After reading all the variations of Mobsters/Mafia, I noticed no one has specified HOW the townspeople are to eliminate the mafia.
Once everyone one knows his/her card or role, the moderator (narrator) tells everyone to “go to sleep.” The mafia wake up and agree on a person to kill. Mafia asleep. Then the narrator calls on either the Sherrif or the Angel/Doctor (doesn’t matter the order of these two) — the Angel chooses someone to save, the sherrif guesses a person to be mafia, with the shake or nod of the narrator’s head as the answer. These people each wake up an sleep alone (are not awake at the same time.)
THEN everyone wakes up and it’s ACCUSATION time! The narrator makes up a goofy way the eliminated person died, and then the townspeople get to start *accusing* people they suspect are marfia! But here’s the key — MAFIA can also accuse people of being mafia (even their own teammates!) and make it look like they are innocent townspeople! It makes the game very interesting, as you can even hint at the idea that you are the Angel or sherrif, and make the REAL sherrif or angel look like fakes! (Though you don’t usually want to say out bluntly, “I am the sherrif/angel.”)
Once an accusation is made, the accuser can choose to give a “reason” why they think this person is guilty. (ie: “I think Mark is a Mafia because he was moving around during mafia time” *likely true) OR “I think Mark is a mafia because I saw him carrying a switchblad.e” *joke*) Then there must be a seconding on the accusation. Once there has been a second on the persons accused, that person gets a defence. (Again, this can be a serious defence –> “I was not moving around, I was completely silent,” Or more silly, “I am the town baker and I would never think of killing anyone!” It’s really more fun to be more playful with it!)
Once that person gives his/er defence, the entire group still left in the game VOTE on whether this person should live and remain in the game or be eliminated. Everyone puts their thumbs out sideways, and when the narrator says “one-two-three, vote,” everyone votes –Thumbs up meaning innocent, thumbs down meaning guilty. (The accused also votes for himself.) If more people voted down, that person “dies” and must show their card to the group. Tie goes to the accused (5 vote up, 5 vote down, the person lives).
Depending on the size of the group playing, you may either do one or two accusation per round. This makes it much more fair to the people who are not mafia to actually have a chang at winning the game. It also helps the mafia to strategize at how they can make others *look* guilty and get themselves off the hook so they can win the game!