Mafia — full rules, roles, and a narrator that runs the game
Mafia is a social deduction game for 5–20 players in which a hidden minority of Mafia secretly eliminate one player each night while the Town argues each day over who to vote out, and the two sides race to eliminate each other entirely.
- Players
- 5–20 players
- Length
- ~30 minutes
- Type
- Social deduction
- Type
- High energy
Runs in your browser · no download · no account
Mafia — known as Werewolf in a lot of the world — is the ancestor of every hidden-role game you have played since. Half the fun is the arguing, and all of the pain is in running it. Somebody has to remember who the Doctor saved, whether the Detective already checked the loud guy, and what to say when nobody dies overnight.
This version hands that entire job to the phone. One player is the Narrator and holds the device all game. The console tells them exactly what to say out loud, exactly who to wake, and exactly what to tap. It even fake-calls roles whose holder is already dead, so the timing never leaks who is still alive.
Everything else is the game you already know. Eyes closed, the town sleeps, and someone at the table is lying beautifully. There are 1,000+ narrator lines in rotation, so the flavour text stays fresh across a long night of back-to-back games.
Mafia is part of
What you need
- One phone for the Narrator, who plays no role themselves
- 5 to 20 players, so 6 to 21 people including the Narrator
- Somewhere everyone can close their eyes without falling asleep
- 20 to 40 minutes, depending on how much your group likes to argue
How to play Mafia
Pick a Narrator — they hold the phone all game, run the show, and get no role. The console tells them exactly what to say and tap.
Everyone else gets a secret role. Pass the phone around, press-and-hold to peek, keep your poker face on.
🌙 Night: eyes closed. The Narrator wakes each role in turn — the Mafia pick a victim, the Doctor saves, the Detective investigates — and taps their choices on the console. Before dawn the console shows every tap so a mis-tap can be fixed while eyes are still shut.
☀️ Day: the Narrator reveals who survived the night. Discuss, accuse, defend — then vote someone out. Their role is revealed to everyone.
Win conditions: the Town wins by eliminating every Mafia. The Mafia win when they equal the survivors. The Jester wins by getting voted out. The Serial Killer wins by standing alone.
Role sheet — 🕶️ Mafia: night killer, daytime liar. 🩺 Doctor: saves one player a night (self allowed). 🕵️ Detective: checks one player a night for Mafia. 🛡️ Bodyguard: takes the hit for whoever they guard — once per night, so two killers on the same target means one gets through. 🃏 Jester: wins ONLY if lynched. 🔪 Serial Killer: solo killer, wins last-standing. 🌾 Villager: vibes and votes.
Dead players: eyes open, mouths SHUT. No ghost hints, no dramatic sighs.
Scoring and winning
- Mafia is win-or-lose per game rather than points-based.
- The Town wins by eliminating every Mafia member.
- The Mafia win when their numbers equal the remaining survivors.
- The Jester wins alone, and only by being voted out during the day.
- The Serial Killer wins by being the last player standing. While a Serial Killer is alive, neither Town nor Mafia can close out the game — chaos can still flip it.
Mafia strategy and tips
- As Narrator, keep your rhythm identical every night. Groups read hesitation far more accurately than they read faces, and a pause before the Doctor is a tell.
- As Mafia, do not kill the loudest player first. Loud players draw attention and generate wrong accusations, which is doing your work for you.
- As the Doctor, saving yourself is legal but predictable. Alternating between yourself and whoever spoke most convincingly is much harder to counter.
- As the Detective, do not reveal a result on day one. You have exactly one credible reveal in you, and burning it early means the Mafia simply kill you that night.
- As a Villager, track who votes with whom rather than who talks. Mafia coordinate at night and cannot help voting in patterns.
- As the Jester, be irritating rather than obviously suspicious. Groups lynch the annoying player and then realise what they have done.
- Dead players: eyes open, mouths shut. No sighs, no smirks, no dramatic head shakes.
Variants and house rules
The starter setup
Mafia, Doctor, Detective, and Villagers. The app auto-balances the count — one Mafia up to six players, two from seven, three from eleven, four from fifteen. Play your first game exactly like this.
Bodyguard
Guards one player each night and takes the hit for them. If the Doctor happens to save the Bodyguard on the same night, nobody dies at all.
Jester
Wins only by being voted out during the day. Adding a Jester makes every lynch feel dangerous, which slows the Town down considerably.
Serial Killer
A solo killer who wins by outlasting everyone. Needs at least eight dealt players. Kills independently of the Mafia, so two people may die in one night.
Day timer
Set a discussion limit — three minutes is the default — so the day phase does not turn into a committee meeting.
Mafia FAQ
How many players do you need for Mafia?
Five dealt players minimum, plus a Narrator, so six people in total. It gets genuinely good from about eight and holds up all the way to twenty-one.
What is the difference between Mafia and Werewolf?
They are the same game with different theming. Werewolf swaps the mob for wolves and often uses a Seer instead of a Detective. Every rule on this page applies to both.
Does the Narrator play?
No. The Narrator holds the phone, gets no role, and cannot win or lose. In exchange they get to watch everyone lie to each other, which is arguably the best seat.
How many Mafia should there be?
Roughly one per five players. The app suggests a balanced count automatically and caps Mafia below half the town, so the game can never start already decided.
Can the Doctor save themselves?
Yes, in this version self-saving is allowed. It is a strong move but a readable one, so alternate.
What happens if the Mafia and Serial Killer target the same player?
That player dies once. The two attacks resolve independently, so targeting different players results in two deaths in a single night.
Are roles revealed when someone is voted out?
Yes. Anyone lynched during the day has their role announced to the whole table, which is what makes day votes so costly for the Town.