mafia picnic

Not only did we have a marvellous picnic, but I finally learnt how to play mafia games. In it, people in the group are either ordinary citizens or mafia (red or black cards) and then there are other roles to complicate things. The final aim is that either all the good citizens die, or that they manage to kill the mafia (although the game is inherently loaded against this outcome). So you play out a series of days and nights (during which citizens have eyes shut, mafia can see and choose who to murder.) During each 'day' everyone discusses who is the mafia, and makes accusations.

Of course this circles the difficulties at the centre of a corrupt society; if someone talks to much, that can make them seem likely to be mafia, as they are trying to point the blame elsewhere - but of course if you say nothing then you are also likely to be mafia, because you are trying to stay invisible. So the game is actually about hilarious, philosophical, joyfully argumentative talking.

Just a reminder (from my previous post on this subject) that you can read the original Mafia Games rules here and a more detailed explanation and brief history on Wikipedia.

games time

When I first came to Moscow, I kept reading and hearing references to Mafia Games. Also did a bit of geo-caching, so just assumed (perhaps stupidly) that this was some kind of street-based cops and robbers role-playing game. But recently bought a designer cards version from Art Lebedev of what turns out to mainly involve a lot of sitting around and opening and closing your eyes.

Actually, the game looks great and somehow very Russian. People are allocated roles on the basis of cards, resulting in a minority of mafia and the larger group of unknowing innocents, plus some other characters. In the 'night time' when the goodies have their eyes closed, the baddies get to murder someone. During the 'daytime' everyone tries to work out who the baddies are (including, of course, the baddies). The game continues until either the mafia are destroyed or they outnumber the good people.

Then almost simultaneously with this discovery, I found out that you can do an 'adventure' game in Moscow. It is basically a tour - sorry quest - with clues. Will report back more when I get around to trying it....


You can read the original Mafia Games rules here and a more detailed explanation and brief history on Wikipedia.