Mafia, and the Elimination Found in Social Games
Campfire games are awesome, until you get eliminated.
One of my fondest memories, that my friends and I recreate every year, is sitting around a campfire with a large group of friends playing a game called Mafia.
Mafia is the perfect game for a large group of people, and if you have never heard of it, here’s the quick description from Wikipedia:
Mafia is a party game, modelling a conflict between an informed minority (the mafia) and an uninformed majority (the innocents).
In the version I play with my friends, the innocents have police officers (who secretly investigate every person,) and a doctor (who can save a person who they suspect is the target for killing, including themselves.) Given that, the mafia are tasked with the objective of killing the police officers, and the innocent are trying to make accusations and providing public death sentences to suspected mafia members.
It sounds a bit weird to describe it like this, but it’s a fantastic game to play in a group setting that scales well into the double digit numbered groups, and has spawned tons of variants like Werewolf, and Bang!
An important mechanic of this flavour of party game is that people are forcibly eliminated from the game, and can happen almost immediately. In Mafia, someone can be killed off by the mafia as soon as the game starts, and they are basically shut out for the remainder of the game. On average, a game of Mafia can last anywhere from 5 minutes all the way to 40 minutes, depending on the discussions and arguments that appear during the course of the game, but the upper end of that range can be quite a long time to wait if you have been eliminated!
As a mechanic, it’s quite necessary: you are using hunches (or blind luck) to eliminate suspects from the game, causing them to reveal their role to the rest of the group. Once revealed, all actions leading up to their eliminated are placed under scrutiny and the cycle repeats itself until one side has achieved victory.
As a player, it can be extremely frustrating to be eliminated first, or early. You are powerless to stop it, and it can foster feelings of animosity or bitterness, which usually isn’t a good feeling amongst friends!
It’s most likely the reason why a certain group of friends of mine have leaned towards co-operative board games — it’s just much easier to play with differing skill levels and commitment, and less feelings are hurt.
However, it begs the question: is there a way to have eliminated players still able to participate?
No. Probably not.
Given how information-driven these games can be, dead or eliminated players absolutely need to stay quiet and stay out of the decision making process. Constantly chirping the still participating players will do nothing but ruin the rest of the game for everyone else, removing the possibility of most participation that one can do after being eliminated.
Historically, when I have been eliminated early from these sorts of games, I stay quiet and try not influence the decisions of others. Occasionally, I get up and refill drinks and grab snacks for the group, just because I have nothing better to do.
While it sucks to be eliminated early, you now have the ability to watch the drama between everyone else play out and learn the habits and nuance of how people present themselves. Mafia is not a game you play once, it’s a game that you play a bunch of times in a single sitting because it’s fun, so learn about your peers and pick up their tendencies so you may crush them next time.
Only half joking.
I touched on it slightly but remember: it’s about the fun. You’re not here to smash heads in, you’re not here to take all the glory for yourself, and you’re not here to be venomous to your friends.
You’re most likely playing Mafia, and its variants, because it’s a fun group activity. It sucks being eliminated or killed early on in the game, but hey, it’s just a game, and you’ll definitely be playing it again anyway.
Enjoy the ride!
