Three ideas behind every game | Mafia Game Academy

The classic scene after a lost game goes like this. A player says: "I understood everything, but he is a passenger, he lost me the game." Or: "I voted correctly, and that one did not get what was going on at all." It feels light and pleasant. But a defeat is still a defeat. It means you did not achieve the goal of the game, which is to win. To see what that goal is made of, three simple ideas are enough. They work the same way for reds and for blacks, but look different on each side.

Idea 1. Become red for the whole table

Suppose you understood the game perfectly, but you were given a black check. Or, if the sheriff is already gone, you were voted out in a critical round at five players or in a guessing round. The result is a loss. All your insight stayed unused because the town did not hear you.

To keep this from happening, it is important to speak well and give the town no complaints about you. At strong tables the mafia simply cannot play against a given civilian: it is impossible even to try to collect votes against him. At nine players a black leaves, and the town has plenty of time to sort out the rest of the game. For most players, being red matters enormously.

For a red this means: speak clearly, vote consistently, do not quarrel without a reason and do not pass yourself off as someone you are not.

For a black the idea works even more strongly. If you are taken for a civilian while you are mafia, victory is in your hands: you become the "choosing side", that is, you vote the way that suits the team and the table believes you. Congratulations, you are red for everyone.

Idea 2. Understand the game

Even a double-checked red will lose if he has not understood who the mafia really is. His deciding vote will fly against a civilian, and the game will be over. Sometimes the game itself makes the task easier: you are handed a checked mafia player. "Thanks to the don", as players joke, but you cannot count on it.

For a red, understanding means finding the black trio (or at least working out which version of the game is correct), choosing a line and explaining to the table why.

For a black, understanding means building a plan for victory. You need to know whose vote is worth buying and what speech to give so that two civilians leave on the votes. Playing against the reds for the table, or against a false sheriff, has to be thought through: it must lead the team to victory more often than playing against those you definitely cannot remove. When the team plays a non-standard scheme or tactic, it has to know clearly what it is for and in which round the blacks plan to win. Put more simply, doubtful moves are acceptable only if you have a plan to win. There is no point in making an illogical, supposedly "colouring" move without relying on it in your argument. Understanding the game as mafia means building a plan for victory and identifying the players you will raise on the votes.

Idea 3. Collect hands for removing a player of the opposite team

Quite often players find the true black trio, rub their palms in anticipation of victory and lose. The mafia bought the vote of an undecided player. After the game you want to say: "You understood it, but what is the use if the sheriff is crying?" Failing to persuade a confused civilian is a defeat, and a personal one. Failing to reach a red who unreasonably took you for mafia is on you and on no one else.

You must help your team in every way possible: as a living and checked black, and as a killed one, by leaving a memorable testament. A testament is the last speech of a killed or voted-out player, with a call to remove the mafia (possibly all three) from the table in the current round and with a handover of players as definitely civilian. The sheriff often does not manage to explain the whole layout to everyone and needs help.

For a black the situation is the mirror image. You need to buy a red, or let a civilian remove a member of his own team in a critical round. Direct the vote, and that is all.

The third idea unites the first two and is the key one. It includes "being red" and "understanding the game", and on top of that it adds an action: bringing your own rightness to the votes of other people.

How the three ideas work together

Picture them as three steps. Without the first, nobody listens to you. Without the second, you have nothing to say. Without the third, what you said stays only words. When one step fails, the game goes downhill no matter how good the other two are.

A main conclusion about responsibility follows from this. You cannot excuse the team's defeat by somebody's wrong actions. You did not do what was needed, did not understand or did not collect the votes, and everything depends on you. Do everything possible, and even hopeless games will begin to give way over time, because you can and must influence the result directly with your actions. If you do not bring the doubter over to your side, who will? Taking personal responsibility releases your whole potential as a player. Avoiding it cripples your level of play.

Example

Six players. Red No. 3 is sure that the blacks are No. 2, No. 5 and No. 8. But No. 3 has been arguing with everyone all game, and the table does not trust him. On the vote to remove No. 5 he gathers only two hands, and three are needed. No. 5 stays, the sheriff is killed at night and the mafia wins. Idea 2 was fulfilled, idea 1 was failed, and idea 3 did not work because of it.

Now the same layout, but No. 3 answered calmly in advance, explained his votes and did not interrupt. On the vote people listen to him, and the third hand comes from hesitant No. 6. The town wins.

Questions for self-check

The chapter says the mafia needs to remove two civilians to win. And when three? And four?
In which cases is it advantageous to call a player who is civilian for the whole table a mafia member? For what, and what plans for victory might there be in that case?
How do you become civilian for the whole table if you do not count the sheriff's checks?
The item "collect the votes" combines "be red", "understand the game" and what else? Add your own items.

Practice

Take three of your recent losses and for each one decide which idea failed. Write one phrase for each.
Play a game in which, at the start of every round, you say all three questions to yourself aloud: "Do they believe me? Have I understood? Whom will I collect hands for, and how?"
If you play black, write a victory plan in three lines: whom we remove, in which round, whose vote we buy.

Typical mistakes

Explaining a defeat by other people's mistakes. This removes responsibility but also removes growth.
Being happy about a found trio without taking care of the votes.
Playing mafia without a plan: illogical moves for effect.
Treating "being red" as the goal. It is only a condition; the goal is victory.

Source of the idea. The chapter "Three main concepts in the game" of Dmitry Novik's book "Mafia in the Style of Zen" (2020). The example, questions and tasks were written for the Academy.