A couple of weeks ago I attended a family reunion. As usual, many of my nieces and nephews played several games of Mafia. I generally play with them, even though I don’t especially enjoy being a player, especially a Mafia member. My only opportunity for playing Mafia is at family reunions. But it is fascinating to watch how my relatives play the game.
For those who don’t know how Mafia is played, let me explain it briefly. We take a deck of Rook cards and pull out two or three red cards, one or two yellow cards, and then enough green cards so that there are enough cards for every player to get exactly one card. The cards are shuffled and handed out to all players so that each player sees only his card. If you get a red card you are Mafia, a yellow card and you are a Detective, and if you get a green card you are an innocent Good Guy.
In a round of play everyone puts his head down and closes his eyes. The Moderator then asks the Mafia members to raise their heads. They silently select a victim by pointing to one of the Good Guys. The Moderator takes note of it. They then close their eyes and the Moderator asks the Detectives to raise their heads. They selected one person, and the Moderator nods his head “yes” if that person is Mafia. The Detectives then put their heads down.
The Moderator then has everyone raise his head and open his eyes. He announces, “Last night two (if there are two Mafia in the game, three if there are three Mafia) shots rang out, and (pointing to the person whom the Mafia selected as a victim) is dead.” He then opens up the group to a discussion. The dead are not allowed to say anything. The point of the discussion is to try to determine who the members of the Mafia are and eliminate them. The Mafia attempt to mislead the group without revealing their true identities. The Detectives attempt to make use of their limited knowledge of the one person they know who is or is not a Mafia member, but they try to do so without giving away that they are Detectives.
After some discussion the group has to select one member to lynch. Accusations are made, and eventually a vote is taken. Depending on how the Moderator handles it, a person may be lynched simply because more people voted for him than any one else. If there are many accusations there may be several rounds of voting and discussions to try to get a majority consensus. Some of my relatives don’t like the lying (or excuse me, "bluffing") involved in this game, and they don’t like the thought of killing one another or lynching folks. Those relatives don’t play the game. It is amusing to see who gets selected to be lynched, and why. It is often random at the beginning of the game because there is so little information to go on. Some of my nieces and nephews just look guilty all the time. Some looked stressed even if they aren’t guilty. Some are too quiet to suite the mob, and some are too talkative.
But if you pay attention you pick up some clues. Who was quick to jump on the bandwagon and pick on the first person accused? Who seems eager to lynch, and who is reluctant? If it turns out the lynched person WAS Mafia, you ask yourself who was defending that person, and who was against that person?
Knowing that the Good Guys are going to be watching for such clues, a Mafia member who is good at this game adds elements of deception. Suppose, for example, that someone is accused of being Mafia, and he is not Mafia. Rather than being eager to lynch the innocent person, the clever Mafia guy acts confused or uncertain. Sometimes the Mafia staunchly defends the innocent person. If that innocent person is not lynched he usually feels a strong sense of gratification and loyalty to the person who defended him. The Mafia can then count on a “useful idiot” for support later in the game. If it happens that the innocent person accused does get lynched, over the protests of the Mafia member, then the Mafia member appears to have been a Good Guy when it is later revealed that an innocent person was lynched.
After a person is lynched, the Moderator has everyone put his head down, and the cycle is repeated. Another victim is selected by the remaining Mafia. The Detectives learn whether or not another person is a Good Guy. When everyone puts his head back up the Moderator announces how many shots rang out, and who has been added to the dead. If the group had selected a Mafia to lynch in the previous round, then there will be one fewer shot. This tells the Good Guys that they were successful in lynching a Mafia in the last round. Now there is another round of discussion. The game continues until all the Mafia is lynched, or there are more Mafia members than Good Guys. When the Mafia members outnumber the Good Guys then the group no longer has the votes to lynch a Mafia member, and the Mafia wins.
So, I learn a lot about my relatives by watching how they play the game. One of my sisters likes to make useful friends. One of my daughters is good at dropping a teammate who becomes a liability. A couple of my brothers are good at deflecting attention away from themselves.
By playing the game I think you can also learn a lot about how politicians operate. You listen to what the players in the game are saying, but you don’t necessarily believe them. To the astute observer sooner or later every player reveals which side he or she is really on. The trick is to ignore their sophistry and clever words and posturing, and concentrate on the effect of their ACTIONS, or their LACK of actions. Watch for secret alliances, although the Mafia is not above sacrificing one of their own if it throws everyone off the truth. Sometimes the hidden knowledge of the Detectives can be mistaken for the hidden knowledge of the Mafia. Watch for players “buying” the support of other players, and examine the consequences. Whose actions stand the test of time?
For those who don’t know how Mafia is played, let me explain it briefly. We take a deck of Rook cards and pull out two or three red cards, one or two yellow cards, and then enough green cards so that there are enough cards for every player to get exactly one card. The cards are shuffled and handed out to all players so that each player sees only his card. If you get a red card you are Mafia, a yellow card and you are a Detective, and if you get a green card you are an innocent Good Guy.
In a round of play everyone puts his head down and closes his eyes. The Moderator then asks the Mafia members to raise their heads. They silently select a victim by pointing to one of the Good Guys. The Moderator takes note of it. They then close their eyes and the Moderator asks the Detectives to raise their heads. They selected one person, and the Moderator nods his head “yes” if that person is Mafia. The Detectives then put their heads down.
The Moderator then has everyone raise his head and open his eyes. He announces, “Last night two (if there are two Mafia in the game, three if there are three Mafia) shots rang out, and (pointing to the person whom the Mafia selected as a victim) is dead.” He then opens up the group to a discussion. The dead are not allowed to say anything. The point of the discussion is to try to determine who the members of the Mafia are and eliminate them. The Mafia attempt to mislead the group without revealing their true identities. The Detectives attempt to make use of their limited knowledge of the one person they know who is or is not a Mafia member, but they try to do so without giving away that they are Detectives.
After some discussion the group has to select one member to lynch. Accusations are made, and eventually a vote is taken. Depending on how the Moderator handles it, a person may be lynched simply because more people voted for him than any one else. If there are many accusations there may be several rounds of voting and discussions to try to get a majority consensus. Some of my relatives don’t like the lying (or excuse me, "bluffing") involved in this game, and they don’t like the thought of killing one another or lynching folks. Those relatives don’t play the game. It is amusing to see who gets selected to be lynched, and why. It is often random at the beginning of the game because there is so little information to go on. Some of my nieces and nephews just look guilty all the time. Some looked stressed even if they aren’t guilty. Some are too quiet to suite the mob, and some are too talkative.
But if you pay attention you pick up some clues. Who was quick to jump on the bandwagon and pick on the first person accused? Who seems eager to lynch, and who is reluctant? If it turns out the lynched person WAS Mafia, you ask yourself who was defending that person, and who was against that person?
Knowing that the Good Guys are going to be watching for such clues, a Mafia member who is good at this game adds elements of deception. Suppose, for example, that someone is accused of being Mafia, and he is not Mafia. Rather than being eager to lynch the innocent person, the clever Mafia guy acts confused or uncertain. Sometimes the Mafia staunchly defends the innocent person. If that innocent person is not lynched he usually feels a strong sense of gratification and loyalty to the person who defended him. The Mafia can then count on a “useful idiot” for support later in the game. If it happens that the innocent person accused does get lynched, over the protests of the Mafia member, then the Mafia member appears to have been a Good Guy when it is later revealed that an innocent person was lynched.
After a person is lynched, the Moderator has everyone put his head down, and the cycle is repeated. Another victim is selected by the remaining Mafia. The Detectives learn whether or not another person is a Good Guy. When everyone puts his head back up the Moderator announces how many shots rang out, and who has been added to the dead. If the group had selected a Mafia to lynch in the previous round, then there will be one fewer shot. This tells the Good Guys that they were successful in lynching a Mafia in the last round. Now there is another round of discussion. The game continues until all the Mafia is lynched, or there are more Mafia members than Good Guys. When the Mafia members outnumber the Good Guys then the group no longer has the votes to lynch a Mafia member, and the Mafia wins.
So, I learn a lot about my relatives by watching how they play the game. One of my sisters likes to make useful friends. One of my daughters is good at dropping a teammate who becomes a liability. A couple of my brothers are good at deflecting attention away from themselves.
By playing the game I think you can also learn a lot about how politicians operate. You listen to what the players in the game are saying, but you don’t necessarily believe them. To the astute observer sooner or later every player reveals which side he or she is really on. The trick is to ignore their sophistry and clever words and posturing, and concentrate on the effect of their ACTIONS, or their LACK of actions. Watch for secret alliances, although the Mafia is not above sacrificing one of their own if it throws everyone off the truth. Sometimes the hidden knowledge of the Detectives can be mistaken for the hidden knowledge of the Mafia. Watch for players “buying” the support of other players, and examine the consequences. Whose actions stand the test of time?
posted by Nectar | 11:07 AM
1 Comments:
I *love* playing Mafia. But it's just not the same now that Latro has left town. There just isn't a mod as entertaining as Latro.
Looking at how people's words match up with their actions is often interesting. One of my favorite examples: the Gadianton robbers. In my rhetoric class, we studied a letter they'd written Moroni, along with Moroni's and Pahoran's letters to each other. The Gadiantons were pretty slick in the way they wrote.
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