The sheriff in the critical round: speech and defeats

The critical round is the time to reveal all your strongest arguments and give everything. It is important that exactly in this round all the civilians at the table choose your side. The town needs time to decide on a line of play, which is why we open up to it now.

The first action: instant reveal

If until now you sat silent, in the first seconds of the day proudly raise the sheriff's badge and immediately show the sequence of checks, earlier than your opponent with a black card does. This move is stronger than revealing after the minute of the killed player or in the middle of the round. We show that we have nothing to plan and hide, and from the civilians' side it looks like a real sheriff.

It is much more convenient for the false sheriff to first look at the real one's checks, think over the layout (whether a killing happened at night), build a victory plan and only then voice the check profitable for the black team. We cut off all these advantages and force the black to show checks hastily without proper planning; a gap will show both in the logic of the game and in the argumentation. That is why the technique is so powerful.

Why the task is not as hard as it seems

For many the sheriff's card is a disliked one: the task of buying all the votes seems very hard. The stress usually comes from not understanding that others do not have information about your colour. The town has to have everything chewed over. Got the hands of your team, well done; did not, you lost. The author deliberately stresses active action: do not count on "strength is in truth", "the civilians are not stupid, they'll work it out", "it is obvious anyway". It is simple for you and for those the false sheriff named mafia, but not for the town.

Two main reasons for the sheriff's defeat

1. Your actions were unclear. Bad listless speeches, an unclear position, incomprehensible checks or reveals, non-standard moves that would suit the mafia if you were with it. All this hands the votes to the opponent.

2. You abandoned one of the civilians or played against him. Attention to all participants is one of the main secrets not only of buying hands but of your own survival. Psychology and mutual sympathies play an indecently large role. Attention makes a person close, one of us: other things equal he is not voted, he is listened to. In childhood most of us equated attention with love. Players who understand logic poorly are susceptible to this technique. By paying attention you win people to your side and prepare the ground for buying a vote. Any abandoned player will be supported by the blacks and become their deciding hand.

These two reasons are key. The card is hard because it teaches how to make contact and reach minds and hearts. Speak clearly, establish contact even with potentially black players, charm with attention while keeping a clear head, and playing will be simple.

The structure of the sheriff's speech

• 35 percent of the time: red moves (informative checks, what this information gave or should have given the town, play with the town, splitting tables, the votes of your team, internal communication) and the reasons for the checks.
• 35 percent of the time: black moves of the opposing team (all inconsistencies, illogicalities, any arguments that the other side is mafia).
• 30 percent of the time: the final persuading speech. Choose the most powerful arguments, address the table and say that all red votes must be put with you. Call for action.

For victory the mafia needs just one red vote. As the sheriff we can use this. If you bought the red vote of a civilian, red for all, with his help you can win the others:

"I am the sheriff. Player No. 5, red for all, has worked out the game. That means the imaginary black team, which 'I am in' with one of you, already has a winning hand, we have won. But so that the town does not lose to the real mafia, it is necessary that not only No. 5 puts his vote with us, but everybody who has a red card."

For the black

The false sheriff, remembering the structure above, needs to find in time a red move in the real sheriff's play and present it as black; not hurry to show checks; watch whom the sheriff "abandoned".

Questions for self-check

1. Empathy and sociability are one way to win trust and buy a vote. Name at least two more.
2. Give seven black moves.
3. Give seven factors that can make you look red.
4. Count in how many games you lost as sheriff by initially not paying proper attention to the player who became the blacks' deciding hand. Is there a dependence?
5. Name at least two things (besides empathy and attention) that you lacked for victory in point 4.

Practice

Compose a sheriff's speech for the critical round of 60 seconds, keeping the proportions 35, 35 and 30. Record it on a voice recorder and check the timing.

Typical mistakes

• Revealing after the opponent's minute.
• Not naming the civilian and not addressing him.
• Putting the strongest arguments at the start.
• Counting on "strength is in truth".

Source of the idea. The chapter "Playing as the sheriff in the critical round. The main reasons for the leader of the reds' defeat" from Dmitry Novik's book "Mafia in the Style of Zen" (2020).