Mafia (party game)

Mafia, also known as Werewolf, is a social deduction game created in 1986 by Dmitry Davidoff, then a psychology student at Moscow State University, and listed on Board Game Matcher under the name Werewolf for roughly eight to twenty-four players. It models a conflict between an informed minority, the mafiosi or werewolves, and an uninformed majority, the villagers. Each player is secretly given a role on one of the two sides. Play alternates between a night phase, in which those with killing powers covertly eliminate other players, and a day phase, in which every surviving player debates and votes to eliminate a suspect. A moderator orchestrates the phases. The game continues until one faction meets its win condition, and later party games such as Ultimate Werewolf are built on its pattern.