Dr. Suess Mafia

When I went to Daystar University I learned a few games, one called SNAPS, which I will maybe write about later, and one called Mafia, which I will write about now.  If you have not played the original Mafia, here is how it goes.  There is a “Narrator” who passes out cards or slips of paper to signify who is who.  You know who you are but you do not know who anyone else is.  The character possibilities are as follows: 

Mafia (more than one)

Citizen (more than one)

Sherriff (only one)

Nurse (only one)

After passing out the cards, the Narrator then collects them and then says, “Everybody go to sleep,” and everyone closes their eyes.  “Mafia wake up” and all the Mafia characters open their eyes, thus allowing them to see who all the Mafia are.  “Mafia kill someone” and then the Mafia point to someone (they must agree) and the Narrator remembers who was killed.  “Mafia go to sleep” and the Mafia close their eyes.  “Sherriff wake up” and the Sherriff opens her/his eyes.  “Sherriff, accuse someone.”  At this point the Sherriff points to someone, and if that person is a Mafia, the Narrator shakes her/his head yes, and if that person is not Mafia, the Narrator shakes her/his head no (So the Sherriff knows whether one person is guilty or innocent).  “Sherriff go to sleep” and the Sherriff closes her/his eyes.  “Nurse wake up,” and the Nurse opens his/her eyes.  “Heal someone,” and the Nurse points to someone to heal, and if that person was the person that “night” that the Mafia killed, it will only be an attempted murder.  The Nurse can also heal himself/herself.  “Nurse go to sleep,” and the Nurse closes his/her eyes.  “Everyone wake up” and everyone opens their eyes (notice the normal citizens do not wake up until now).  “There was a murder last night.  John Doe was killed.”  Or if the Nurse healed the person who was killed, “There was an attempted murder last night.”  The narrator does not say who the attempted murder was on.

Then the game begins with accusing someone and firsting and seconding them to make them stand trial.  The citizens, sherriff and nurse included was to kill the Mafia during the day.  But if the Mafia are good at lying, it can be hard to figure out who is telling the truth, and who is Mafia.

That is the normal, boring-ish way to play the game.  I made up a new way, called Dr. Suess Mafia, in which there are other characters, like Darth Vader Mafia, who can choose whether or not to turn to the good side toward the end of the game.  Also, brown noser, has to say something nice about the person the Narrator picks.  Sleepy Mafia does not always wake up, and the Smurf gets to do all kinds of things.  There is also Die-Hard who has to be killed more than once, etc, etc.  Really there is no limit to how many characters you can be.  Cat in the Hat is a character who can go both ways, being Mafia and Citizen.  I made up some cards for Dr. Suess Mafia and gave a few sets out, but very few, like two or so.  But you can make up your own Dr. Suess Mafia.  The trouble with Mafia is that it is based on lying and being able to tell if someone else is lying, which sometimes can be no fun, sometimes can be fun, and sometimes be too much fun.