Mafia game rules

The table and the teams

A Classic table has exactly ten players. The roles are one Don, two Mafia, one Sheriff and six Civilians. Seat numbers and roles are assigned at random.

The Don and the Mafia are the black team: they know each other and win when they are as many as everyone else. The Sheriff and the Civilians are the red town: they do not know who is who and win when no Mafia are left at the table.

There is no human game master: phases, timers, the speaking order, microphones, voting, shots and checks are run by the server. The game starts by itself as soon as all ten players are seated.

The card deal

The deck is shuffled on the server, and each player takes one face-down card within 15 seconds. Whoever is late gets a remaining card at random. With the “Automatic card deal” setting roles are dealt at once, without picking.

While cards are being taken, everyone’s camera and microphone are off: an involuntary reaction to your own card easily gives the role away. Only you see your role.

The first night: the Mafia meeting

The first night lasts 60 seconds. Nobody shoots and nobody is checked: the Don and the Mafia see each other for the first time and agree on whom to eliminate and in what order.

The “Mafia meeting” setting decides how this works: with audio the Mafia see and hear each other; in the silent version they only see each other and have to use gestures. The town sees and hears nothing.

Day: speeches and nominations

Each living player speaks in turn for 60 seconds. Only the speaker’s microphone is on. A speech can end early.

During your speech you may nominate one living player for the vote, yourself included. A nomination is final — it cannot be withdrawn or replaced — and nobody is nominated twice.

Each new day is opened by the next player around the table, so the first word does not always go to the same person.

Everyone has three shouts per game — 5 seconds each during someone else’s speech. After the third shout your next day speech is cut to 30 seconds.

Voting

No candidates — the town goes to night without an elimination. A single candidate leaves the table without a vote. With two or more candidates, a vote starts.

Only living players vote, and only for nominated candidates. The first vote is final, and there is no “abstain” button. A player who does not choose gives the vote to the last nominated candidate.

Voting is closed or open; the mode is chosen in the table settings before the game. Closed voting (the default) lasts 10 seconds, and the table sees who voted for whom only after the count. In open voting candidates are called one by one, 5 seconds each, and every vote is visible at once.

The player with the most votes is eliminated and gives a 60-second farewell speech. Their role stays hidden until the end of the game.

Day one is special. While “First-day elimination” is off (the default), nobody is voted out on day one: a single candidate stays in the game, and the vote leader gets a 30-second speech and stays too.

Ties

If several candidates share the highest number of votes, each of them speaks for 30 more seconds in nomination order, and the town revotes between them only.

If the revote ties again, the town decides whether to lift all the leaders at once. If more than half of the living players vote yes, all of them leave; otherwise nobody does, and night falls. On day one this is possible only with “First-day group elimination”.

Night: the shot and the checks

The Mafia get 7 seconds to shoot. The shot hits only if the Don and every living Mafia member pick the same target; the choice is final. A single different choice or a missing one means a miss. During the shot the living Mafia may talk to each other.

Then come 7 seconds of checks. The Don searches for the Sheriff: he checks one player and learns whether that player is the Sheriff. The Sheriff checks one player and learns whether they are Mafia; the check shows “Mafia” for the Don too. You cannot check yourself or someone you already checked. Only the checker sees the result.

A player killed at night gets a 60-second last speech, then the day begins. If the Mafia missed, nobody died and the day starts at once.

Who wins

The town wins when neither the Don nor any Mafia remain at the table. The Mafia win when the living black players are as many as the red ones or more.

If three “night and day” rounds in a row pass with no kill and no elimination, the game is a draw. At the end all roles are revealed.

Technical fouls, technical loss and removal

The table itself deals with rule breaking. A living player may put a technical foul, a technical loss or the removal of an offender to a vote — in any phase except the lobby, the deal and the night. It passes if more than half of the living human players vote yes; the vote lasts 30 seconds, and not voting counts as no.

A second technical foul removes the player. A removed player is out at once, without a last word, and that day’s vote is cancelled. A technical loss ends the game at once with a win for the opposite team.

City Mafia: what changes

The second Omerta mode is City Mafia for 12 players. The Doctor, the Seductress and the Maniac join the Don, two Mafia and the Civilians, and the Commissioner replaces the Sheriff. The night goes step by step with its own timer for each role, the table chooses the length of a day speech, and no coins, XP or rating are awarded.

• City Mafia: rules and roles — the step-by-step night, Doctor, Seductress, Maniac and Commissioner