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Mafia, also known as Werewolf, is a social deduction game, created by Dimitry Davidoff in 1986. The game models a conflict between two groups: an informed minority (the mafiosi or the werewolves), and an uninformed majority (the villagers). At the start of the game, each player is secretly assigned a role affiliated with one of these teams. The game has two alternating phases: first, a night role, during which those with night killing powers may covertly kill other players, and second, a day role, in which surviving players debate the identities of players and vote to eliminate a suspect. The game continues until a faction achieves its win condition; for the village, this usually means eliminating the evil minority, while for the minority this usually means reaching numerical parity with the village and eliminating any rival evil groups.


History

Dimitry Davidoff (russian: Дми́трий Давы́дов, ''Dmitry Davydov'') is generally acknowledged as the game's creator. He dates the first game of ''Mafia'' to spring 1987 at the
Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
Department of
Moscow State University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...
, from where it spread to the classrooms, dorms, and summer camps of
Moscow University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...
.Plotkin quotes a 2005 email in which Davidoff explains that he brought Mafia into the Psychology department classrooms for research and it spread (as a
meme A meme ( ) is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural i ...
) from there to dormitories and likely over next summer, through student summer camps. He credits this game-based
methodology In its most common sense, methodology is the study of research methods. However, the term can also refer to the methods themselves or to the philosophical discussion of associated background assumptions. A method is a structured procedure for br ...
to pioneering 1920s psychologist Lev Vygotskiy.
''Wired'' attributes the creation to Davidoff and also dates the first game to 1987. He developed the game to combine psychology research with his duties teaching
high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
students. It became popular in other Soviet colleges and schools, often associated with hugely popular TV series
La Piovra ''La Piovra'' (; en, The Octopus, referring to the Mafia) is an Italian television drama series about the Mafia. The series was directed by various directors who each worked on different seasons, including Damiano Damiani (first season), Flores ...
, which first ran in 1986. In the 1990s it began to be played in other parts of Europe (in some countries under the name ''City of Palermo'') and then the United States. By the mid 1990s a version of the game became a Latvian television series (with a parliamentary setting, and played by Latvian celebrities).
Andrew Plotkin Andrew Plotkin (born May 15, 1970), also known as Zarf, is a central figure in the modern interactive fiction (IF) community. Having both written a number of award-winning games and developed a range of new file formats, interpreters, and other u ...
gave the rules a
werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely ...
theme in 1997, is Plotkin's own description of the original Werewolf version arguing that the mafia had less cultural resonance, and that the werewolf concept fit the idea of a hidden enemy who looked normal during the daytime. Mafia and a variant called ThingIn which the antagonists are
Things Things or The Things may refer to: Music * ''Things'' (album), by Uri Caine and Paolo Fresu, 2006 * "Things" (Bobby Darin song), 1962; covered by Ronnie Dove, 1975 * "Things", a song by Joe Walsh from '' There Goes the Neighborhood'', 1981 * "Thi ...
, shape-shifting aliens that can turn humans into other Things. For the rules of the original variant, see: . For a detailed description of another variant of this game, see: . For the most recent variant using web-enabled devices, see:
have been played at science fiction writers' workshops since 1998, and have become an integral part of the annual Clarion and Viable Paradise workshops. The Werewolf variant of Mafia became widespread at major tech events, including the
Game Developers Conference The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is an annual conference for video game developers. The event includes an expo, networking events, and awards shows like the Game Developers Choice Awards and Independent Games Festival, and a variety of tutori ...
, ETech, Foo Camps, and
South By Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, T ...
. In 1998 the
Kaliningrad Kaliningrad ( ; rus, Калининград, p=kəlʲɪnʲɪnˈɡrat, links=y), until 1946 known as Königsberg (; rus, Кёнигсберг, Kyonigsberg, ˈkʲɵnʲɪɡzbɛrk; rus, Короле́вец, Korolevets), is the largest city and ...
Higher school of the Internal Affairs Ministry published the methodical textbook ''Nonverbal communications. Developing role-playing games 'Mafia' and 'Murderer for a course on Visual psychodiagnostics, to teach reading
body language Body language is a type of communication in which physical behaviors, as opposed to words, are used to express or convey information. Such behavior includes facial expressions, body posture, gestures, eye movement, touch and the use of space. Th ...
and nonverbal signals. In September 1998 Mafia was introduced to the Graduate College at
Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
, where a number of variants were developed.. Retrieved 2014-05-16. The werewolf theme was also incorporated in the French adaption of Mafia, The Werewolves of Millers Hollow. In August 2000, a user under the alias "mithrandir" of The Grey Labyrinth, a website devoted to puzzles and puzzle solving, ran a game of Mafia adapted for play on a forum board. Both The Grey Labyrinth and sister site MafiaScum claim that this was the first game of Mafia run on a forum board. From there, Mafia has spread to numerous online communities. In March 2006 Ernest Fedorov was running a Mafia Club in
Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Kyi ...
, using his own
patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...
ed variation of the rules. The club organizes games, rates players, and awards prizes (including a
Sicily Sicily ( it, Sicilia , ) is the list of islands in the Mediterranean, largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. The Strait of Messina divides it from the region of Calabria in Southern Italy. I ...
trip for their tournament-series champion). In June 2006 a Rockingham school inquiry was launched after parents complained of the traumatic effects classroom Mafia was having on their fifth-grade children. Davidoff responded to the reports, saying that as a parent who had studied
child psychology Developmental psychology is the scientific study of how and why humans grow, change, and adapt across the course of their lives. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult development, ...
for 25 years, he felt that the game could "teach kids to distinguish right from wrong", and that the positive message of being honest could overcome the negative effects of an "evil narrator" moderating the game as if it were a
scary story Horror is a genre of fiction which is intended to frighten, scare, or disgust. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror, which is in the realm of speculative fiction. Literary historian J. A ...
. Mafia is one of the 50 most historically and culturally significant
tabletop game Tabletop games or tabletops are games that are normally played on a table or other flat surface, such as board games, card games, dice games, miniature wargames, or tile-based games. Classification according to equipment used Tabletop game ...
s since
1800 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 18), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 12 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 16) ...
according to about.com.


Gameplay

In its simplest form, Werewolf is played by two teams: the werewolves and the villagers. Live games require a moderator who does not participate as a player, and identities are assigned by handing out cards, or by other non-verbal methods such as physically tapping players. At the start of the game, every werewolf is given the identities of their teammates, whereas the innocents only receive the number of werewolves in the game, and do not know which players are werewolves and which are villagers. In an open setup, the numbers of each power role (e.g. militia) present in the game is known to the players, while in a closed setup, this information is not revealed, and in a semi-open setup, only limited or tentative information about the power roles is revealed. Thus, in an open or semi-open setup, if it is revealed that no militia are present in the game, it will not be possible for a werewolf to plausibly claim a militia role. There are two phases: ''night'' and ''day''. At night, certain players secretly perform special actions; during day, players discuss and vote to eliminate one player. These phases alternate with each other until all werewolves have been eliminated or they reach numerical parity with the innocents. Some players may be given roles with special abilities. Common special roles include: * ''seer'' — a villager who may learn the team of one player every night; * ''protector'' — a villager who may protect a player from being killed every night, but can only do so once in each game; * ''masons'' — village-aligned players who can recognize each other Andrew Plotkin recommends having exactly two mafiosi, whereas the original Davidoff rules suggest a third of the players (rounding to the nearest whole number) be mafiosi. Davidoff's original game does not include roles with special abilities. In his rules for "Werewolf", Plotkin recommends that the first phase be night and that there be an odd number of players (including the moderator). These specifications avoid a tie votes for eliminations and ensure that the game will end dramatically on an elimination rather than anticlimactically with murder as a foregone conclusion.


Night

All players close their eyes. The moderator then instructs all werewolves to open their eyes and acknowledge their accomplices. The werewolves pick a "victim" by silently gesturing to indicate their target and to show
unanimity Unanimity is agreement by all people in a given situation. Groups may consider unanimous decisions as a sign of social, political or procedural agreement, solidarity, and unity. Unanimity may be assumed explicitly after a unanimous vote or im ...
then close their eyes again. A similar process occurs for other roles with nightly actions. In the case of the seer, the moderator may indicate the target's innocence or guilt by using gestures such as nodding or head shaking. Night may be accompanied by players tapping gently to mask sounds made by gesturing.


Day

The moderator instructs players to open their eyes and announces who "died" the previous night. Discussion ensues among the living players. At any point, a player may accuse someone of being a werewolf and prompt others to vote to eliminate them. If over half of the players do so, the accused person is eliminated and night begins. Otherwise, the phase continues until an elimination occurs. According to some rules, the role of dead players should not be revealed; according to others, for example, if the protector dies, nobody should know that. In both cases, dead players are not permitted to attempt to influence the remainder of the game. Because players have more freedom to deliberate, days tend to be longer than nights.


Game theory


Mathematical study

Mafia is a complicated game to model, so most analyses of optimal play have assumed both (a) that there are only townsfolk and Mafiosi and (b) that the townsfolk never have a probability of identifying the Mafia that is better than chance. Early treatment of the game concentrated on
simulation A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or process, whereas the ...
, while more recent studies have tried to derive closed-form equilibrium solutions for perfect play. In 2006, the computer scientists Braverman, Etesami and Mossel proved that without detectives and with perfect players the randomized strategy is optimal for both citizens and mafia. When there is a large enough number of players to give both groups similar probability of winning, they showed that the initial number of mafiosi ''m'' needs to be proportional to the square root of the total number of players ''P'', that is . With a simulation, they confirmed that 50 mafiosi would have almost a 50% chance to win among 10,000. The Mafia's chance of victory is W(m, P) \approx \frac , which is a good approximation when the right hand side is below 40%. If any detectives are added to the game, Braverman et al. proved that the number of Mafiosi must remain at a fixed proportion of the total number of players for their chance of winning to remain constant.The single detective publishes a large list of innocents, and asks to be lynched to guarantee its veracity (under the standard rules in which the detective's role is revealed after she is killed, no strategic interference from the Mafia is possible): In 2008, Erlin Yao derived specific analytical bounds for the mafia's win probability when there are no detectives.Derivation is by recursion on decreasing numbers of players in the following round, see: In a paper from 2010, the exact formula for the probability that the mafia wins was found. Moreover, it was shown that the parity of the initial number of players plays an important role. In particular, when the number of mafiosi is fixed and an odd player is added to the game (and ties are resolved by coin flips), the mafia-winning chance do not drop but rise by a factor of approx. \sqrt (equality in the limit of the infinite number of players).


Results in live play

In live (or
videoconference Videotelephony, also known as videoconferencing and video teleconferencing, is the two-way or multipoint reception and transmission of audio and video signals by people in different locations for real time communication.McGraw-Hill Concise Enc ...
) real-time play, the innocents typically win more often than
game theory Game theory is the study of mathematical models of strategic interactions among rational agents. Myerson, Roger B. (1991). ''Game Theory: Analysis of Conflict,'' Harvard University Press, p.&nbs1 Chapter-preview links, ppvii–xi It has applic ...
suggests. Several reasons for this have been advanced: * The physiological stress of sustained lying degrades the initial ability of mafioso to deceive the innocents, much more than a model of
perfect play A solved game is a game whose outcome (win, lose or draw) can be correctly predicted from any position, assuming that both players play perfectly. This concept is usually applied to abstract strategy games, and especially to games with full inform ...
would predict, especially if the innocents can get the town emotionally involved in the game's outcome: * The information revealed by the mafiosi voting patterns tells against them later in the game. One of the game's fans Max Ventilla, has said that "If the villagers are allowed to keep a pencil and paper, they always win." * As players get more experienced, their strategic sophistication and ability to spot and use deception increases. They will typically get better at the skills needed for playing innocents faster, being villagers more often than mafiosi. * The
Metagame Metagame, Hypergame, or game about the game, is an approach to a game that transcends or operates outside of the prescribed rules of the game, uses external factors to affect the game, or goes beyond the supposed limits or environment set by t ...
aspect: Dimma Davidoff has said past connections will always lose to future collaborations. When playing several Mafia games with the same people, it's more helpful to be known for
honesty Honesty or truthfulness is a facet of moral character that connotes positive and virtuous attributes such as integrity, truthfulness, straightforwardness, including straightforwardness of conduct, along with the absence of lying, cheating, theft, ...
than for deceit. Davidoff considers that so important that he thinks the advantages of playing the mafioso role honestly, outweigh the disadvantages. But, the Mafia ''can'' win in live play; their best chance of winning occurs when mafioso bond with their innocent
neighbours ''Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera, which has aired since 18 March 1985. It was created by television executive Reg Watson. The Seven Network commissioned the show following the success of Watson's earlier soap '' Sons and ...
and convince those neighbours to value that bond over dispassionate analysis. The game designers Salen and Zimmerman have written that the deep emergent social game play in Mafia (combined with the fear of elimination) create ideal conditions for this.


Optional roles

These additional roles are named differently in the many versions of Mafia, for thematic flavor, or historical reasons. Also, the same role-name can have differing functions across different versions of the game.For example, Bezier Games' Ultimate Werewol
''Sorcerer''
has the ability to detect the Seer role. (The sorcerer is granted different powers in other rule-sets, like Princeton University's, in which the Wizard has the ability to detect the Seer.) Whatever name this role is known by, the Detective-detector is typically aligned with the Mafia (for example, see: )
What follows is a general list of role ''types'' found in Mafia variants; since the specific names vary by
milieu The social environment, social context, sociocultural context or milieu refers to the immediate physical and social setting in which people live or in which something happens or develops. It includes the culture that the individual was educate ...
it must be non-exhaustive.


Investigative roles

Players with these roles use their own night-phase to discover something about other players. Though the standard game now includes the basic Detective, these roles are optional, and games can exclude them entirely (such as the stool pigeon variant, or Davidoff's original rules).


Investigative roles (standard)

* —''Detective'', ''Seer'', ''Commandant'', ''Sheriff'', ''Police'', etc. : Allied with the Innocents, the
Detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads the ...
can detect whether a player is a mafioso. They will typically wake up, and point at one person; the Narrator will silently indicate to the Detective whether that player is Mafia or Innocent. In some versions of the game, the Detective's investigation result is announced publicly by the Narrator, for example ''the Detective found a Mafioso!''. More commonly, no announcement is made. As with other roles, which player is the detective is not generally known, leaving anyone the option of pretending to be the Detective. : A Detective is usually included in modern games. For example, somebody is ''always'' assigned this role in all commercial
card game A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as poker). A small number of card ga ...
versions,As of November 2007, five card-based versions of this game are sold, and all require one player to become a Seer. The specifies that a Seer card be dealt to someone even with the (minimum) five players. Similarly, the ''Lupus in Tabula'' Preparation calls for the Seer card to be dealt to somebody even if the game is played with the minimum number of players (eight). Getting Started with ''Ultimate Werewolf'' Role Selection advises that even the introductory game should include the Seer (with further optional roles being added ''in addition to the seer'' in later games). ''Werewolves of Millers hollow'' uses the Fortune Teller name for the Detective but the role is identical to the standard seer/angel/detective, and is again mandatory, having its own phase of the night in the basic rules. (As does the Seer in ''Are You a Werewolf?'' – though it is after the werewolves' phase.) and almost all internet-based, and most face-to-face games start with at least one detective.For example, , from
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern t ...
, are very simple, and specify roles for 7–20 players, always including at least one Detective. Andrew Plotkin's original ''Werewolf'' always includes a Villager (Seer), and he mentions that in 1997 Mafia was played in the
National Puzzlers' League The National Puzzlers' League (NPL) is a nonprofit organization focused on puzzling, primarily in the realm of word play and word games. Founded in 1883, it is the oldest puzzlers' organization in the world. It originally hosted semiannual conventi ...
convention with a Knight Commandant. (The role of the Knight Commandant or Knight is described in detail as having the standard Detective powers in: ) Plotkin describe
Davidoff's original game
(which ha

as well off the current average. A rare modern rule-set with No
Inspector Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it. Australia In Australian police forces, the rank of inspector is generally the ne ...
is: but only when starting with five, larger groups get at least one inspector.
Multiple detectives either act in separate night phases (unaware of the identities of other detectives) or work together as the police (an association role).


Investigative roles (less common)

* —''Psychic'', ''Wizard'', ''Fortune Teller'', ''Oracle'', ''Tracker, Watcher,'' etc. :
Psychic A psychic is a person who claims to use extrasensory perception (ESP) to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance, or who performs acts that are apparently inexplicable by natural la ...
, Psychologist, or Sorcerer-type investigators can determine other players' roles, rather than their alignments. Roles which detect other roles are usually implemented in the same way as the Detective's ability to determine alignment. For example: the
Psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how in ...
points to a player (at night) for a Thumbs-up from the moderator if the Vigilante is pointed to.For example, Vigilante in the A Tracker may see what someone's night action was, or the target of their action, while a Watcher may see all those who visited someone at night. : Information revealed to investigators is fallible (in more complicated variants). Online versions can give information with a
confidence Confidence is a state of being clear-headed either that a hypothesis or prediction is correct or that a chosen course of action is the best or most effective. Confidence comes from a Latin word 'fidere' which means "to trust"; therefore, having ...
level, and in other variants the Narrator deceives the Detective by showing all players as Innocent, all as Guilty, giving reversed results, or random information (these can be termed as Naive, Paranoid, Insane, or Random respectively). Additionally, some Alignment roles give immunity to successful investigation.For example, The Oracle in Werewolf chooses one person to investigate every night, and are shown their card, unless they pick the Master Werewolf – when the Oracle is shown an (innocent) villager card. : In some games, there are Mafia Detectives, who have the power of a normal detective but are on the Mafia side. The Super Commandant has the standard power of a Detective, while also protecting the ''investigated'' from night-time attack.


Omniscient roles

* —''Witness'', ''Child'', ''Little Girl'', etc. : Instead of having to investigate, some innocent roles give complete information on the entire mafia: The
witness In law, a witness is someone who has knowledge about a matter, whether they have sensed it or are testifying on another witnesses' behalf. In law a witness is someone who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, e ...
is told who the mafia are during the first night, while the mafia are not told the witness's identity (differing from the stool pigeon in not being a part of the mafia). : The Little Girl in ''Werewolf'' and ''Werewolves of Miller's Hollow'' is allowed to secretly peek and watch as the werewolves choose their victim; if discovered doing so by the Werewolves, she dies of fright.For example, as described on Ultimate Werewolf's ''Little Girl'' Card, and in the first non-introductory rol
suggested by ''Wired''
The Child spies at night when the werewolves are killing, and only when the werewolves are killing, by opening her eyes ever so slightly


Protective roles

* —''Guardian Angel'', ''Doctor'', ''Bodyguard'', ''Hero, Jailer'', etc. : Allied with the Innocents, the Doctor-type role defends others at night.Depending on the variant, they may know the identities of the Mafia, but this isn't required; they usually indicate the player to protect in a separate phase of gameplay (a separate part of the night) than the Mafia's killing phase. The Mafia-Doctor ''is'' a mafioso, and a more obscure variant role, with the opposite power (from the Doctor) of protecting the guilty from attack during the day. Typically, they will awaken at night after the Mafia have gone back to sleep and point at one person to protect; that person will survive any night-time attack.The protected player gains complete invulnerability during the night they are visited by the Doctor or
Bodyguard A bodyguard (or close protection officer/operative) is a type of security guard, government law enforcement officer, or servicemember who protects a person or a group of people — usually witnesses, high-ranking public officials or officers, ...
. The Mafia do not usually know the identity of the protected player, nor get a chance to select another victim, so this attack is wasted if the Mafia target a protected player (e.g., ).
They are typically allowed to protect themselves, and are commonly barred from protecting the same target on successive nights. A Guardian Angel can only protect others. The Nurse gains the Doctor's abilities if the Doctor dies.For example, see the
2+2 Two Two (투투) was a Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comp ...
rule-set describing the Nurse:
The Jailer protects innocents just like the doctor, but also simultaneously blocks their night action. The Firefighter, or the
Herbalist Herbal medicine (also herbalism) is the study of pharmacognosy and the use of medicinal plants, which are a basis of traditional medicine. With worldwide research into pharmacology, some herbal medicines have been translated into modern remedies ...
can protect from some night-time attacks but not others (in Werewolf, for example, they choose one person to protect with wolfsbane, but that person may still be killed by the Serial Killer). Other games limit this ability to a certain number of times.For example, the Witch in ''Werewolves of Miller's Hollow'' has only one use of her protective potion. She is allowed to see who was killed by the werewolves before applying the protective potion, so this character is more typical of the reanimation than the protective type.


Killing roles

* —''Vigilante'', ''Veteran,'' ''Hunter'', ''Bomb'', ''Woodcutter'', etc. : Aside from Mafia, Werewolves, and Serial Killers (solitary guilty parties), the Innocents may have some roles with the ability to kill at night. The
Vigilante Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without legal authority. A vigilante (from Spanish, Italian and Portuguese “vigilante”, which means "sentinel" or "watcher") is a person who ...
is an innocent who kills every night, in their own night-time phase sometimes.. This makes the vigilante as lethal as the entire Mafia, potentially overbalancing the game, which has led to the introduction of roles that limit his effectiveness, such as the ''Walrus'' role-blocker. In some variations, the Vigilante has limited ammunition. Some variations introduce a time limit of two nights before the player in the Killing Role can kill again. Other variations add the trait that if the Vigilante kills an innocent they either lose the ability to kill or die from guilt the next night. The Veteran has a finite-use ability (usually 3); if activated, anyone who targets them (friend or foe) will be killed. The Bomb may only trigger if targeted at night (not necessarily for death) by another role. Variants exist where this person can kill during the daytime cycle (e.g., the Terrorist / Gravedigger), sometimes only if executed during the daytime. The Woodcutter or
Hunter Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...
can take one other person with them whenever they die.The Hunter appears in ''Werewolves of Miller's Hollow'', for example. The Woodcutter is a (less common)
equivalent Equivalence or Equivalent may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Album-equivalent unit, a measurement unit in the music industry *Equivalence class (music) *''Equivalent VIII'', or ''The Bricks'', a minimalist sculpture by Carl Andre *'' Equival ...
name for the role. ''Wired'' recommends including the hunter in even the most basic games:


Alignment roles

* —''Miller'', ''Godfather'', ''Alpha Wolf'', ''Wildcard'', etc. : Some roles can fool investigations to determine their alignments: the Miller is an Innocent who appears guilty (usually because they are an outsider); the Godfather, on the other hand, appears innocent despite being the Mafia leader.The Godfather role is played differently between variants. If immunity to detection is the Godfather's only power, his leadership of the Mafia need only be nominal: The Alpha Wolf or Master Werewolf have the same role as the Godfather in ''Werewolf'' settings.


Double-agent roles

* —''Traitor'', ''Possessed'', ''Undercover Cop'', ''Godfather'', etc. : The Traitor is not a mafioso (in that he does not awake at night and is not revealed as a mafioso by Detective type roles), but works to protect them and hamper the town during the day cycle, and wins only with a Mafia victory. Conversely, the Undercover Cop is a mole within the Mafia group who acts with the Mafia but wins with the innocents. The stool pigeon may be the only optional role in play, and makes up one of the few modern game forms to be played without an investigative role. :Distinct from the alignment-role Godfather, the double-agent Godfather behaves as a standard mafioso, but wakes again (after the Mafia sleep) to perform an extra kill. This Godfather-role wins only if he survives.


Role manipulators

* —''Role-blocker'', ''Bus Driver'', ''Thief'', ''Barman'', ''Witch,'' etc. : These roles can stop or alter the night actions of others; for instance, they may prevent a protection or investigation from occurring, or they may change the target. The Role-blocker can block the Vigilante for a night, while the Thief, Prostitute or Hypnotizer might be able to disable the powers of any selected target.The
thief Theft is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shorthand term for some ...
's action usually applies for a single night, as in: . The thief sometimes has a purely investigative function – being only able to determine the roles from stolen items.
: When the thief is used in ''Werewolves'', an additional townsfolk card is added before dealing, and the Thief may choose on the first night to steal the role of another player or to take the unused role card. The player whose role was stolen gets the unused role card and the Thief card is discarded.


Recruitment roles

* —''Godfather'', ''Psychiatrist'', ''Piper'', ''Cult Leader'', etc. : The Mafia Godfather may be able to recruit innocent players into their faction under certain circumstances. The
Yakuza , also known as , are members of Transnational crime, transnational organized crime, organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . ...
is a regular mafia player with an extra power: they may sacrifice themselves from the second night (during the night) and choose an innocent to join the mafia. In other variants, the mafia can't kill anyone else on the night this power is used. The potential existence of a Yakuza makes innocents with protective roles less inclined to reveal their roles for fear of being converted (or more inclined to reveal themselves if they expect the Mafia to win and wish to be converted). : Each night, the
scientist A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosophi ...
selects a player to
cure A cure is a substance or procedure that ends a medical condition, such as a medication, a surgical operation, a change in lifestyle or even a philosophical mindset that helps end a person's sufferings; or the state of being healed, or cured. The ...
; if a mafioso is cured, they awaken as an innocent. The
Psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their ...
is an innocent with the ability to convert the Serial Killer into a normal innocent. :
Cult Leaders In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. Thi ...
recruit followers at night instead of kill; they act as an independent faction, usually with the ability to talk at night. : The Piper wins by charming every surviving player; she charms players at night, who then know each other (but not the piper) but are otherwise unaffected.


Association roles

* —''Freemasons (Masons)'', ''Siblings'', ''Lovers'', ''Police'', etc. : Possessors of these roles know one another and what their roles are. On the innocent's side, a
Mason Mason may refer to: Occupations * Mason, brick mason, or bricklayer, a craftsman who lays bricks to construct brickwork, or who lays any combination of stones, bricks, cinder blocks, or similar pieces * Stone mason, a craftsman in the stone-cut ...
usually has no special abilities, but knows the identity of all other Masons and that all Masons are also innocent. Every member of the detectives or the
police The police are a Law enforcement organization, constituted body of Law enforcement officer, persons empowered by a State (polity), state, with the aim to law enforcement, enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citize ...
knows all the rest, because they collaborate at night to investigate someone (sharing the powers of the Detective role between them). :
Sibling A sibling is a relative that shares at least one parent with the subject. A male sibling is a brother and a female sibling is a sister. A person with no siblings is an only child. While some circumstances can cause siblings to be raised separat ...
pairs typically consist of one Mafia and one Innocent; in most versions, if one is killed, the other also dies.
Cupid In classical mythology, Cupid (Latin Cupīdō , meaning "passionate desire") is the god of desire, erotic love, attraction and affection. He is often portrayed as the son of the love goddess Venus and the god of war Mars. He is also known in L ...
in ''Werewolf'' chooses a pair of Lovers on the first night. In this variant, the Lovers can also win the game (regardless of whether they are Mafia, Innocents, or both) by being the last two standing. Like Siblings, however, if one of the pair dies, the other dies as well.


Election roles

* —''Doublevoter'', ''Priest'', ''Rabble Rouser'', ''Lawyer'', etc. : Until the Rabble Rouser dies there are two eliminations per day. : In some games there are players who can change the vote count. Some players have 2 votes (Doublevoter); some players can only cast the final vote to kill a player (Actor); cannot vote to eliminate (Voteless Innocent); must delegate someone else to vote for them (Fool), or require one fewer vote to eliminate (Hated Innocent). The Priest cannot place the final vote (this role is not necessarily the same as the Reanimation-role priest). The ''
lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solicitor ...
'' selects someone during the night, and if that person tops the elimination vote the next day, saves them (a different ''lawyer'' role releases the wills written by players killed up to that point, when she dies).


Public roles

* —''Mayor'', ''Judge'', ''Sheriff'', ''President'', etc. : This role is taken in addition to the assigned role, and it endows the player with additional, overt, powers (particularly during the daytime). Empowerment can be random, but is usually made by vote. For instance, the Mayor or Sheriff can be elected each morning, and gain two elimination votes, or a Judge could moderate discussion in
parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...
fashion (to the advantage of their team). The elected President has the sole elimination vote. In the popular online Mafia variant '' Town of Salem'', the Sheriff is a role which can interrogate people at night to discover their role. The Godfather and the Arsonist are undetectable by a Sheriff, and the Framer can
frame A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (co ...
a player (to appear as a mafioso to the Sheriff).


Handicapped roles

* —''Murr'', ''Drunk'', ''Village Idiot'', ''Teenage Werewolf'', etc. : This may be a secondary role, taken in addition to the assigned role. However, it has the opposite effect, giving the bearer a handicap, like speaking only
gibberish Gibberish, also called jibber-jabber or gobbledygook, is speech that is (or appears to be) nonsense. It may include speech sounds that are not actual words, pseudowords, or language games and specialized jargon that seems nonsensical to out ...
in the case of the Village Drunk, etc. : Alternatively, it may be a standard role with a particular constraint, such as the teenage werewolf who must say the word werewolf at least once each day.


Handicapper roles

* —''Silencer'', ''Dentist'', ''Prostitute'', ''Fog'', etc. : The Dentist may select any other player at night, and prevent them speaking during the following day. The Silencer is a mafioso with the identical power, except that they may not silence the same player on successive days. The silenced individual wakes in the morning and is immediately instructed not to talk until the end of the day. They can still raise their hand to vote in live games (although, if they were silenced by a prostitute, they are not allowed to vote).


Post-mortem roles

* —''Dark Background'', ''Priest'', ''Medium'', ''Coroner'', etc. : The dark background roles are
standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object ...
(mafia or innocent) except for revealing a deceptive alignment when killed. The M.E. gathers information from the killings that can help the innocents, while the Priest learns about the alignment of the dead in the same way that the Detective learns about the living. The
Medium Medium may refer to: Science and technology Aviation *Medium bomber, a class of war plane * Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Communication * Media (communication), tools used to store and deliver information or data * Medium of ...
can interrogate dead players.The Medium function varies, for example see summarized ' Medium-enabled seance' rules from ''Werewolf'' at: , as opposed to the ''Lupus in Tabula'' Medium, who alone can uncover the alignment of the deceased (see: ). While the
coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within the coroner's jur ...
survives, the narrator will explain the means of death in all night kills.


Reanimation roles

* —''Reviver'', ''Governor'', ''Martyr'', ''Witch'', etc. : Revivers and Master Revivers are able to
resurrect Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, whic ...
dead players, Master Revivers can bring the revived into their association (e.g., the Masons: see Association roles). The players resurrected by a
Necromancer Necromancy () is the practice of magic or black magic involving communication with the dead by summoning their spirits as apparitions or visions, or by resurrection for the purpose of divination; imparting the means to foretell future event ...
are converted to the Necromancer's alignment; those revived by the voodooist join a separate zombie group. The Governor can reprieve those killed during the daytime, as can the Martyr if he sacrifices himself. The Witch has a (single-use) revival potion. At night, she's shown who will die in the morning, and can choose to save them.The Witch was introduced as a special character in ''The Werewolves of Millers Hollow'', where she also has a single-use killing potion. She may be able to revive herself with the "reanimation potion", see
Original Werewolf characters
/ref>


Rule-immune Roles

* —''Bulletproof'', ''Oracle'', ''Elder'', etc. : The Bulletproof innocent is invulnerable at night,The bulletproof effect typically applies to night-time killings and is usually temporary, for example, the'' Ultimate Werewolf'' Amulet of Protection (
bulletproof vest A bulletproof vest, also known as a ballistic vest or a bullet-resistant vest, is an item of body armor that helps absorb the impact and reduce or stop penetration to the torso from firearm-fired projectiles and fragmentation from explosions. Th ...
equivalent) protects over only a single night. Rare optional roles do give permanent protection from mafia attack, such as the Lupus in Tabul
Werehamster
though usually with limits; for example, the Elder will survive the first night attack, but not the second. : The
Oracle An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination. Description The word '' ...
has an investigative role similar to a Seer but also has the power to talk when inactive (talking in a sleep phase is usually a rule infraction).


Special roles

* —''Baker, Chef,'' ''Village Idiot'', ''Cobbler'', etc. : The baker is on the side of the innocents. During the night, the baker gives one player a loaf of bread, potentially revealing their identity. If the baker dies, the innocents have just three nights to dispose of the mafia, or the innocents starve, and the mafia win. The Cobbler,
Village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred t ...
r, or Jester has the objective of convincing the town to kill them, or is required to vote in favor of all proposed eliminations. Sometimes, successful elimination of the Village Idiot results in the mafia being able to kill two people that night.


Complicated roles

Additional variations exist, sometimes with even more specialized or complicated abilities. There are many special roles, and many moderators design novel roles for each game. Some commercial variants ship with blank cards to allow this customization. For example, neutral factions such as the serial killer could exist (the serial killer would have to kill everyone, innocent or mafia, to win).


Variations

The naming of various roles, factions, and other elements of play is theme-dependent and has limitless variation. Common alternative themes restyle the mafia as werewolves, cultists, assassins, or witches, with other roles being renamed appropriately. Over the years, players have created Mafia variants that include additional rules. Some of these are listed here.


Variations on the win conditions

If there are as many mafiosi as innocents in the day-phase then a mafia victory is declared immediately, under the original Mafia rules. With the ability to deny a majority at an elimination vote, remaining mafiosi cannot be eliminated unless innocent/neutral killing roles exist. Other variants suspend this rule, and only declare the game after every member of one faction has been eliminated: this makes the game easier to explain, and to run.


Election variants

Nominees for elimination may be allowed to make a speech in their own defense. Usually, each player must vote, can only vote once and cannot vote for themselves. But some variants have a more complicated process of selecting players to be executed. Davidoff's original 'Mafia' allowed multiple day-time executions (per day), each needing only a plurality to action. Voting variants abound, but any elimination usually requires an absolute majority of the electorate, or votes cast. So the voting is usually not by secret ballot for multiple candidates with the highest vote count eliminated; it is more usual for the voting to be openly resolved either by: * A nomination or series of elections structured to ultimately offer a choice between two candidates, or * An option to eliminate (or not eliminate) one suspect (with a new suspect produced if the last one survives the vote).


Tied votes

Deadlocked elections can be resolved by lot or by killing the player with the
scapegoat In the Bible, a scapegoat is one of a pair of kid goats that is released into the wilderness, taking with it all sins and impurities, while the other is sacrificed. The concept first appears in the Book of Leviticus, in which a goat is designa ...
special role. The special case of one mafioso and one innocent remaining can be decided randomly or be ruled a Mafia win—this is more usual in live play.That a single mafioso wins against a single surviving innocent in the day phase is a standard live-play rule, being a sub-case of the rule that a numerical equality is a Mafia victory


Optional elimination variant

The Innocents can choose not to kill anybody during the day. Although commonly unsure of Mafia identities, the Innocents are more likely to randomly kill a mafioso than are the Mafia (at night). Therefore, not eliminating anyone (even at random) will typically favor the Mafia. However, when the number of survivors is even, No Kill may help the Innocents; for example, when three Innocents and one mafioso remain – voting for No elimination gives a 1/3 chance of killing the mafioso the next day, rather than a 1/4 chance today (assuming
random In common usage, randomness is the apparent or actual lack of pattern or predictability in events. A random sequence of events, symbols or steps often has no order and does not follow an intelligible pattern or combination. Individual rand ...
elimination).


Mafia killing methods

Some variants require all Mafia members to choose the same victim independently for a kill to succeed. This can be achieved in the following ways: * By waking the Mafia members up separately. * By calling out the names of all surviving players and requiring surviving mafiosi to raise their hands when the name of the victim is called out. In this variant, the mafiosi only "wake up" (open their eyes) at the very beginning of the game when they identify each other. This variant also allows other roles to take their actions by simply raising their hands when their target's name is called out. * By having them write their kills. Under this variant, Innocent players write the word 'honest' on a piece of paper; Mafia members write the name of a player for elimination. If all the mafia notes have the same name on them, that player is considered killed by the Mafia. In some online versions of the game, a particular player (the Godfather or a designated mafioso) must send in the kill. Another variant requires the night-time vote to be secret and unanimous, but allows multiple players to be added to the execution
queue __NOTOC__ Queue () may refer to: * Queue area, or queue, a line or area where people wait for goods or services Arts, entertainment, and media *'' ACM Queue'', a computer magazine * ''The Queue'' (Sorokin novel), a 1983 novel by Russian author ...
to ensure unanimity.


Multiple families

Multiple, independent groups of mafia or werewolves act and win independently, giving faster game-play and the potential for cross-fire between the factions.


Attributes

In this variant, players are given two cards: the first contains their role, the second an attribute. Attributes were originally derived from roles that could apply to both Mafia and Innocent alignments such as ''Bulletproof'' (cannot be killed at night), ''Mayor'' (has two votes in the elimination), and ''Siamese Twins'' (more commonly known as Siblings or Lovers).


Quantum Werewolf

This variant was developed by Steven Irrgang and used for a puzzle in the 2008 CISRA Puzzle Competition. The difference from a standard game of Mafia is that players are not initially assigned roles, but rather on each day are given the probabilities describing the game's current
quantum state In quantum physics, a quantum state is a mathematical entity that provides a probability distribution for the outcomes of each possible measurement on a system. Knowledge of the quantum state together with the rules for the system's evolution in t ...
. Each player with a non-zero probability of being a seer or a werewolf performs the appropriate night actions (which may not be effective if it is later determined that the player did not have that role). When a player is killed, the
wave function collapse In quantum mechanics, wave function collapse occurs when a wave function—initially in a superposition of several eigenstates—reduces to a single eigenstate due to interaction with the external world. This interaction is called an ''observa ...
s and the players are given updated probabilities.


Train Mafia

Traditional Mafia re-envisioned and heavily modified by the Copenhagen Game Collective to be played in a subway metro. In this variation, players who are eliminated are kicked off the train (at the next stop), and must wait in shame for the following train – a kind of 'afterlife' train – to join a second, interwoven game.


Invisible City: Rebels vs. Spies

A location-based mobile gaming variant for Android, designed for
city center A city centre is the commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely equivalent terms exist in other languages, such as "" in Fren ...
play. The two factions are: the Rebels, the majority; and the Spies, the informed minority. The rule-set replaces expulsions with scoring by round. Each player is assigned an individual mission each round. Some missions are critical and if one of those fails, the round goes to the Spies, but only one player knows which missions are critical.


Ultimate Werewolf

In this version of Mafia, the main enemies are the werewolves, as opposed to the mafia. The werewolves wake at night to kill a player, who is usually a Villager. Other helpful roles such as the Seer, Bodyguard, and Witch exist to help purge the village of werewolves, but other neutral roles exist such as the Tanner, lovers (if Cupid is in the game and the lovers are from different teams), and a third major faction: Vampires.


One Night variant

In this standalone game published by Bezier Games, players only "sleep" and close their eyes for a single night at the beginning of the game. They then have a single day of discussion, with a single elimination. No players are eliminated as the game progresses. There is no moderator, so everyone gets to participate as a member of the town or village. When playing this game, three more role cards are used than the number of players; when everyone is randomly dealt out their card the three extra ones placed in the middle of the table. To begin the game one of the players, with eyes closed, will act as the "caller" on the single starting night, going through the nighttime roles once: Werewolves and Minions (if in play) will identify each other, the Seer will examine one player's card or two of the middle cards, the Robber will steal another player's role card and replace it with their own, the Troublemaker will blindly swap two players' role cards, the Insomniac wakes up to check if their role card has been swapped, etc. The game ends on a single elimination vote, with the villagers winning if a single werewolf is caught, and the werewolves winning if no werewolves are killed. This game can be played with as few as three players. Play time can be as quick as five minutes per game.


Town of Salem

'' Town of Salem'' is an advanced online version of Mafia that takes place during the
Salem witch trials The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused. Thirty people were found guilty, 19 of whom w ...
. It involves several different roles from multiple factions. The game was updated on June 6, 2017, to add a new faction: the Coven, which mainly consists of witches and is similar in function and goal to the more traditional Mafia.


Online play

Mafia can also be played online. Games can be played on IRC channels, where a bot assumes the role of a game moderator and the interaction of players is conducted via textual communication. Playing mafia-like games online opens the possibility of long lasting games, such as the ones on forums. In such games, one day in real life usually corresponds to one day within the game, so players log in each morning to see who was killed during the night phase. Online games have several advantages. There is no need to gather many people in the same room, so organizing and playing a game of Mafia is faster and more convenient. Removing the human moderator and the need for players to close their eyes removes the possibility of accidental revelation of information. Online play also allows role mechanics which would be too cumbersome to use in a physical version of the game. A drawback of online play is the lack of direct face-to-face communication, which many consider the most important aspect of Mafia. Some sites organize Mafia games with web cams, so that face-to-face communication is preserved. The long lasting online mafia games that are usually played via online forums do not necessarily have this drawback. People who communicate via forums usually do not know each other in real life. In a traditional Mafia game, all of the players are in one room. There is no way to communicate with another player in private. With online games, this is not the case. Many Mafia game forums and game sites have rules that mandate that only one channel of communication must be used for all game related discussion.


Artificial intelligence

Werewolf is a subject of
artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech r ...
research due to its unique features such as persuasion and deception. The game requires several AI technologies such as multi-agent coordination, intentional reading, and understanding of the
theory of mind In psychology, theory of mind refers to the capacity to understand other people by ascribing mental states to them (that is, surmising what is happening in their mind). This includes the knowledge that others' mental states may be different fr ...
.
Deep learning Deep learning (also known as deep structured learning) is part of a broader family of machine learning methods based on artificial neural networks with representation learning. Learning can be supervised, semi-supervised or unsupervised. D ...
has been used in an attempt to develop agents that can win the game as werewolves or as villagers.
Regular expression A regular expression (shortened as regex or regexp; sometimes referred to as rational expression) is a sequence of characters that specifies a search pattern in text. Usually such patterns are used by string-searching algorithms for "find" or ...
s have been used to parse utterance logs for divulgence (or "coming-out" as a role) and decision information, although one difficulty has been that a statement such as "Player A is a werewolf" could be based on either the player's ability (e.g. as seer) or just speculation.Hirata Y. et al. (2016) Werewolf Game Modeling Using Action Probabilities Based on Play Log Analysis. In: Plaat A., Kosters W., van den Herik J. (eds) Computers and Games. CG 2016. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 10068. Springer, Cham


See also

* ''
Among Us ''Among Us'' is a 2018 online multiplayer social deduction game developed and published by American game studio Innersloth. The game was inspired by the party game Mafia and the science fiction horror film '' The Thing''. The game allows for ...
'' *
Assassin (game) Assassin (also Killer) is a live-action game in which players try to eliminate one another using mock weapons, in an effort to become the last surviving player. Assassin is particularly popular on college campuses; several universities have a ...
* Gnosia * ''Bang!'' (card game) * ''The Resistance'' (game) * '' Secret Hitler'' * Wink murder * '' Werewolves Within''


Notes


References


External links


The original Mafia ruleset


– first Mafia-related page on the Internet
Werewolf
at
BoardGameGeek BoardGameGeek (BGG) is an online forum for board gaming hobbyists and a game database that holds reviews, images and videos for over 125,600 different tabletop games, including European-style board games, wargames, and card games. In addition t ...

The Princeton ruleset
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mafia Soviet inventions Live-action role-playing games Games and sports introduced in 1986 Works about organized crime Mafia (party game) Soviet games