The free mafia party game Mafia

How to play Mafia

Mafia is a hidden-role game for 5 to 16 players. A few players are secretly the Mafia; everyone else is the town, and the town has to figure out who they are. In the classic version, one person sits out as the moderator to run the night. Here the phone does that job and reads every step out loud.

1. 1Enter everyone's names once. The app sets the number of Mafia for your group size, and you can change it.
2. 2Pass the phone around. Each player taps to see their role privately, then hands it on.
3. 3Night falls. Put the phone in the middle of the circle, and everyone closes their eyes.
4. 4The phone calls each role in turn. The Mafia pick up the phone and tap their target, the Doctor taps someone to save, and the Detective taps someone to check and sees the answer privately.
5. 5Morning comes. Everyone opens their eyes, and the narrator announces who was eliminated, or that the Doctor saved them.
6. 6Talk it over until the discussion timer runs out. Then vote out loud and tap the player the group voted out.
7. 7Repeat night and day. The town wins when all the Mafia are out. The Mafia win once they equal or outnumber everyone else.

Mafia game roles

Every game uses four roles. The Mafia are the hidden minority, choosing one player to eliminate each night. The Doctor and the Detective are on the town's side and each has a night move. Villagers have no special power, but they have the numbers and the vote. With the Werewolf village theme, the same roles become Werewolves, Healer, Seer and Villagers, with the same rules.

• Mafia

  Mafia

  Mafia · Werewolf theme: Werewolf

  You know who the other Mafia players are. Each night, you secretly choose one player to eliminate. By day, act innocent and steer the vote away from your team. You win when your team equals or outnumbers everyone else.

• Town

  Doctor

  Doctor · Werewolf theme: Healer

  Each night, you secretly pick one player to protect. If the Mafia chose that same player, nobody is eliminated. You can protect yourself.

• Town

  Detective

  Detective · Werewolf theme: Seer

  Each night, you secretly check one player and the phone tells only you whether they are on the Mafia team. Use what you learn carefully: if you reveal too much, you become a target.

• Town

  Villager

  Villager · Werewolf theme: Villager

  You have no night action, but your vote is your power. Listen, ask questions and help the village find the Mafia before it is too late.

The phone narrator, timers and setup

The hardest part of organizing Mafia is usually the moderator. Someone has to stay awake, remember who did what and announce it without giving anything away, and that person never gets to play. With the phone as narrator, nobody sits out, so even a group of five can play a full game.

The narrator reads each step out loud using your phone's text-to-speech. Prefer it quiet? Switch the voice off. The same instructions always appear on screen.

The number of Mafia is set for you: 1 for 5 to 7 players, 2 for 8 to 11, and 3 for 12 or more. Adjust it if your group wants a harder or easier game.

During the day, a discussion timer keeps debates moving. Choose 2, 3 or 5 minutes. You can also decide whether eliminated players' roles are revealed. Revealing makes the game easier to follow; keeping roles hidden makes every vote a bigger gamble.

Tips for playing Mafia

• Make a little noise at night. Humming or tapping on the table covers the sound of someone picking up the phone.
• When it's your turn at night, pick up the phone quietly, tap, and put it back exactly where it was.
• Keep your eyes closed until the narrator says morning has come, even if the night seems to be over.
• Detectives, don't reveal yourself too early. Once the Mafia know who you are, you become the obvious choice.
• Villagers, listen more than you talk on the first day. Who is pushing hardest to vote someone out, and why?
• Mafia, agree with the group now and then. Disagreeing every time is a giveaway.
• Once you're out, stay out. No hints, no faces, no groaning when the town votes the wrong way.

Ways to play Mafia

Where Mafia works best

Mafia needs a room where everyone can sit in a circle and close their eyes at the same time. Five is the minimum, and the game gets richer from about eight players, when there are two Mafia and more people to suspect.

It's a natural fit for sleepovers, youth groups, family reunions and holiday evenings when there are too many people for a board game. Because the phone runs the night, the person who usually organizes gets to play too.

In classrooms and clubs, Mafia is a fun way to practice making a case and listening to one. The game is family-friendly: players are simply eliminated or out, with no gore and no scary descriptions.

Where the Mafia game comes from

Mafia is usually credited to Dmitry Davidoff, who created it in 1986 while he was a psychology student at Moscow State University. It spread through schools, dorms and summer camps in the Soviet Union, and in the 1990s it reached the rest of Europe and the United States.

Davidoff's original game had no special roles. The Detective and other night roles were added later and are now part of most games. In 1997, Andrew Plotkin retold the game with werewolves hiding in a village, and that version spread under the name Werewolf. The rules barely changed, which is why our Werewolf village theme only swaps the names.

Questions