How to play Mafia
Mafia is a party game of bluffing for 4 or more people and one moderator. A few players are secretly the mafia. By night they pick someone off; by day the whole table argues about who is lying and votes someone out. All you need is a way to deal the roles in secret.
Add your players, send each of them their own link and deal. Roles go to their phones, fresh every game. Free, and the players need no account and no app.
Make a Mafia roomThe roles
- Mafia
- Each night you and the others pick someone to take out. By day, act innocent.
- Detective
- Each night you look into one person and find out whether they're mafia.
- Doctor
- Each night you save one person. If the mafia came for them, they live.
- Villager
- You sleep through the night. By day, your voice and your vote are all you have.
How a game runs
- Step 1Deal the rolesEveryone gets a secret role: mafia, detective, doctor or villager. The mafia learn who each other are. Nobody else knows anything.
- Step 2NightThe town sleeps. The mafia agree on one person to take out, the doctor picks someone to save, and the detective looks into one player.
- Step 3DayThe moderator says who didn't make it through the night, unless the doctor saved them. Then everyone still in argues about who the mafia are.
- Step 4The voteEveryone alive votes. Whoever has the most votes is out, and their role stays hidden until the game ends. If the top two are level, the table talks again and votes once more.
Night and day repeat until one side has won: the town when every mafia has been voted out, the mafia when they are level with everyone else.
How many mafia for your group
A deal that works for each table size: about one mafia for every four players, one detective, and a doctor once there are five or more. Everyone left over is a villager.
| Players | Mafia | Detective | Doctor | Villagers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 7 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 8 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 9 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 10 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 11 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 12 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| 15 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| 20 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 13 |
Play it without cards or a narrator's notebook
The hard part of Mafia is the moderating: dealing in secret, remembering who picked whom with everyone's eyes shut, counting the vote. LazyParty does that part. You add the players and send each their own link. They see their role on their phone, make their night pick there and vote there. The mafia have to settle on one name between them before the night can end. You see where the game stands and move it on.
Add your players, send each of them their own link and deal. Roles go to their phones, fresh every game. Free, and the players need no account and no app.
Make a Mafia roomQuestions
How many players do you need for Mafia?
At least 4, plus a moderator who runs the game without playing. It is best with six to twelve: enough villagers for the mafia to hide among, and few enough that everyone gets a say.
How many mafia should there be?
About one for every four players, and always fewer than half the table. The table on this page gives a deal for each group size.
How does the mafia win?
When the mafia left alive are as many as everyone else. From there they can force every vote, so the game is called. The town wins by voting out every mafia.
What does the doctor do?
Each night the doctor picks one person to save. If the mafia came for that person, they live, and the town wakes up to a quiet night.
What does the detective do?
Each night the detective looks into one player and learns whether they are mafia. Saying so out loud the next day is a risk: it makes the detective the mafia's next target.
What happens on a tied vote?
The table talks again and votes once more. If the top two are level a second time, nobody is voted out and night falls.
Can you play Mafia without cards?
Yes. The moderator can whisper roles or hand out slips of paper, or you can use the free moderator here, which sends each player their role on their own phone and collects the night's picks and the votes the same way.
Can we play Mafia online or over a video call?
Yes. Because each player's role and choices are on their own phone, the tool works whether you are in one room or on a call. The talking still happens out loud.