Game Rules

This page provides some details of the rules of the “Scandinavian Mafia” game. For a full description of the game flow and characters and roles, see the corresponding pages.

• Team ratio of Mafia to Civilians (all characters) is approximately 1 to 3.
• In Scandinavian Mafia, an important element is playing in a circle without a table in the middle. Players can actively use “body language” both in their arguments and when reading others’ reactions.
• The Host is the person who runs the game for everyone’s enjoyment. They are cheerful and friendly, and in no way a tyrant. However, the Host’s word is LAW. If a player fails to understand the atmosphere of the game, argues with the Host, or shows disrespect or aggression — that player leaves the game permanently. Spectators who interfere with the game must leave the room.
• There are no restrictions on choosing victims. This means that during daytime voting, Mafia players may freely vote against other Mafia members. This is often justified by the course of the game and makes the story more interesting.
• “Scandinavian Mafia” is an intellectual and psychological game, so it is not considered acceptable to use mentions of sounds, movements, and so on as arguments. This is a game of logic and psychology, not good hearing. Hearing or sensing something is not forbidden — it simply should not be used as an argument.
• The game lasts until its logical conclusion and ends only when there are absolutely no remaining possible developments. Even if at some point the number of players becomes equal, but (for example) the Detective still has a chance at night to find a Mafia member — the game continues. This also applies to other characters and roles that may influence the game.
• You may say anything and pretend to be anyone. With one condition — it is forbidden to show your card until the Host asks you to.
• A player leaves the circle after being “killed”. Spectators who are present but not participating may not interfere, clarify, comment, or make statements that could influence the game or distract the players. Anything that may affect the game is considered a serious violation!
• On the first night, a player killed by the Mafia does not leave the game immediately: they “fight for their life” and remain in the game until the end of the daytime voting. This rule exists to maintain game balance, ensuring that no one is eliminated before having a chance to participate.
• In the case of mutual elimination during the night — a draw is declared.
• The final decision about ending the game and declaring the winner is made by the Host. Other players should not stop the game prematurely or comment on this matter.
• If the Maniac is the last surviving player — a Maniac victory is declared. This situation is extremely rare but possible. The Maniac plays for themselves, even though they often help the Civilians.

  However, if the last Mafia player is killed during daytime voting, and only one Civilian and the Maniac remain in the game, then the night — during which the Maniac could kill the last Civilian — does not occur, and the victory goes to the Civilians.

• Maniac and Journalist may be awakened by the Host not every night, but only when necessary.
• For night actions of the Mafia and other characters, it is recommended to indicate the target player by pointing in the direction around the circle and showing a number of fingers, where 1 means the next player (to the right or left), 5 fingers means the fifth, and so on.
• If two (three or four) players receive the same number of votes, another round of voting is held, but the choice is made only among these players. Each of them gets the opportunity to speak and defend themselves in the situation. Then voting is announced again. All players, except those who received the same maximum number of votes, cast their votes again.

  If three players are put up for the repeat vote, but only two receive the same number of votes in the second round, the third player is excluded and voting continues between the remaining two.

  If repeated voting does not allow determining a clear “winner” (votes are evenly split twice) — the day ends with no victim.
• The game is resilient to mistakes. If any character forgets their role, forgets to wake up, forgets how many players have already been killed, or who (in the case of the Mafia) is on their team — the game continues, simply skipping the missed event.
• In case of disputed situations not described in these rules — the Host announces a vote, and the situation is resolved by majority decision.

Below is a suggested table of character distribution based on the number of players. To maintain balance in the game, in addition to characters, roles may also be added or removed. See the “Roles and Characters” page.

If there are no special cards for the game, you can use a regular deck of playing cards. The table shows which cards correspond to each character.