
Detective	Town	Check one person: Mafia or not	Check one person each night to find the Mafia.
Doctor	Town	Save one person	Save one person each night. You may save yourself.
Townsperson	Town	Sleep	Find the Mafia and vote them out.

The Mafia are the only players who know anything for certain: who else is Mafia. Everything they do by day is an act. The best Mafia players accuse someone early and mean it, and they never defend a fellow Mafia member harder than a townsperson would.

The Detective is the most powerful role in the game, and the mathematics agrees. Braverman, Etesami and Mossel studied the game formally. With no detective, they found the two sides have comparable probabilities of winning when the Mafia number about the square root of the town. Adding even a single detective changes that, and the Mafia then need a share of the town that grows in step with it.

That is why a game without a Detective needs very few Mafia, and why the Mafia's first target is often whoever seems to know too much. Detectives were not in the first game at all. Davidoff's version, Plotkin notes, had no moderator or Seer.

The Doctor keeps the town alive. A good Doctor saves the player the Mafia most want gone, which on the first night is anyone, and later is whoever has been talking sense.

The townspeople have no power but their vote, and they are most of the room. Their job is to talk: to track who accused whom, who voted with whom, and whose story changed.

Groups that have played a lot add roles. Plotkin lists two of the oldest: a one-shot vigilante role who can kill a werewolf at night once per game, and a Cupid who secretly links two players as lovers. If one lover dies, the other dies with them. Add one extra role at a time, and only once everyone knows the basic four.

How many Mafia for your group size

The table counts players, not the narrator. It is the cast Decka's room deals on Auto, with one Detective and one Doctor in every game.

Players	Mafia	Detective	Doctor	Townspeople
5 to 7	1	1	1	2 to 4
8 to 11	2	1	1	4 to 7
12 to 16	3	1	1	7 to 11
17 to 21	4	1	1	11 to 15
22 to 26	5	1	1	15 to 19
27 to 30	6	1	1	19 to 22

Whatever count you choose, the Mafia must start as a minority. If they start level with the town, they win at the first dawn and nobody has played.

An odd number of players helps the town. Plotkin plays with an odd number, counting the narrator, and found that the humans' chances are significantly weaker with an even one. Under his rules an odd count also means an odd number of living players during each day, which prevents tie votes.

Mafia narrator script

Read these lines word for word. Plotkin's advice to the narrator is to stick to the script to avoid mistakes or clues, and to name the role first. Say "Werewolves, open your eyes" and never "Open your eyes, werewolves", or a player may misconstrue the command before the last word.

Two more habits keep the night from leaking. Face the middle of the circle, the same way, for every call. And call every role every night, including roles that are already out, for about as long each time. A night that skips the Doctor tells the room the Doctor is gone.

Before the first night

• "Everyone, look at your card, then put it face down. Keep it secret until the game ends."
• "The Mafia are on one team. Everyone else is the town."

Every night

• "Night falls. Everyone, close your eyes, and keep tapping the table until morning."
• "Mafia, open your eyes. Find each other." (First night only.)
• "Mafia, point at the person you want to eliminate. Agree on one."
• "Mafia, close your eyes."
• "Doctor, open your eyes. Point at the person you want to save."
• "Doctor, close your eyes."
• "Detective, open your eyes. Point at the person you want to check." Give a silent thumbs-up for Mafia, thumbs-down for not.
• "Detective, close your eyes."

Dawn

• When someone was eliminated: "Everyone, open your eyes. Dawn breaks. Last night, [name] was eliminated." Then either "[Name], show your card", or "Their role stays secret."
• When the Doctor saved the target, or the Mafia did not agree: "Everyone, open your eyes. Dawn breaks. Nobody was eliminated tonight."

Day

• "The town is awake. You have five minutes to find the Mafia. Anyone who is out stays silent."
• "Time's up. On three, point at the player you want out, or point at the floor for no elimination. One, two, three."
• When one player has the most votes: "[Name], you're out. Show your card", or "Stay quiet about your role."
• On a tie, or when the floor wins: "No elimination today."
• "Night falls again. Everyone, close your eyes."

The end

• When the last of the Mafia is out: "The town wins. Every member of the Mafia has been found."
• When the Mafia match the town: "The Mafia win. The Mafia now match the town."
• "Everyone, turn your cards over."

Tips for your first game of Mafia

For the narrator. Keep the first game small and simple: the basic four roles, roles revealed, and one Mafia fewer than you think you need. Keep every night the same length, whatever happens in it. Ask everyone to tap the table while their eyes are shut. Plotkin suggests humming, tapping the table, rocking back and forth, anything that covers the sound of the night actors moving.

For the town. Talk. A silent town loses, because the only information it has is what players say and how they vote. Remember who accused whom, and who was quick to agree with an accusation that turned out wrong.

For the Mafia. Accuse someone, and vote like a townsperson. Plotkin's account of a game day is a fair warning to both sides: accusing someone of being a werewolf is suspicious, and not accusing anyone is suspicious too.

For the Detective. Stay hidden while you gather two or three answers, then speak when your evidence can carry a vote. A Detective who announces themselves on the first day rarely sees a second night.

For anyone who is out. Stay silent and keep your face still. Players who are out still know things, and a raised eyebrow is a clue.

How to play Werewolf

Werewolf is Mafia in a village. The rules are the same and the roles are renamed: the Mafia are werewolves, the Detective is the Seer, the Doctor is the Healer, and the townspeople are villagers. Plotkin made the change because he wanted to find a theme that fit hidden enemies who look normal by day and are murderous at night.

Role	Same as	Goal
Werewolf	Mafia	Eliminate the village without being caught.
Seer	Detective	Check one person each night to find the werewolves.
Healer	Doctor	Save one person each night. You may save yourself.
Villager	Townsperson	Find the werewolves and vote them out.

Plotkin's own setup is the simplest version: one moderator, two werewolves, one Seer and everyone else a villager. He asks for at least seven players, and says nine or eleven is better. For a third werewolf, his simulations point to about seventeen players: seventeen players looks right.

The narrator's lines change with the names. Plotkin's are short and worth copying: "Werewolves, open your eyes", then "Werewolves, pick someone to kill", and later Seer, pick someone to ask about. The village wakes to "Everybody open your eyes; it's daytime." The game ends with "The village wins. Every werewolf has been found." or "The werewolves win. The werewolves now match the village."

Both extra roles in the Mafia section above come from Plotkin's list of werewolf variants, and the same advice holds for them here: add one at a time.

Playing Mafia with the big screen as narrator

Decka's Mafia game puts the narrator on the big screen and the night on everyone's phones, so nobody has to sit out to run it. Players join with a code, and the host presses "Start the game" once five are in. Every phone says "Hold to see your role". The role appears only while the player presses and holds it.

At night the big screen shows "Night falls" and a clock, and nothing else. On the phones, the Mafia see "Who do you eliminate tonight?" and each other's picks. The Doctor sees "Who do you save tonight?", and the Detective sees "Who do you check tonight?". Everyone else sees "Close your eyes. Wait for dawn." and a button labelled "Tap to stay awake", which sends nothing. Its line explains it: "Everyone taps at night, so nobody can tell who's acting."

The night always runs its full clock, even when every night actor has picked in the first five seconds. A night that ended early would tell the room the actors were done, which is the same leak a human narrator avoids by calling every role every night.

Dawn's news goes up in large type, such as "Nobody was eliminated tonight." or a name with "They were the Doctor.", and it never says who was saved. The Detective's answer arrives on the Detective's phone only. By day the room talks against the clock, then votes on phones: "Most votes is out. A tie keeps everyone in." The result shows how many votes each player got, never who voted for whom.

A player who is out keeps their phone and sees "You're out. Stay quiet about your role." The Werewolf theme runs the same game in a village, with the Seer, the Healer and the villagers. The room's settings, and what a new game starts with:

Setting	Default	Range
Theme	Mafia	Mafia or Werewolf
Mafia	Auto	Auto, or 1 to 6
Detective	On	On or off
Doctor	On	On or off
Roles revealed when a player is out	On	On or off
Night	30 seconds	20 to 90 seconds
Talk time	120 seconds	30 to 600 seconds
Vote time	45 seconds	15 to 120 seconds

The host runs the game from their own phone, which never shows a role: "Skip the discussion", "End the vote now", "+15 seconds" and "End the game". Above thirty players the lobby warns the host, "A big town: the day vote slows down past 30 players.", and still lets the game start.