Mafia glossary
What throws a newcomer is not the logic but the language: half the words make no sense in your first game. Here is the slang, with examples of how it actually sounds.
🎨 Player colours
Red (Town)
A player you believe is on the town side. «Red» = innocent, trustworthy.
«He's red for me — his logic all game has been townie.»
Black (Scum)
A player you believe is mafia. «Black» = the enemy team. Some crowds say «scum».
«That's a black move — no honest civ votes like that.»
Grey (Null)
A player you can't read yet — no strong lean either way. Also a «null read».
«I've got nothing on her, she's totally grey to me.»
Color (Alignment)
A player's team as you read it — red or black.
To Clear / Town-read
To start believing a player is town — to «clear» or vouch for them.
«That check cleared him — I'm town-reading him now.»
To Scumread
To start suspecting a player is mafia; to cast a black read on them.
«The way he dodged that vote — I'm scumreading him hard.»
Rainbow Pair / Split
Two players who logically can't be the same team — if one is red, the other is black.
«Those two are a rainbow — at least one is mafia.»
Rainbows are gold — clearing one instantly blacks the other. Use them near parity.
🗳️ Voting
Nominate / Put Up
To name a player as a candidate to be voted out that day.
«I'm nominating seat 4 — heard nothing town from him.»
Vote
Your ballot to eliminate a nominee. Majority sends them out.
Lynch / Vote Out
To eliminate a player by the day vote.
«If we lynch red here, we hand mafia the game.»
Revote
A second round of voting, usually after a tie between top nominees.
Hammer / Deciding Vote
The vote that breaks a tie or reaches majority and ends the day.
«You've got the hammer here — think before you throw it.»
Coinflip
Deciding a vote almost blind, on gut, when there's no info left.
«No reads left, it's a straight coinflip between 2 and 7.»
Two-Way (Narrow to Two)
Cutting the day down to two candidates who are certainly not both town, then voting one of them out. Half a chance to catch the black, half a chance to burn a red.
«It's a two-way between 2 and 7 — one of them is black for sure.»
Do it while town still has a buffer. In LYLO a two-way is a coinflip for the whole game.
🔎 Checks & roles
Check
A night investigation — the Sheriff learns a player's color.
Innocent (Red Check)
A check that comes back town — the target is confirmed red.
«My check on 5 came back innocent — play with him.»
Guilty (Black Check)
A check that comes back mafia — the Sheriff has found a black.
«Guilty on seat 3. Vote him now.»
Sheriff (Cop)
The town's investigator — checks one player each night. Prime mafia target.
Don
The mafia boss. Each night he checks a player to find the Sheriff.
«The Don's hunting sheriff — real cop should sit low tonight.»
Claim
To reveal your role publicly to push your info. A «hard claim» bets the game on being believed.
«I'm claiming Sheriff — guilty on 6, follow me.»
Fake Claim
A mafia player falsely claiming a role to muddy the checks and bus a townie.
«That's a fake claim — the real cop hasn't spoken yet.»
Counter-Claim (CC)
When a second player claims the same role, forcing town to decide who's real.
«He's countering my Sheriff — one of us is black, obviously.»
🌙 Night
Night Kill
The mafia's kill during the night. Also «the shot» or «the hit».
«Clean night kill on the loudest townie — classic.»
Miss / No-kill
A night with no kill — mafia missed (blocked, healed, or chose not to shoot).
«No-kill last night — either a heal landed or they're setting up.»
Heal / Save
The Doctor protecting a player at night, canceling the mafia kill on them.
«Doc must've healed him — that's why it was a miss.»
Night Check
An investigation done during the night phase (Sheriff or Don).
♟️ Tactics
Parity
How many town vs mafia are left. Mafia win at parity, so counting matters.
«Parity's 3-to-2 — one bad vote and it's over.»
Play the Count
Making decisions by tracking exactly how many reds and blacks remain.
«Play the count — we can't afford to lynch red now.»
LYLO / Crit
A critical spot (e.g. 3 town vs 2 mafia) where one wrong vote loses. LYLO = «Lynch or Lose».
«This is LYLO — if we miss the black here, we lose.»
In a crit, never coinflip. Use every proven read and rainbow — one mislynch is the game.
Pre-crit
The day right before a crit — get it wrong and you walk into a losing LYLO.
«This is pre-crit — a bad vote today means we're dead tomorrow.»
World / Version
A full scenario of who's on which team. Players test competing «worlds».
«In my world, 2 and 5 are the black pair — everything fits.»
Position
The overall situation — your reads, the count, and what your role can still do.
Playing With
Treating a player as town — trusting their votes and info.
«I'm playing with 4 — his reads have been solid.»
Not Playing With
Refusing to trust a player — treating them as a likely black.
«I'm not playing with 7, everything he says smells black.»
Read
Your judgment of a player's alignment from their behavior and talk.
«My read on her is town — too much genuine effort to solve.»
Pressure
Pushing hard on a player to force a reaction that reveals their team.
«Put pressure on 3 and watch how he cracks.»
Tell
An accidental behavior that leaks a player's real team.
«He defended the black before anyone accused them — huge tell.»
Tilt
When a player gets rattled and starts contradicting themselves under pressure.
«He's on full tilt — story changed twice in one speech.»
Chaos / Muddying
Deliberate noise and confusion mafia use to bury the checks and stall town.
«Cut the chaos — someone's stirring this to hide a black.»
When the table erupts, ask who benefits. The one fanning the flames often hides in them.
Buffer
The slack town still has in the count — enough reds left that one mislynch doesn't end the game. While the buffer holds you can vote a suspect out safely, and most tables spend it voting «in a direction» when nobody found the black.
«We've still got a buffer — vote 6 and read the night.»
The buffer runs out at pre-crit. After that, a vote «in a direction» costs the game.
Fast Round (Sheriff's Circle)
The round after a mafia miss where everyone passes their speech on purpose. With nothing said out loud, mafia can't agree on a target and are likely to miss again.
«No kill last night — fast round, everyone pass.»
It only works if EVERYONE passes. One long speech and the mafia have their target.
Opening the Table
Speaking first on day one, when nobody has information yet. The tone you set is what the table argues about all game.
«Opening the table: playing with my neighbours, rest by reaction.»
Mafia love the opening seat — with zero info on the table it's almost impossible to slip.
Final Three
The endgame with three players left and exactly one mafia among them. One vote decides it: hit and town wins, miss and mafia takes the game.
«Final three: me, 2 and 7 — one of you is black.»
Don't argue vibes here. Replay the whole game: who covered whom, and who voted where.
💬 Table talk
«He's red / black for me»
How you state a read out loud — declaring a player town or mafia.
«5 is red for me, 8 is black — that's my table.»
«Give your check / Who'd you check?»
Asking the claimed Sheriff to reveal who he investigated and the result.
«Sheriff, give your check — who and what color?»
«Why are you on him?»
Challenging a nomination — demanding the reason behind the vote.
«Why are you on 4? Give me an actual reason.»
«Don't break parity / split the vote»
A warning not to scatter town votes — it hands mafia the day.
«Don't split the vote — all on one black or we lose him.»
«Strong town game / Very black game»
Praising a convincing townie, or flagging a whole game that reads mafia.
«That was a strong town speech.» / «His whole game's been black.»
🎭 Roles
Civilian
Town team. No night action — your speech and your vote by day are the whole arsenal.
Track who reads red and steer the lynch.
Mafia
Mafia team. Shoots at night, but the whole family must converge on ONE target — otherwise the shot misses. Knows its own (and who the Don is).
Two mafiosi picked different targets — the shot never landed.
Agree on a single name per night: a split burns the whole shot.
Don
Head of the mafia. Acts TWICE at night: shoots with the family and separately hunts for the Sheriff. The Sheriff reads him as mafia.
Find the Sheriff early — but the family still has to agree on the kill.
Sheriff
Town role. Checks a player's colour at night. CAREFUL: the spy and the bartender read as innocent — a «clean» check is no guarantee.
A black check is gold, but the moles (spy/bartender) pass as innocent.
Doctor
Town. Heals a player at night, cancelling the kill. Cannot heal the same player two nights running. The saboteur voids the heal.
Don't camp one person — the two-night rule forces you to rotate.
Seer
Town. At night learns the role of a DEAD player. Reading the Cursed kills her the next night. The crystal ball grants a second vision per night.
Read the graveyard to confirm mafia — but an unknown corpse may turn out to be the Cursed.
Lady
Town. At night she closes one player: his night action fails and by day he neither speaks nor votes. Never the same player twice in a row. If the Lady is killed, her guest dies with her.
Closing a mafioso blocks both his shot and his say by day.
Lucky
Town. Wears a vest that absorbs the FIRST mafia shot. The maniac ignores it, the saboteur strips it for good.
The vest is one mafia bullet. Play bold — but the maniac and saboteur go through it.
Maniac
Loner. Kills on his own at night, no coordination; the lucky's vest doesn't stop him. Wins only by being the last one alive.
Let town and mafia grind each other down — you win when everyone is dead.
Spy
Mafia's mole. Sees the whole family, but the mafia does NOT know him. Reads as innocent. Wins with the mafia; no path of his own.
You know the mafia — steer the town's votes onto the innocent without dirtying your hands.
Bodyguard
Town. Covers a player at night: if they are attacked, he dies INSTEAD. Cannot protect himself. Paired with the Saboteur in the deck.
Cover whoever the mafia wants dead the most — the confirmed Sheriff.
Saboteur
Chaos. At night he breaks a player's action (full block: strips the heal and the vest). Can hit the MAFIA too: land on a mafioso → their shot jams (a miss, «we got sabotaged»). Instant roles (sheriff/don/seer) stay blocked the following night. Never the same target twice. Co-wins with either side if he survives.
You play blind — but jamming the mafia cancels the kill. BOTH sides fear you now; stay safe.
Bartender
The mafia's secret mole. At night he gets a player drunk: action voided, speech scrambled the next day. Nobody knows him — not even the mafia. Reads as innocent.
Pour for the town's strong roles — to the Sheriff you are innocent, hide in plain sight.
Judge
Town. Once per game may cancel the day (nobody hangs) or PARDON the condemned right at the execution, returning them to the game.
Save the pardon for the moment the town is about to hang a confirmed innocent.
Cursed
Neutral who effectively plays for the town and wins with it. But if the Seer reads his role — she dies the next night.
You are a townsperson in practice — but your corpse is a trap the Seer had better not read.
Provocateur
Loner. Wins INSTANTLY if the town executes him by day vote. A night death earns nothing.
Act as suspicious as you can by day — get yourself sent to the gallows.
⚙️ Mechanics
Zones of influence
A map of Italy in 20 regions. A club owns a region (3 business slots), upgrades businesses and collects income (up to 300/day each); outsiders pay a 5–8% tax by tier. Tiers: small · medium · large · capital.
A region grants the club a unique bonus and authority — capitals are the priciest and richest.
Influence (“the hat”)
The Influence Map currency. Accrues BY ITSELF as you play — 25% of earned XP: make 100 XP in a match, get 25 influence. Spent on buying businesses and on seizing others': to take one you must stake 10% more influence than the owner invested. Separately there is a daily entry stock — 5 per day, VIP entries are free.
An MVP win brings XP and «hat» together — one pulls the other.
Play for XP: influence follows on its own, and without it there is nothing to do on the map.
Club authority
The club's weight on the Influence Map. Drips to the CLUB daily from every held region: a capital gives about 50 a day, the smallest about 10. Hold longer — earn more; lose the region and the drip stops.
Three mid-tier regions — roughly 90 authority a day while they are yours.
Authority is not coins and cannot be spent: it is the club's reputation, showing who really holds Italy.
Club tournaments
A monthly club race. Flip the tournament toggle in the lobby — games earn TP (win +12, loss −5, MVP +6, plus useful actions). Clubs rank by their three best players.
Only the FIRST tournament game of the day counts.
A lost but useful game comes out roughly even — the toggle is nothing to fear.
The Grinder
Paid weekly hostless matchmaking: a 16-seat table, 100 coins entry, automatic seating. Grinder points (GP) only grow within the week — losses take nothing away. A solo maniac win = +12, the priciest.
The week ends, the counter resets, the race starts over.
Weekly top-3 prizes: 2500 / 1500 / 1000 coins.
ELO / Rating
Classic Elo + contribution. Base 1000; wins/losses move it against the opponents' average, MVP +5. Idle ≥7 days costs 25/week (floor 1000). A night-one victim with no actions is not penalised.
Tap the ELO chip to see the full history of your rating moves.
XP and levels
XP comes only from results and useful actions (win +25, MVP +20, survived +8, check +12, save +15, bodyguard's sacrifice +20…) — none for showing up. 200 levels (20 ranks × 10). Private rooms give 0 XP.
The bodyguard's sacrifice and blocking a mafioso are the best-paid actions.
Common questions
What do red and black mean in Mafia?
Red is a townsperson, black is mafia. The same words describe suspicion: «he reads red to me» means «I think he is town».
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