"Mafia" is a team game, the participants of which simulate a battle between criminals and law-abiding residents of a certain city.

Roles "face-down" are dealt at the beginning of the game in random order using a regular or special card deck. Some of the players get the role of law-abiding citizens, led by a sheriff, endowed with special powers, the rest become the mafia. The goal of each group is to identify all opponents and take them out of the game.

The game is divided into two stages: alternating "day" and "night". When the roles are played out, the host announces the coming of night, and all players close their eyes (or put on masks that do not allow them to see anything). After the host's phrase “Mafia is waking up,” all the mafia players open their eyes, get to know each other. Then, at the signal of the leader, the mafia falls asleep again, then the day comes and everyone opens their eyes.

According to the rules, each participant is given time to figure out which of the players is a mafioso and put him up for a vote. The one who seemed most suspicious to the majority is eliminated from the game. If two players get the same number of votes, they are given thirty seconds for the last excuse to convince them to keep them in the game, then a re-vote takes place.

After the first day, night falls again, but now the mafia gets the right to “shoot” every night, taking the chosen victim out of the game after the host said “The mafia goes hunting”. After the murder, the mafia falls asleep, the sheriff wakes up and checks one of the players for mafia affiliation. In the morning, the facilitator announces who is not awake, and the afternoon discussion begins about who needs to be taken out of the game.

Any arguments can be used in the discussion - from logical evidence to accusations of neighbors that they moved at night, which means they took part in a mafia hunt. The game ends with the complete victory of the mafia or honest townspeople, who calculate all opponents and take them out of the game. Depending on the experience of the players, among the townspeople and the mafia, there may be “nominal” characters with their own properties: a doctor, a maniac, a journalist, a prostitute, and so on. Various modifications of the rules are possible.