Mafia Game Rules: Night, Voting and Win Conditions
The Mafia game rules follow a repeating loop: secretly assign roles, resolve night actions, discuss the morning result, then vote someone out. The Village tries to eliminate the Mafia; the Mafia try to reach parity with everyone else. Optional roles add their own powers and win conditions.
Below are the rules used by Find the Imposter's Mafia game, with the choices a human narrator must make clearly separated from automatic app behaviour. Other Mafia and Werewolf editions can differ.
Setup: players, narrator and private roles
Use 4–15 active players and a separate narrator. The narrator holds the phone after the role reveal and sees private night actions, so leave their name out of the player list.
- Add the active players on Mafia setup.
- Tap Balanced, or adjust the role counts yourself. Four players get one Mafia, one Detective and two Villagers; a Doctor enters the balanced preset from five players.
- Agree on a tie rule and whether eliminated roles will be revealed. The app's Reveal role on death setting starts on.
- Deal roles. Each player privately reads their card and taps Hide & Pass.
- Give the phone to the narrator, who starts Night 1. An optional narrator PIN gates the initial handoff.
Actual game screenshot from a local walkthrough with example names.
Keep private cards and the narrator dashboard off a shared screen. This Mafia game runs on one device; it does not use the separate online Imposter room system. Reloading starts a fresh Mafia setup, so keep the game tab open during play.
Night order and actions
Everyone closes their eyes. The narrator follows the on-screen script, waking only the named role and asking them to close their eyes before the next step.
| Step | Who wakes? | What the narrator records |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mafia and Mastermind together | One non-Mafia target for the team |
| 2 | Serial Killer, if alive and enabled | One independent attack target |
| 3 | Detective, if alive | One investigation and its private result |
| 4 | Doctor, if alive | One player to protect |
| 5 | Lookout, if alive and enabled | One watched player and the private visitor report |
| 6 | Everyone at dawn | The resolved deaths or survival announcement |
Villagers and the Jester do not act at night. The app skips roles that are absent or dead. Mastermind has no separate turn: they are part of the Mafia team and read innocent to the Detective.
Only the narrator should see these controls. Players communicate their choices silently.
What happens at dawn?
Attacks resolve together after all night choices. A player targeted for death still has their action that night.
- Different Mafia and Serial Killer targets can produce two deaths.
- Two attacks on the same person produce only one death.
- The Doctor protects one chosen player against either or both attacks on that player.
- A save on someone who was not attacked prevents no death.
- The Jester is vulnerable to night attacks. Dying at night does not satisfy their win condition.
For example, the Mafia choose Amal, the Serial Killer chooses Omar and the Doctor saves Amal. Amal survives and Omar dies. If both attackers had chosen Amal, the same save would protect her from both.
The Doctor may protect themselves or repeat a previous choice. Restrictions such as “one self-save per game” are optional house rules, not enforced settings in this app.
Day discussion and voting
Living players discuss their suspicions. The narrator can use the optional discussion timer and adjust it in 30-second steps. Explain accusations using claims and vote changes, rather than treating nervousness or silence as proof.
When ready, take a public vote by pointing or another method agreed before play. Then the narrator selects the player to eliminate in the app. The app records the outcome; it does not tally individual Mafia ballots.
Choose your tie rule beforehand. A simple beginner rule is a brief runoff between tied suspects, followed by no elimination if still tied. A group may instead skip the runoff. Use No elimination to record a tie or agreed skip. These are narrator decisions, not automatic tie detection.
If Reveal role on death is on, the eliminated role is disclosed. If it is off, keep it private. Eliminated players may observe quietly but should not give clues, vote or signal to living players.
Win conditions
| Winner | Implemented condition |
|---|---|
| Village | No living Mafia, Mastermind or Serial Killer remains |
| Mafia | At least one Mafia-team member lives, and their number equals or exceeds all other living players combined |
| Jester | The narrator records the Jester as eliminated by the day vote; the game ends immediately |
| Serial Killer | The Serial Killer is the only surviving player |
Parity includes power roles and neutrals. Two Mafia against a Detective and a Jester is parity. Two Mafia against a Detective, a Doctor and a Serial Killer is not.
The app checks ordinary faction wins after night resolution and a day elimination or skip. A Jester day elimination immediately awards the Jester victory. If the final Mafia dies while a Serial Killer still lives, the Village has not yet won.
Rules to agree before dealing
- Tie procedure: runoff or no elimination?
- Discussion length: use the app timer or agree on a short limit.
- Role disclosure: keep the app setting consistent for the whole game.
- Extra roles: tell everyone which powers may appear without revealing who holds them.
- House restrictions: if you limit self-saves or repeated targets, the narrator must track those rules.
For a first game, leave extras off. Adding Jester changes what a suspicious player might want; adding Serial Killer creates a second night threat. Introduce one change at a time so the group can understand the consequences.
Common Mafia rule questions
Can Mafia kill their teammates?
The night target selector excludes Mafia-team members, including Mastermind. The team chooses one living player outside its faction.
Does “Not Mafia” prove someone is innocent?
No. Mastermind reads innocent, and neutral roles also do not appear as ordinary Mafia. A Detective result is one piece of information, not a complete role card.
Can Lookout identify a killer directly?
Lookout receives visitor names, not a declaration of guilt. A visitor could have investigated or protected the target. Lookout belongs to the Village in this version.
Does a Jester night death end the game?
No Jester victory is awarded for a night death. The Jester wins only through the day vote. Another faction may still win if that death meets its own condition.
Is Mafia identical to every Werewolf game?
They share a hidden-team, night-and-day structure. Named roles, powers and voting rules vary between editions. Use one agreed ruleset instead of mixing conflicting abilities mid-game.
Play Mafia, read the eight-role reference, or keep the narrator script ready for your first session.
