Mafia Variants
There are many different variants that can be present in a game of mafia.
Played. There are many variants we play with on a semi-regular basis.
Not played. There are many variants that we have come across or thought about, but for one reason or another have never played with. Obviously we can't vouch for the enjoyability of these roles.
See also. We also keep a list of different
roles you can play with.
Known identities ↩
Many people play by revealing the cards of players who die, so that the surviving players know what their role was. We used to play like this, but found this game was far too easy for the villagers.
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Mafia and Werewolves ↩
You can combine the games of Mafia and
Werewolf, with a village under attack from both.
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Multiple families ↩
If you want a bloodier game, consider having multiple,
competing, mafia families. Each family (normally clubs and spades, although if you want a really, really, bloody game you can have 2s, 3s, 4s and so on) is woken up in turn by the moderator and allowed to kill. Thus multiple players will die each night. Each family is trying to be the only team left alive.
Note. If there is a
doctor in the game, he can save
one bullet each night. If more than one family shoots someone, the doctor can't save them (unless there are two doctors, of course).
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Non-random assignment of roles ↩
Rather than dealing the roles out randomly, you can choose to have the moderator choose who gets which card. Depending on your moderator, this could lead to an interesting game.
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Ranked mafia ↩
In this variant the decision about who the mafia should kill is made by just one of the mafia members. The member with the highest surviving rank (highest card value) gets to make the choice.
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Resurrection ↩
If playing in a game where players can come back from the dead then it is important that dead players keep their eyes closed during the night to prevent them knowing everything about the game when they come back.
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Rotating Cop ↩
Alias: Witness.
One alternative to having a traditional
detective is to play with a rotating cop. In this variant a different player gets to make an investigation each night, regardless of what role they have (in fact, they could even be a
mafioso). The player who gets to investigate is the one sitting to the left of the person who died that night. Thus the moderator first asks the mafia to kill; then announces who died and then says "Player X, please wake up. You are detective"; and finally waits for the detective to choose who to investigate and gives an nod or shake of the head depending on whether the target is mafia.
The advantage for the villagers of this variant is that there isn't a single detective that can be killed, and that they know exactly who has had the opportunity to investigate; the disadvantage is that some of the investigations may secretly be going to mafia members. We find rotating cop works best in games of eight players with two mafia, and no other special roles.
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Werewolf ↩
Many people call the game of Mafia by the name "Werewolf". The rules are identical, although many of the roles have different names, as noted on our
roles page. If you're feeling really ambitious you can combine the games with our
Mafia and Werewolves variant.
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The Graduate Mafia Brotherhood of Princeton University