Mafia is a game played all over the world - it's a game of wits, kind of like poker but without the cards. It's a team game, with the goal of figuring out who the teams are!

The basic idea is this. A group of 10 or more people start out by picking cards from a deck to see who will be mafia and who will be citizens (with 10 people, we usually select 2 or 3 mafia). The citizens do not know the identities of the mafia.

The play proceeds in cycles of "day" and "night". Each night, everyone closes their eyes and the mafia wake up, look at each other, and pick one of the citizens to knock off. During the day, the entire group talks and tries to figure out who is the mafia. Each day one person will be chosen to reveal their identity (and exit the game). The citizens strive to find the mafia, but the mafia tries to convince the citizens to choose a citizen instead of the mafia.

There are lots of twists to the game. The one I normally include is an "Angel", who is a special citizen who gains a bit of information as the game progresses (the identity of one mafia each night on the second night and each night thereafter). Nobody knows the identity of the angel. If the mafia learn his identity, they will likely kill him off immediately, so the angel must be careful how he gives information to the other citizens, trying to steer them along the correct course.

There are lots of variations of Mafia, and here are some websites where you can learn more about the game:

http://www.princeton.edu/~mafia/

http://interoz.com/madhatters/legionwest/mafia.htm

http://www.partygamecentral.com/pgcstandard/gametmpstd.asp?gn=MAFIA

http://web.mit.edu/krobinso/www/mafia.htm

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/925