For more than 30 years, the game "Mafia" has been highly popular all over the world. This is a team competition with a high psychological intensity. Few people know that the game was invented in Russia and has a large number of rules that must be followed in order for the competition to be fair.
The plot and features of the game
"Mafia" is a psychological team game that takes place in turn-based mode with a clear distribution of special roles between the players. The plot of the game is detective: there is a certain city where crime is rampant. Its inhabitants decide to unite in order to jail or destroy all representatives of the mafia structure. The Mafia, in turn, also seeks to strike back and destroy all who oppose it.
The game has two phases: "day" and "night". In the first of them, civilians enter the action, and in the second, the mafia. Each player receives the status of a criminal or a citizen at random and in secret from the rest. In addition to them, the game may provide for the presence of additional roles, for example, a commissioner - a player who has the ability to check the status of any player at a certain moment, as well as Don, the identification of which leads to the death of all representatives of the mafia cell. There is also a presenter who announces the phase of the game and monitors the actions of the players. In addition, at the beginning of the round, the leader randomly distributes cards to the participants, on one side of each of which a particular status is indicated.
Rules of the game
After the players receive their statuses, the presenter announces the beginning of the day. Players examine each other and try to determine who is the representative of the mafia by emotions, manner of speech and other signs. One of the persons is selected by a general vote and excluded from the game. The presenter tells who the person really was. Further, the onset of night is announced. All players cover their eyes (or face masks), with the exception of the mafia. By silent voting, they point to one of the civilians, thereby "killing him", that is, taking him out of the game.
After the onset of the phase of the day, the situation repeats: the players one by one or all together express their suspicions about the status of this or that person. The tactics for identifying the culprit can be different. Most often, a certain person is accused, who must justify himself. By the manner of his speech, emotions, gestures, the players try to understand whether he is telling the truth or not. Usually, the number of representatives of the mafia and townspeople in the game is equal, so several mistakes in a row can quickly lead to the killing of all civilians and the victory of the mafia. If all the criminals are successfully calculated, the townspeople win.
Additional statuses
There are several generally accepted additional statuses or player roles to add variety to the competition:
- The already named commissioner and don. The first one opens his eyes after the next “murder” of a civilian and must point to one of the “sleeping” players, and the presenter indicates with gestures whether this person belongs to the mafia. The second is the key person of the mafia, and when it is calculated, civilians automatically win.
- Doctor. Has the ability to return a killed civilian to the game (works while the mafia is "sleeping"). Representatives of the mafia must calculate and "kill" this character as soon as possible so that the members of the other team would stop "resurrecting".
- Putana (mistress). This character wakes up at nightfall to the members of the mafia and points to any of the players. He gets immunity, and if the mafia chooses him, he survives.
Modifications
The game "Mafia" is constantly being improved and, if desired, players can supplement it with some modifications:
- Without a leader. A useful modification if you have a small number of players, each of whom wants to play. One of the participants distributes playing cards with roles to everyone and to himself. If he turns out to be a mafia, then at nightfall he opens his eyes and takes part in the vote of the mafia. When getting the role of a civilian, the participant still announces the onset of night, however, he does it with his eyes closed, giving the criminals a few seconds to silently vote.
- Name in blood. The player who is declared dead gives the name of the alleged killer. His vote must be counted for subsequent voting.
- Mayor of the city. At the beginning of the game, the participants choose the mayor of the city, who can turn out to be both a civilian and a member of the mafia. He has a casting vote if opinions are divided during the voting. If a player is killed, a new mayor is appointed.
- Blind mafia. In this modification, when night falls, the representatives of the mafia do not open their eyes and can only raise their hand when the presenter calls one or another player. The participant who received the most votes is eliminated. Interest is fueled by the fact that the mafia can accidentally get rid of members of its own team, and during the day's voting gets the opportunity to behave absolutely naturally and not arouse unnecessary suspicion.
- Three-way game. Another criminal group is being introduced - the Yakuza. In this case, members of the Mafia and the Yakuza vote separately in the night vote. It is recommended when there are a large number of players, so that the teams have an equal number of participants. Also, the game becomes more interesting if additional roles are introduced.
Interesting facts about the game "Mafia"
The game was invented by a student of the Faculty of Psychology Dmitry Davydov in 1986. She quickly gained popularity in student dormitories and classrooms at various Moscow universities. Subsequently, the game began to acquire more and more interesting facts, including:
- The rapid growth of "Mafia" abroad is due to the large number of foreign students at Moscow State University, who spread information about it across their countries. In the United States, they learned about the game a little later than in Europe. The first documented mention of the "Mafia" in Pennsylvania in 1989 is reported.
- The game developer emigrated to the United States in 1991. At the same time, he said that when creating "Mafia" he relied on the theories and works of the famous Soviet psychologist of the early twentieth century Lev Vygotsky, who was also a student at Moscow State University.
- The game "Mafia" is credited with many unique features. In particular, before her in the world, there were separate games of the competitive type (where the fight is being waged), as well as the observational (show). "Mafia" has become an exception, since it involves both observing the process and unfolding the plot intrigue, as well as the struggle for survival and victory.
- Before the appearance of the "Mafia" in Europe, there was already a similar game called Wink murder. It differs from the Russian version in that in it the players are trying to figure out one killer maniac. In the "Mafia" a group of criminals is calculated.
- Many explain the growth in popularity of the game due to the fact that it became famous at the same time as the Italian TV series "Octopus", which went around the world. In it, the main character, Commissioner Cattani, fought the Sicilian mafia, trying to eradicate it completely.
- The game is used in China to treat people who suffer from gambling addiction. In the United States and many other countries, it is used as a reeducation tool for adolescents with a difficult character. Also "Mafia" is used to train future jurors in some educational institutions.
- Today, Mafia is one of the fifty most culturally and historically significant games since 1800.
