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2006-04-17 17:08 |
History of the Game
Mafia was first played as a regular event here on September 24, 1998, by a group of people who learned the game from our President, Steve Phelps, on September 15, 1998.
The origins of the game are shrouded in a degree of mystery. Efforts are currently underway to probe the history of the game.
Before reading this history, you should acquaint yourself with the rules of the game.
A game called Murder has been played for many years. In Murder, one murderer is selected by the moderator, and can kill one person per night. There is a detective who plays the same role as the angel does in Mafia, namely to inquire about one player per night. Dimitry Davidoff (more about him anon) believes this game to have originated in England in the 1970's. It quite probably goes back much further, though.
We have received correspondence from Mr. Brian G. McCue, who states that he played the game "Murder" on 12/31/69 with a group of people who had definitely played "Murder" on 12/31/67, and possibly earlier. These games were played in Vermont.
Mr. Davidoff also recalls a Russian game called Ubiitca, which he translates as "Muderer." In Ubiitca, there is not night, and the lone murderer kills by "winking" at his victim during the day. The victim, seeing the wink, must say "ouch" and die. This version is played with and without a detective, although it is not absolutely clear what the role of the detective is in this game. Played with a night, this game is identical to Murder, except in small logistical details.
Mr. Davidoff claims to have invented the modern game of Mafia in 1986. He describes the main thrust of the game as "informed minority versus uniformed majority." In his Mafia, members of the Mafia see each other in a preliminary "night." Following this, accusations begin. Mafia members know who each other are, but civilians, in the majority, do not. Multiple convictions are allowed, and night falls whenever a majority vote for it to end. Secret Identities are also used, so that noone knows when a Mafia member has been killed. During night, everyone writes on a piece of paper-- civilians write "Honest" and Mafia members write the name of the person they want to kill. The papers are collected by a moderator or a democratically-elected leader. All Mafia must choose the same person in order for the murder to be accomplished. Effective Mafia must therefore signal during the day, secretly. Note that the number of papers not marked "Honest" is the sole indication of how many Mafia are left. There is no angel.
The difference between Murder and Davidoff's game is therefore that there are multiple murderers who work together. Kai Chan reports, however, that his mother played "Murder" with multiple murderers and inspectors (angels) in 1956-57, in England. Therefore, this innovation predates Mr. Davidoff's game. Mr. Davidoff may have invented the game independently, but it is clear that he is not the originator.
The next definite reference to the game is found in Hungary, where a group of players founded an organization in 1996. However, this page mentions that many players recognized the game played as a variant of other games. In the Hungarian rules, there is only one execution per day, but the Mafia still need blind unanimity during the night, although this is achieved in a different way. An inspector (detective/angel) has been added to the rules.
The game, it seems, has also caught on in Norway, where the inspector is given the name of a Mafia member every night. This game, according to Vegard Engstrom, was dervied from the game Kommisar Katania which was the name of a character in "La Piovra" (The Octopus), an Italian television series.
Andrew Plotkin changed the name to Werewolf and reports the same game under the name of Seduction. We have played it under the name of Academia, details forthcoming.
When the game was introduced to Princeton by Steve Phelps, it included and archangel as one of the standard characters. This variant, however, is not widely found, and, in fact, the archangel has fallen into disfavor here at Princeton, where it is now only used occasionally.
Many other variants listed on our rules page were invented by various persons here at Princeton, although we cannot guarantee that they have not bee used elsewhere. Georg Essl created the role of the Devil. Eric Adelizzi created the magistrate. Adrian Banner created the masons and Morten Koster invented the prostitute, both based on comments by Matt Hindman. Steven Miller created the bookie and the vigilante.
Emily Rosenzweig introduced the variant of dead men tell tales to Princeton, although she states that she did not originate this variant. The Bulletproof vest is basically Andrew Plotkin's wolfsbane suggestion.
The vigilante has found particular popularity amongst regular players here.
Source:www.princeton.edu/~mafia/history.htm |
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