Mafia Game

A game I'd like to try sometime: Mafia Game

Mafia Game

This stationary game (originally invented by psychology student Dimitry Davidoff in Russia, 1986) is a popular group game involving strategy and bluffing. It is good for discussing topics such as lying, deception, trust, good versus evil, etc. or just for a fun time. There are five roles one can play: one narrator, two members of the mafia, two members of the police (or one the group is not large), one doctor, the remaining people are townspeople.

Setup

The narrator needs to prepare the right number of playing cards to set up the game. He or she takes out two aces (which represent mafia), two kings (which represent police), one queen (which represents the doctor), and several number cards (one for each of the remaining roles to be played). Therefore, if there are 12 people playing, there would be two aces, two kings, one queen, and seven number (non-face) cards, adding up to 12 cards. The narrator shuffles these cards and each person randomly selects a card, without revealing his or her identity. The person assumes the role for the round.

Roles

Ace card: Anyone who gets an Ace card is a Mafia member. Their goal is to keep secret that they are Mafia and blend in with the Townspeople. For them to win the game, they want to eliminate the townspeople one by one each round but not to get eliminated (voted off) during the day.

King card: Anyone who gets a King card is a member of the Police. These members try to figure out who is guilty of being a Mafia and who is innocent. Thus, their goal is to help the townspeople vote correctly in who to eliminate during the day (the good people, not the bad!). They generally want to keep their identity secret so that the Mafia cannot eliminate them early.

Queen card: The doctor role. This optional (but recommended) role serves one purpose – to try to protect people during the night. He or she can also be selfish and choose to protect themselves during the night.

All other cards (number cards): Townspeople. Their goal is to figure out who is a member of the secret Mafia, and to eliminate them from the town during the day.

How to Play

Arrange the players in a circle, with the narrator outside the circle and walking around it. Each “day” of the game, the narrator takes the entire town through the following commands in this order:

1. Nighttime

• It is nighttime, so everyone please go to sleep.” (Everyone puts their head down and closes their eyes)
• “Mafia, please wake up.” (Only the mafia quietly opens their eyes. The ones that are still “alive” quietly and unanimously choose a person to eliminate by pointing to someone in the group. The narrator takes note of the person chosen.
• “Mafia, please go to sleep.” (The mafia closes eyes and places their heads down again.)
• “Police, please wake up.” (The member(s) of the police that are still alive open their eyes and quietly points to one person who they suspect is a member of the Mafia.)
• The narrator quietly nods or shakes his or her head to indicate whether that person is indeed Mafia.
• “Police, please go to sleep.” (The member(s) of the police close their eyes and place their heads down.)
• “Doctor, please wake up and choose someone you’d like to protect.” (The doctor, if still alive, wakes up and silently points to someone they would like to protect for that day.)
• “Doctor, please go to sleep.” (The doctor closes his or her eyes and puts his/her head down.)
• “It’s morning. Everyone please wake up.” (Everyone opens their eyes and raises their head.)

2. Daytime Update

The narrator announces the person who was eliminated, unless the doctor correctly selected the person who was targeted by the Mafia for the night. The person who was eliminated MUST quietly leave the circle. This person may not speak to anyone for the remainder of the entire game, but he or she may now keep his/her eyes open to watch everything.

3. Daytime Discussion/Voting

The townspeople (along with the Mafia and Police who may pretend to be townspeople) then nominate and vote on people who they suspect is a Mafia. Each person nominated may make a defense and plead their case. The person receiving a majority vote (50% or above) is eliminated. After someone is voted off, the day is over. The day may also end without any eliminations if the entire group decides to do so. The day ends, and the pattern starts again (Nighttime, Daytime Update, Daytime Discussion/Voting).

How to Win

The police or townspeople win if they successfully eliminate all mafia members. The mafia win if they successfully eliminate all the townspeople.

This group game involves lots of strategy, knowing how and when to reveal your identity, who to trust, etc.

Good News: A Changing World

A Facebook post from January 29, 2015

We are surrounded by bad news every day. Here's a bit of hope about our changing world. A carpenter we've worked with in the past is doing some work for us. I asked him about his daughter, who has had quite the exciting adventures over the many years we've known Alan, including sitting in trees to prevent deforestation. I asked about her and without missing a beat, Alan said, "He's doing fine in Oregon. He was back recently because his mom died." After a bit Alan explained to me that he's a Trans man, and then went on with his story. The world is changing. A little bit at a time. But it's changing.

Stories As Non-Violence

My Letter to the Editor/The Nation

In an article in The Nation, author Richard Kim suggests that people who wish to fight for equal rights for GLBT people (and others), we "weaponize" our stories. He uses the story of Jose Antonio Vargas to prove his point. But I think he missed the point. Here's his article.

Here is the letter I just submitted to The Nation in response (I'll let you know if it gets published):

One of the most difficult things to see when you're not looking for it is an act of non-violence. We think of it always as something showing in the face of violence, as an act against violence. But sometimes that act is in words. So I understand how Richard Kim missed the act of non-violence Jose Antonio Vargas committed when he wrote his June 22nd New York Times article coming out as an undocumented immigrant (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/magazine/my-life-as-an-undocumented-immigrant.html).

Kim shows his lack of understanding when he suggests that GLBT people and others tell their stories and say "Are you with us, or against us?" He suggests that New York organizers did the same and said through their stories "you’re either with me, or you’re with the haters—but you can’t have it both ways."

The power of Vargas's story isn't that it is a weapon, that it divides people into haters and supporters. Its power comes from his act of laying himself bare in front of the American people, making himself vulnerable to the very thing he was afraid of: deportation from a country and people he loves. He didn't do it so that he would get deported, but so that he could show the injustice of the system. This is exactly how non-violence worked in the Civil Rights movement of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. People put themselves in harms way at lunch counters and on freedom buses to expose the injustice of the oppression. Their actions invited compassion, and did not divide people into camps that they did not choose for themselves. Never does Vargas say or even imply that his readers either be with him or against him. He says "Here's my neck. Cut it if you can. Now reflect on that."

I refuse to use my stories as weapons against neighbors and friends who are not sure how they are going to vote on the Minnesota marriage amendment in 2012. They deserve to have my compassion as they tell me they're not sure. But I'm going to tell them my stories, hopefully to lay bare the injustice. Not to impugn them but to fault the system we all inherited and want to make right.