Lesson · Level 1 of 10 · Beginner
Ten people, three on one hidden team
You sit down with nine strangers, and three of them are quietly working against you. Those three were shown each other in the dark before anybody spoke, so they know you are not one of them, while from your seat all nine look the same. Players call those three black and everybody else red, after the colour of the cards dealt.
The three know each other and know the other seven are red, but they do not know which of those seven is the sheriff. And because they have to stay hidden, they talk, accuse and vote exactly as everybody else does.
That is where a first table goes wrong: it hunts for a guilty face. A nervous face is worth almost nothing tonight, since everybody is nervous and it reads the same on all ten of you. It would mean something only if you knew how that person looks on a calm evening, and tonight you know that about nobody.
So watch choices instead, because a choice is made on purpose. Say seat two spends a whole minute attacking seat six, telling the table "seat six is hiding something" — and next morning seat six is the empty chair. You still do not know who is lying, but you have something solid to ask about: who they pushed, who they defended, and who they voted for.
What’s next: two more ideas — who is actually at the table, and how each side wins — then a quiz that marks itself.
Source: Bond & DePaulo — 206 studies: people read a lie correctly 54% of the time
More lessons
- How each side wins
- Who is actually sitting there
- What each card can actually do
- The evening has a rhythm, and it repeats
How to play Mafia: the rules · Mafia roles · The school · Start bot practice