How to play Mafia, from secret roles to the final vote

The objective

Players are secretly divided into the Town and the Mafia. Town usually has more people but does not know who belongs to which side. Mafia members are fewer, know one another, and can remove a player each night.

The game alternates between a private night and a public day. At night, roles act without revealing themselves. By day, everyone discusses what happened and votes on a suspect. Eliminated players reveal their roles in Mafia Night, so each decision changes the evidence available in later rounds.

Set up a game

1. Gather 4–16 players. Six to ten is the most forgiving range for a first full game.
2. Create a private room. The host receives a room code, QR code, and invitation link.
3. Join on one phone per player. Friends choose temporary display names and appear in the lobby.
4. Keep the automatic deck or customize it. The default always uses at least one Mafia and one Detective, adds a Doctor from five players, and scales the Mafia team as the group grows.
5. Start and reveal roles privately. Each player holds the on-screen card to read it, releases to hide it, and confirms readiness.

If you are playing with paper cards and a human moderator, use the printable cards and narrator script. The social rules are the same, but the moderator resolves actions and counts votes manually.

The four basic roles

Optional roles—the Serial Killer, Jester, and Vigilante—change the default incentives. Read their exact edge cases in the complete roles guide before adding them.

Night phase: private choices

During the night, table discussion stops and every player follows their phone. A player with no living action sees a waiting screen. The game advances when all required connected actors have responded.

1. Each Mafia member chooses a target. Living Mafia can see teammate picks, which helps them converge without whispering.
2. The Detective selects a player and receives an immediate private result stored in their dossier.
3. The Doctor selects one player to protect for that night.
4. If enabled, the Serial Killer chooses a victim and the Vigilante either spends their one bullet or holds fire.
5. The server resolves protection before announcing deaths. Multiple attackers can choose the same target; the target still appears only once among the dead.

Dawn and public discussion

At dawn, the group sees who died and which role each dead player held. A “quiet night” means nobody died; it does not reveal whether the Doctor protected the correct target, attackers selected the same protected person, or an optional role chose not to act.

The host then begins the day. Discussion has no forced timer. Players may claim roles, share supposed investigation results, compare voting histories, or lie. Nothing in the interface verifies a spoken claim. The tension comes from deciding which information deserves trust.

A useful discussion structure for beginners

1. Let each living player name one suspicion or one piece of evidence.
2. Give accused players a chance to respond.
3. Ask for contradictions: changed stories, impossible role claims, or votes that do not match earlier arguments.
4. When the conversation begins repeating itself, the host opens the vote.

Voting, abstentions, and ties

Every connected living player submits one private ballot for another living player or chooses to abstain. Dead players do not vote. The app shows progress—how many ballots are in—but not each person's choice until the verdict.

A player is eliminated only when both conditions are true:

1. that player is the only suspect with the highest number of votes; and
2. their vote total is greater than the number of abstentions.

If someone is eliminated, their role is revealed. If that role is the Jester, the Jester wins immediately. Otherwise the app checks all win conditions; if no side has won, night begins again.

All win conditions

Example: one complete round

Eight players use the automatic deck: two Mafia, one Detective, one Doctor, and four Villagers. At night, both Mafia choose Priya. The Detective investigates Omar and receives “clear.” The Doctor protects Priya.

Dawn is quiet because the protection blocked the Mafia attack. The app does not name Priya or confirm the save, so the Mafia do not know for certain whether they hit the protected target. During discussion, the Detective may keep Omar's clear result private to avoid becoming an obvious target.

The group votes: Lina receives three votes, Omar two, and three players abstain. Lina is not eliminated because her three votes do not exceed the three abstentions. The result gives the group new evidence—who pushed Lina, who defended her, and who avoided choosing—before the next night.

Beginner strategy that produces information

If you are Town

• State an opinion before the vote. Silent Town gives Mafia cover and creates no record to compare later.
• Ask what would change someone's mind. A player who cannot name any evidence they would accept may be defending a conclusion rather than reaching one.
• Track relationships, not isolated “tells.” Who repeatedly redirects pressure? Whose vote contradicts their strongest accusation?
• Do not force every special role to reveal on day one. Information can become more valuable after another night—if its holder survives.

If you are Mafia

• Build a believable process, not just a target. Explain why evidence points where you say it points.
• Avoid moving as an obvious pair. Automatically defending a teammate can expose two Mafia when one is eliminated.
• Remember your claims. Town can be uncertain; inconsistency becomes dangerous when it looks strategically convenient.
• Choose night targets for the information they control, not only for how loudly they speak.

If you hold a special Town role

The Detective must balance credibility against survival. A direct accusation without revealing the source may fail; a full claim may attract the next attack. The Doctor should predict the Mafia's priorities and vary protection rather than repeating the most obvious choice every night.

Mafia Night rules versus a card game