Red player (day №2)
This article is a part of the English Mafia Club’s training material
«Tactics and strategy of the Mafia game»
The day can begin either with an announcement from the moderator that a player was killed – or that Mafia had missed. What’s the best method of playing Mafia in each of these scenarios? Let’s consider a few options from the following scenarios in the Mafia game.
Option 1. There was a miss.
For those who have just started playing Mafia, the situation would be unclear should there be a miss on the first night. Come on guys! It is the very beginning of the game. The Don has just given orders to his Mafia delegates during the previous Night Zero. How can one miss!? But, trust me, misses do happen, and quite often for that matter. Sometimes it may seem to one of the Black members that somebody had made an obvious giveaway indicating that they’re the Sheriff. So they deviated from the original order and shot the Sheriff, assuming that their fellow Mafia team mates would do the same. However, one or both of his team mates continued with the original killing sequence- either because they didn’t know about the Unwritten Rules of Mafia or because they didn’t realise that identity of the Sheriff had been revealed.
Sometimes the Sheriff gets into a crossfire situation and has to reveal themselves. Crossfire is when two or more players receive an equal amount of votes, so there is a re-vote after they have eache concluded an additional speech. Some Black players may believe the purported Sheriff, while the rest are sceptical and continue with the Don’s order. That’s how a miss can happen. Furthermore, an additional miss can occur during the second night as well, so there may be 10 players at the table on the second night as well!
What’s the right thing to do in this case?
• All players should quickly say “Thank you” (in order to finish their speeches as soon as possible) and let the Sheriff continue with their checks.
• You can nominate the last speaker, or another player, and split the table:
As you should know, the second day discussions commence with player number 2, while player 1 finishes the row of speeches that day. Suppose that on the first night the Don found the Sheriff and signaled to his Mafia teammates about this revelation. Usually on Zero Night the Don shows a special gesture that he will use to let mafia know about a change of orders. If during the second day none of the players were nominated, there is a risk that player number 1 (the last speaking) will nominate the real Sheriff, so he will have to leave the game. Why? Because he will be the only one nominated. Eventually, the Sheriff, leaving the game, had made two checks: one was made at night, and the player did not die because of a miss, and the second – player number 1 who can turnout to be black with a high probability. And who else except Mafia, so badly needs to get rid of the Sheriff? Of course, only Mafia!
Option 2. There is a victim.
When the Sheriff is found, two candidates are usually nominated and the table is split in a way that nobody is voted out eventually. All ten players stay in the game. At night the Sheriff checks another player and leaves the game. It is not difficult to understand that the first option (when the Sheriff is eliminated from the game by the first player) has a number of advantages for the Mafia team.
In both cases, the Sheriff leaves the game, after performing two checks. If in the first case, just before leaving, the Sheriff provides at least one checked black player (number one), in the second case, he can leave two checked red. One of them will be killed on the first night. In turn, the longer the debates continue during the second day, the more opportunity the Black players will have to agree on whom to shoot. Therefore, in order to reduce the Mafia’s chance in “aiming their weapons”, it is advisable that all the citizens just say “thank you” rather than giving a speech; that way they can induce nightfall sooner, at which point the Sheriff will get another check.
Splitting the table makes sense only if during the night the Sheriff found out that player number 1 was black. He is obliged to offer a splitting of the table, delicately nominating the candidacy of the first player as the last speaker. Otherwise, he is likely to leave the table with just one check.
Option 3. A red player was killed.
The killed player did not reveal themselves as the Sheriff and left the table. Consider yourself being lucky – Sheriff is still in the game. From the second day of discussion the game actually begins.
How to play mafia game on the second day then? Remember, the most important rule – do not make Black moves. What is considered as a Black code? Read on in our next article….
