Free lesson · Level 1 of 10 · Beginner
The four sentences a new player needs
A first-time player freezes at the table not because mafia is hard, but because the room expects four exact phrases and nobody told you what they are. To put a player up for a vote, the format wants the present tense: "I nominate player number ___". The host answers "Accepted" if the nomination is valid, and only then does that name exist on the table.
That one word from the host — accepted — is also the whole test of whether your sentence worked. So if you say "I think it's seven" instead of the formula, nothing happens: no name goes up, and the round moves on as if you had said nothing. The phrase is not politeness; it is the mechanism that turns your suspicion into a vote.
The same exactness carries into the vote itself. Once discussion ends and the host calls for hands, your hand goes on the table and stays there until the host says "Stop" or "Thank you". That is not a choice you make for yourself, because only the host's own word closes the vote. Pulling your hand back early does not cancel anything — the vote is counted all the same, and the host writes down a foul on top of it.
The same exactness protects your own turn at the microphone. You end a speech with "pass" or "thank you," and if you need the host's attention, you may address them as "Mr. Host" — or "Ms." — rather than blurting a question mid-round.
A courtroom runs on the same idea: a lawyer does not interrupt with an argument, they say "objection," and the judge answers "sustained" or "overruled" before anyone continues. Mafia’s table borrows that same call-and-response, with the host in the judge’s seat, so nobody has to invent words while nine strangers watch.
That same script plays out at seat four on day one, unsure of everyone. Seat four says "I nominate player number seven," the host answers "Accepted," and the round now has a real candidate. Tonight, say that one sentence out loud before your next game, because it is the only phrase standing between you and a frozen minute.
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Source: The rules of Mafia (Russian, 1 February 2026), §4.3.4–§4.3.5 and §4.4.2 — addressing the host, the words that end a speech, and the nomination phrase · our rules page