How to play Mafia if you are Citizen. Strategy

Red player (day №1)

“Black players” (mafia) already know each other and came to agreement whom to shoot and which night to do that. “Red player” (citizen) knows only their role.

Experienced players suppose that the most interesting game is when you picked up the card of a regular red player. Though, we believe that THE most experienced players can enjoy any role they get.

So, you opened your eyes. At the table there are nine more players, each of those will convince you that he or she is “red”. Your task is to make conclusions and vote in a right way (get rid of mafia players).

What is the regular “red player” game based on?

As a rule, inexperienced players believe that the way you find out mafia is by intuition or by hearing movements during the night. And already during the first round of discussion they determine those players who they consider “black”, playing against them till the end of the game.

I assure you that such “red player” can spoil the strategy of all the “red” team. Intuition as a method of psychological analysis can be used only at the first round of discussion, just to express the incredulity to some player, but in any case not for making the final conclusion about the player’s “color”.

Trust me, if there is an experienced player at the Mafia game, you can never tell their “role” by the way they talk. That’s why don’t listen to the way people speak, but try to remember who, whom and which round nominated players. Also remembering the way people voted could be a powerful argument.

Experienced players think that regular “red player” should trust 5% of intuition and 95% of ability to analyze what happens at the table.

As a rule nobody is voted off at the first round. Why? Longstanding practice showed that nominating a player creates a big possibility to make a mistake. So, consider the first round to be the one that only gives you “food” for thought, nothing more.

Try to use all the minute given for discussion. Sometimes players 1 or 2 think that they have nothing to say, this way they don’t help their red team at all. Remember: only you know your color, others need to make conclusions based on what you have said and to figure it out. Sometimes during the first round two candidates are nominated (mostly from different sides) and share the table. One candidate is nominated among numbers from 1 to 5, another – from 6 to 10. During the voting, players 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 vote against the player from the other side, so players 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 vote against each other.

Each player receives five votes. It is called ”a crossfire” ("a car crash"). Both candidates to die are given 30 seconds to speak, then the voting starts again. The table is shared in a very same way. Then, players vote for either both players to leave the Mafia game or to stay in it.

What is this unnecessary procedure (as it may seem) made for? When players are nominated even though everybody knows the will stay. If the player’s speech wasn’t good enough, they are given a second chance to discuss the table after all players finish their speeches. And probably players are interested to listen to the way player number one thinks about all of them.

Experienced players can share the table only in case, when candidates from one side are nominated. For instance players number 2 and 3 are nominated. Player number 10 shares the table, as he is the last speaking at the end of first day. For example: «players number 8, 9, 10, 1 и 2 vote against player number 3, others against player number 2″.

REMEMBER! Never break the voting if you are a “red player”. There exists an unwritten rule: the player, who brakes the voting, leaves the game next day. For black player there is also no need to break the voting, knowing that he gives his life for a “red player”, when red players are two times more. It makes sense for a black player to break the voting only in case if his speech was bad and many players want him to be checked.

If among those who has already spoken there is a player whom you consider black show Sheriff the number of this player and ask to check him. Of course such a gesturing can only be done before the night is announced. If you weren’t mistaken this fact can be used to convince the table that you are red.

Red player (day №2)

The day can begin with announcement that a player is killed, or there was a miss. How to play mafia in both of the cases? Let’s consider a few options of the following scenario of the mafia game in such a case.

Option 1.There was a miss.

Fоr those who have just started playing Mafia, the situation is not clear if there is a miss at the first night. Common! It is the very beginning of the game. Don showed all the orders to the “blacks” (mafia team) with fingers at the zero night. How can someone miss? But, trust me, misses happen, and quite often. Sometimes it may seem to one of the “blacks” that somebody made a “sheriff ” move, so they shot the sheriff, but the others shot in accordance with the Don’s order.

Sometimes the Sheriff gets into a situation of a crossfire (a car crash) and has to reveal himself. Crossfire is when two or more players receive an equal amount of votes, so the voting repeats after they repeat their speeches. Some “blacks” believe and shoot the Sheriff, while the rest follows the Don’s order. That’s how the miss happens. Anyway, misses can occur during the second night as well, so the second day there stay only ten players at the table.

What’s the right thing to do in this case?

All players should quickly say “Thank you” (in order to finish their speeches as soon as possible) and let the Sheriff continue their checks.
You can nominate the last speaker, or another player, and split the table.

As it is known, discussion of the second day starts from player number 2, while player 1 finishes the row of speeches that day. Suppose that on the first night Don found the Sheriff and signaled his mafia teammates about that. Usually the zero night Don shows some special gesture that he will use to let mafia know about change of orders. If during the second day none of the players was nominated, there is a risk that player number 1 (the last speaking) will nominate the real Sheriff, so he will have to leave the game. Why? Because he will be the only one nominated. Eventually, the Sheriff, leaving the game, gives two checks: one was made at night, and the player did not die because of a miss, and the second – player number 1 who can turn to be black with a high probability. And who else except Mafia, badly needs to get rid of the Sheriff? Of course, mafia!

Option 2. There is a victim.

When the Sheriff is found, two candidates are usually nominated and the table is split in a way that nobody dies eventually. All the ten players stay in the game. At night the Sheriff checks another player and leaves the game. It is not difficult to understand that the first option when the Sheriff is eliminated from the game by the first player has a number of advantages for the mafia team.

In both cases, Sheriff leaves the game, giving two checks. If in the first case, leaving, Sheriff gives at least one checked black player (number one), in the second case, he can leave two checked red. One of them will be killed on the first night. In turn, the longer debate continues during the second day, the more chances have black players to agree whom to shoot. Therefore, in order to not giving the black players a chance to “aim weapons”, it is logical that all the citizens say “thank you” and wait for the night, then the Sheriff will have another check.

Splitting the table makes sense only if the Sheriff during the night found out that player number 1 was black. He is obliged to offer splitting the table, delicately nominating the candidacy of the first player as the last speaker. Otherwise, it is likely to leave the table with just one check.

Option 3.The red player was killed.

The killed player did not reveal themselves as the Sheriff and left the table. Consider yourself being lucky – Sheriff is still in the game. From the second day of discussion the game actually begins.

How to play mafia game on the second day then? Remember, the most important rule – do not make “black” moves. What Read that in our next article.

Red Player (day №3)

So, the third day of Mafia game has come. There are seven players at the table (or eight if there was a miss). In both cases the situation is called “critical”, as the elimination of a red player means a loss for the city.

If there are eight players, and during the day a red player (a peaceful citizen) is voted out, any black player (mafia) should just shout, whom to kill during upcoming night and they will be done with the red team. Of course, that player will receive penalty for such behavior, but who cares? They still successfully kill citizen; if three black and three red players are left, this will mean that the black team has won. In a critical situation, the Sheriff must reveal himself. Most inexperienced players who receive the “Sheriff” card are usually afraid of being killed, so even in a critical situation they hesitate to reveal themselves. The inside joke is: “that kind of player wanted to bring the Sheriff card back home with him”. We usually say, that the “Sheriff” strategy is to die on time, rather than staying in the game till the very end. Nevertheless, the Sheriff is obligated to reveal himself at some point.

If you are the red player, in the morning you find out mafia killed you – you should use your last minute to question the remaining seven (or eight) players whether any of them is the Sheriff. It is common for a black player to falsely reveal himself as a “False” Sheriff in order to protect his true identity as mafia after being revealed by the real Sheriff. Before that moment mafia hopes that they were not checked and after the Sheriffs death they have all chances to win the game. That is why the questioning has to be done before the third day discussion begins, and before Sheriff gives his checks.

Suppose, you were not killed and continue the game together with the other six players. If just one Sheriff revealed himself, you need to play only with that player and to vote according to his suggestions. There is an unwritten rule: whatever you think about the Sheriff, you should play with him and believe him if he is the only one.

If two Sheriffs revealed themselves, then you have to make a choice. Necessarily clarify who was checked and when. Analyze if the Sheriffs’ checks are logical. Believe the Sheriff, whose checks were made on request of the most players. Obviously, you won’t have any questions if one of the Sheriffs will give you as a checked black. In any case, don’t forget about balance principle. If among Sheriffs there is one, who suggested eliminating some player and so he was eliminated on the 2nd day, get rid of such a Sheriff as a guaranty that the game will continue.

Once again about the balance: initially there are more red players then black ones in the game. It means that citizens can afford to lose one red player as a guaranty of killing a black. For that reason, eliminating players from different teams, citizens can reach the victory pretty fast.

As a matter of a fact, when two Sheriffs reveal, such situation is not very complicated. If the Sheriff plays with a table and acts accordingly, you can easily find out if he is real by the checks he makes. Don’t forget that the False Sheriff has to give some player as a red one, otherwise there will be too many votes against him. It frequently happens when, for example, the False Sheriff gave player № 5 as red and he shows that the Sheriff didn’t let him know about the check. Usually, when the Sheriff finds the red player at night, in the morning he tells him, that he was checked by a special gesture. Try to recall, whom each Sheriff nominated and whom he tried to vote off. Experienced players can easily find out who is the False Sheriff, if the real Sheriff was a single warrior, but a team player. We would like to remind you, that Mafia – is a team game. So the elimination of a player by “Rembo style” doesn’t really work, unless you’re very lucky and mafia is dumb.

The worst scenario for red players in the critical situation is when the player who was killed during the night says that he is a Sheriff and he has no checked black players.

At the table in a critical situation can be four red players, one or two of them are checked and three are black ones. Remember: in critical situations citizens have to vote together.

Red players need to vote together. Imagine that red players figured out who was black and didn’t make a mistake. It may happen that two red players will vote correctly against the black player, two other red players will vote against another “black” and mafia will vote against a red player. As a result, the citizens will lose, because while citizens are spreading the votes – Mafia works as a team.

If you are a red player and you are sure that some player is black, try to convince other red players, and first of all the checked red player, to vote together. It didn’t work? Do not show your character then: if you vote alone, you will not win. That’s why you should vote together with checked red player.

The probability that black player will be eliminated is 50%, because the checked red player choses the player from six other players, half of them are red and half are black. Anyway, voting together, you have a chance to eliminate a black player. As a matter of fact the probability of eliminating black player is more than 50%. If you have a good memory to remember who made accusations, who voted one or another way, you will be able to find all the mafia members.

If you voted correctly, you have all chances to win the game even without Sheriff. Remember: in the game without Sheriff, black players are not afraid to vote together. They need just one vote of a peaceful red player to whitewash. Always keep in mind, that you also can be mistaken, that’s why during the voting, don’t put your hand first.

Red Player (day №4)

It’s the 4th day of the game. There has left 5 or 6 of us at the table. Is there still a critical situation this day? How to make the right conclusions being the citizen? See that in the article below.

First question is: why are there 5 or 6 players left?

If two Sheriffs revealed themselves, mafia can miss on purpose. Why? Because when there are 6 players left and 2 of them are black – this is a critical situation. One player is eliminated during the day, second is killed at night. Then 2 red and 2 black players stay at the table, and… mafia wins the game.

So, we assume that if you’re playing as a citizen and face the 4th day in the game – the toughest part is left behind.

Imagine there were 7 or 8 players at the table and one was eliminated by voting. The game is not over, because one black player has left. OR black player was eliminated during the 2nd day, when there were 10 players at the table, though it is unlikely. Usually, red player dies during the second day. The votes of mafia don’t come against themselves. In most cases mafia can distribute their votes, so the red player gets the majority.

For that reason, we assume that during the 3rd day a mafia member was voted off. And you can consider yourself lucky at this point. Now, you need to analyze the previous voting and taking the situation as critical, is easier to make the right decision at this stage. At first, you have more information, especially according to the previous voting. Anyway, out of red and black teams – the red group voted correctly. Since the game hasn’t finished yet, you need to vote against players, having supported the one who was voted off for example the last day.

Never try to eliminate somebody for balance this day. The one who will use the “balance rule” as an argument – is most likely mafia. Remember that at night a red player was killed for balance, that’s why elimination of any red player will lead to a failure. You have to forget about balance and team up with those, who helped to eliminate potential mafia members during the previous days.

Let’s consider an example. It’s a critical situation in the game (means 7 players are left and 3 of them are mafia). So, players number 1, 2, 3 and 4 – are red, and numbers 7, 8 and 9 – are black. You eliminate player 9 and the game still goes on. That means reds were lucky to eliminate a black player. Sometimes in the critical situation mafia team wants to win the game by voting together with just 1 more citizen against another red player.

If in the previous voting, players 7, 8 and 9 voted together, eliminate 7 and 8 at the upcoming votes. If player 9 was voted off, but players 7 and 8 voted together with him – most likely they’re black. Why? Because after you killed player 9 the game continued. Theoretically, one of them may be red, but against whom did the third player vote then? Having seen those three votes, nothing could prevent him to add his vote and completely win. Although we observed such a situation for many times even experienced players make this ridiculous mistake. Sometimes black player lives the role of a red one and believes it so hard that starts voting illogically. Or the player just doesn’t coordinate his team-mates’ plan of voting.

Voting – is a final “fight. And if you are a good general, then during the fight you just calmly watch your victory, because all of the work has been done even before the battle. That’s why, YOU SHOULD communicate by gestures with your black pals and red players also. You need to collect information and organize the votes go in a right way IN ADVANCE.

Returning to our example: if black players didn’t vote together, anyway, don’t eliminate participants of that team, who eliminated player number 9. First of all, get rid of the player, who voted together with 9th. If all of them are already out – then take your time to consider, who made the most black moves during the game among those, who left at the table?

Red Player (day №5). (Part 1, a Gamble)

Let’s consider the principles of the game, when there are just 3 participants are left at the Mafia game. This kind of situation is usually called as a “gamble game”. So how to make the right “bet” in such a case?

Remember the unwritten rule - everyone should be nominated.
When the player doesn’t nominate anybody in a gamble situation, it is rather black move then the red one. Sometimes experienced players can divide the table, voting against themselves.

Example:

So, you, players number nine, one and two are the only ones, who is left at the table. Suppose your candidacy is the last one. Player number 1 voted against player number 2 and 2 voted against 1. It is clear to each of them, that being “black” (mafia), you would add your second vote and win.

Each of the left players will do their best to convince you they are citizens, bringing forward the arguments for their own benefit. Having voted against yourself and divided the table, you will be able to listen to both players and get more information for better understanding of the situation. Still, non-necessary you will figure out how to play Mafia and win after all. But be sure you will increase your chances.

In this example both red and black players saw you being red, most likely you did a number of right steps and nobody played against you. So, in such a case it’s up to you. Your chance to get a victory for the red team is 50%. But how to build your strategy if both of players think that you are black? And moreover you know you won’t convince the red player to vote together with you? There is no reason to wait till they both vote you off and red team will lose

You probably can change the way game goes, but the victory probability chances will stay the same. It’s a “provocation” kind of method. Experienced players usually use it. The provocation will be more successful if you speak first.

Let’s consider the same example

When your number is 9, players 1 and 2 both see you as mafia. It happened that in one of the days, you voted together with a mafia player or made an confusing move. You are confident that you will be eliminated, so try to make a provocation to a player who is the blackest for you.

For instance, you consider player number 1 to be black. You should make player number 2 vote with you. If you speak first, nominate player number two, who is red for you. Do your best to blame him as hard as you can, remind his actions, which he has done, make up some phrases that number 2 “has said”. Try to make player number 1 think that you will vote against 2 for sure. Remember to suggest to nominate all players. If some player nominates nobody – they are black. It’s in case if player 1 nominates you, and 2 will not nominate 1, being sure that you are black. You even can give some advice to the first player to nominate his candidacy, mentioning that second will nominate you in any case and this way all players will be nominated.

Suppose, all three candidates are nominated, and due to you, the voting is held against player number 2, presented by you as black. As soon as the moderator asks who is against player number 2, wave your hand, imitating the vote, but don’t put it in the table. I assure you, that number 1, if he is black, will vote against 2. He doesn’t care whom to vote off this round. Of course, player number 2 will understand that being back you would win the game voting against him together with number 1. He will get your color and vote together with you against the first player. That will bring you a victory. At least, it happens like that in our English speaking club Kiev. If you made a mistake and player number two is black, just take the loss.

Anyway, with your provocation you have 50% chance to win, instead of waiting till those players who has left at the table will vote you off and the loss will be guaranteed with all 100%. Risky, but the following applause and title of the best player will compensate you tension!

Red Player (day №5). (Part 2)

Let’s consider the principles of the game, when three players are left at the Mafia game.

Remember the unwritten rule - all players should be nominated. When the player doesn’t nominate the last candidate, it is rather black move then the red one. Sometimes experienced players can divide the table, voting against themselves.

Example:

So, you, players number 9, 1 and 2 are left at the game. Suppose your candidacy is the last one. Player number 1 voted against player number 2 and 2 voted against 1. It is clear to each of them, that being “black” (mafia), you would add your second vote and win.

Each of the left players will try to convince you that they are red, bringing forward the arguments for their own benefit. Having voted against yourself and divided the table, you will get one more opportunity to listen to both players and get more information for better understanding of the situation. It doesn’t mean that after that you will win for sure, but no doubts you will increase your chances.

In this example both red and black players saw you being red, most likely you played the whole game in a right way and nobody played against you. So, in this situation it’s up to you and the possibility of winning is 50%. But how to build your strategy if both of players think that you are black? And moreover you are sure that you will not be able to convince the red player not to vote against you? It doesn’t make any sense to wait till they both vote you off and red team will lose

You may change the way game goes and the possibility of winning will be also 50%. This method is called “provocation” and is often used by experienced players. The provocation will be more successful if you speak first.

Let’s consider the same example

For instance, you consider player number 1 to be black. Your task is to make player number 2 vote with you. If you speak first, nominate player number two, who is red for you. Try to make him black as hard as you can, remind his actions, which he has done, make up some phrases that number 2 “has said”. Try to make player number 1 think that you will vote against 2 for sure. Don’t forget to mention that all players should be nominated, and that player who will nominate nobody – is black. It’s in case if player 1 nominates you, and 2 will not nominate 1, being sure that you are black. You even can give some advice to the first player to nominate his candidacy, mentioning that second will nominate you in any case and this way all players will be nominated.

Suppose, all three candidates are nominated, and due to you, the voting is held against player number 2, presented by you as black. As soon as the moderator asks who is against player number 2, wave your hand, imitating the vote, but don’t put it in the table. I assure you, that number 1, if he is black, will vote against 2. For him it doesn’t make any difference whom to vote against. Of course, player number 2 will understand that being back you would win the game voting against him together with number 1. He will get your color and vote together with you against 1 and you will win. If you made a mistake and player number two is black, just take the loss.