Mafia (party game)

Mafia
Players making accusations in a game of Mafia
Other namesWerewolf
DesignersDimitry Davidoff
PlayersAt least 6
10 for classic
Setup time< 6 minutes
Playing time15–90 minutes
Age range+9 or +10
SkillsStrategy, team play, social skills, roleplay, lying

Mafia, also known as Werewolf, is a social deduction game created in 1986 by Dimitry Davidoff, then a psychology student at Moscow State University. 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-phase, during which those with night-killing-powers may covertly kill other players, and second, a day-phase, in which all surviving players debate 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.