Mafia (parlor game)
Mafia is a parlor game for larger groups, usually between 7 and 20 players, which was invented in 1986 by Dimitry Davidoff in Russia. The game is about the fight between honest citizens and criminal mafiosi , whereby it is mainly based on discussions between the players. Other common names for variants of the game are Murder in Palermo, The Werewolves of Mirkwood , Mafiosi, and Wolfmoon.
Basic rules and game play
The object of the game is for the mafiosi to kill all citizens and for the citizens to locate and execute all mafiosi.
Mafia is played with a game master who monitors compliance with the rules. At the beginning he distributes cards that determine the secret roles of the individual players. The game then begins with the first so-called night. To do this, all players put their heads between their arms so that they can no longer see anything. The game master calls on the mafiosi to wake up. They are allowed to raise their heads, recognize each other and agree with looks and gestures on another player they want to kill.
Then all players are allowed to wake up, whereby the one chosen by the Mafia is dead, has to reveal his card and is eliminated from the game. Now begins the day, the main part of the game, in which all players discuss who they consider to be guilty of the murder. It is from these discussions, which mostly involve wild conspiracy theories and thinking around dozens of corners, that the game draws its main attraction, because a variety of complex tactics can be used here. The day ends with the majority of the players agreeing in a vote on a death row inmate, who is then executed.
The game ends when all citizens or all Mafiosi are dead. The other side wins in this case. With additional neutral pawns such as the other or the golem , it is also possible that neither side wins. These figures have their own win requirements.
History and dissemination
The game Mafia is generally traced back to the classic children's and party game Murder (in Germany, murderer game ), from which it took over the basic idea of murder and the search for culprits, but stands out due to its well-structured rules and the large variety of tactics.
Mafia was invented by Dimitry Davidoff in 1986 when he was a student at Lomonosov University in Moscow . Andrew Plotkin added the werewolf theme to the game. The game came to Germany through students with contacts at Princeton University in the USA, which has one of the most active Mafia communities in the world.
In the meantime, online variants of the Mafia game that use slightly to massively modified rules have also spread.
A commercial Mafia version appeared in Germany in 2002 as a card game under the name Die Werwölfe von Düsterwald .
In 2016, a film version of the game was released under the title Mafia: The Survival Game ( Russian Мафия: Игра на выживание Mafia: Igra na wischiwanje , German 'Mafia: Survival Game ' ), in which people fight for their own lives on a TV show.
Special figures
Often Mafia is played with some special characters with special abilities beyond the basic rules, of which the fan base has developed a large selection. The best known are described below. For all characters, as for normal citizens and mafiosi, their identity is secret.
Detective / Commissioner
The detective is by far the most widespread special character and is often seen as part of the standard game. He plays on the side of the citizens. His special ability is to be able to wake up individually every night and to check a fellow player, whereupon the game master informs him with a show of hands whether this player is a mafioso or not. Whether special characters are recognized as guilty by the mafia is handled differently depending on the game round. If there are several detectives, they agree, like the mafiosi, on a target to be investigated. In another variant, the detective learns the identity of all mafiosi immediately after the game starts.
Soul saver / doctor
The soul saver plays on the part of the citizens. He can choose a player at night to save. If the mafia chooses him as a murder victim, nothing happens to him. Sometimes special rules are introduced, such as that the soul saver must not protect himself or twice in a row the same player so that he is not too strong.
terrorist
The terrorist plays on the side of the mafia. He has no nightly action, but can kill himself and any other player from the game at any time during the day by suicide bombing . This is usually done to take out a detective who has been noticed by too much knowledge.
barkeeper
The bartender doesn't play a special side, but is allowed to choose one person each night to have a drink. The person who is selected is thereby protected. If the bartender dies, everyone drinks.
More characters
Figures such as Mafia soul savers, Judas , Eulenspiegel or Nominator, little girl and Cupid are among the less frequently used, but quite generally known figures . In addition, most of the game rounds have their own inventions.
Game variants
There are not only individual additional characters to expand Mafia, but also extensive game variants. The best known include:
Without a game master
Mafia can also be played without a game master. A preliminary game master distributes the cards and calls out the first night and the first day. However, no murder occurs on the first night. It is therefore not necessary for the game master to watch. The mafia wakes up anyway so that these players know each other during the first day.
The player who is lynched on the first day then takes on the role of the game master, so that the mafia can kill as usual on the second night.
Presidential Mafia
There is an additional game phase on the day in which a president is elected using a procedure similar to the lynch voting. This then has the sole right to impose the death penalty.
Schizo mafia
In this variant, wrongly named after the illness of schizophrenia , several games run in parallel, each player has an identity card per game. This can be expanded with special characters and further detailed rules, whereby the games influence each other, which can lead to very complicated situations.
Time travel mafia
This is considered to be the most confusing variant of the game. The actions of many characters can be relocated to the past, which in turn has an influence on events that are actually already completed: for example, the mafiosi can murder a player in the past, whereupon his vote is lost in an election and another player may have been lynched originally, thereby reviving the other.
Pentagram Mafia
This variant is actually a completely separate game. It is not intended for large numbers of players, but for exactly 5 players (plus - but not necessarily - a game master), hence the name pentagram . There are only special characters: a mafioso, a soul saver, a terrorist, a pentagram master and another. These each have special victory conditions, which can be slightly different depending on the rule variant, but guarantee a very intriguing course of the game.
Benzene Mafia
Similar to Pentagram Mafia, this is a mafia-like game for six players and a game master. The players each receive a mission, a feature and a metafeature; There are three teams of two (double bonds in the benzene ring) that oscillate. The set of rules is much more complex than that of the conventional Mafia game.
Mirkwood werewolves
The commercial version already mentioned above, The Werewolves of Mirkwood, relocates the game to the 15th century. Instead of mafiosi, it is now werewolves who haunt the citizens of a town. As special characters on the citizen's side, u. a. the game figures girl (can blink during the night to identify possible werewolves), witch (has a life and a death potion; with the former she can prevent an attack by the werewolves against any other player, with the latter she can kill a pawn of her choice) , Seer (may ask the game master about a fellow player about his possible werewolf status during his game phase), hunter (a citizen who chooses another player of his choice when he dies by werewolves or a vote, who also dies) and cupid or Cupid (at the beginning of the game determines two teammates, the second of whom dies of lovesickness as soon as the first dies. If one of the two werewolf and one is a citizen, these two players are a secret third team that only wins if these two the last survivors are).
Icebear
A variant for children. The game is relocated to an Eskimo village. The mafiosi are being replaced by polar bears , the normal citizens by Eskimos . The only special character that appears is a hunter who is shown the polar bears by the game master on the first night.
Wolf moon and werewolves
Like The Werewolves of Mirkwood , Wolfmond is a commercial variant of Mafia. The game was published in October 2009 by Heidelberger Spieleverlag. In Wolfmond , the villagers are also startled by a nightly murder that needs to be investigated . Pegasus Spiele also has a commercial version of the game called Werewolves , which has a particularly large number of special cards.
Shark Consulting
A commercial variant that plays in the modern business world. Here, sharks (consultants) have sneaked into the workforce in order to throw the employees out of the company one by one. The subject is outsourcing . Special roles are an employee from the HR department, an assistant, a team leader and the works council .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Information on Mafia on about.com ( Memento of the original from November 3, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Website on Mafia by Dimitry Davidoff ( Memento from March 2, 1999 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Andrew Plotkin's Werewolf website
- ^ Online version of Mafia
- ↑ Survival Game - Review. In: moviebreak.de. Retrieved October 25, 2017 .
- ↑ Information on "Polar Bear" ( Memento from May 25, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Wolfmond from Heidelberger Spieleverlag ( Memento from July 1, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Werewolves of Pegasus
- ↑ Game ›playandwork®. Retrieved January 31, 2017 .
