No One’s Safe with Mafia

“You lie like a dog.”

”I wouldn’t believe a word he says.”

”And you say you’re a pastor?”

”Who do you want to kill?”

Not typical comments you would expect to hear at a pastor’s retreat. And yet, more (and worse) can be overheard late into the night as we gather in a large circle in the fireside room of the Chalet.

A highlight of our annual pastor’s retreat is the rousing games of Mafia that we play after the evening worship. Sometimes we play other games, but this one is my favorite. The quiet and the vocal, pastors and wives, pros and new initiates are invited, encouraged (and even coerced) to play.

Mafia is a group game invented by a psychology student from Russia in 1986. It’s a kind of role-playing murder/ mystery game. One website described it as “good for discussing topics such as lying, deception, trust, good versus evil, etc. or just for a fun time.” I’ve found that we just lie and deceive for the fun of it. A number of sites will give you some background, rules and variations for this game. (check here, and here, and here, and here.)

Briefly, this game involves assigning the parts of mafia, sheriffs, doctor and townspeople to the people sitting in a circle. Playing a number of rounds (divided into days/nights) the mafia kill off the good townspeople at night while the remaining folks investigate, accuse, and arrest their suspects. Some tender-hearted players arrest suspects; more cut-throat groups lynch them.

My favorite aspect of this game is that you get to know another side of people. As you conspire with another to kill some troublemaking townspeople, you’re drawn into an odd relationship.

Wikipedia gives a bit more history and variations of the game. Check it out. You might find a new pasttime!

It's All Fun and Games ...

We like to play games at our house. Especially in the winter. When they were really little, we played a game called "Animal Lotto" over and over and over again. "Go Fish" was another favorite.

As they got older, we started some big-kid games of Scrabble, Monopoly, Life and Sequence. I remember handicapping myself with shorter words and less money in order to keep the kids in the game. Now that the kids are all older, we've had thoughtful card games, clever board games, intense strategy games and somewhat raucous word games. I have a role-play, murder mystery games that I'm "dying" to play.

This Christmas one son gave his younger siblings the game Quelf. You need to have a bit of creative energy to play this interactive game. If you don't mind possibly wearing a bib or saying silly things, I recommend it.

The older kids also enjoyed a few hands of "Hearts at Gramma's house. Less raucous but just as fun.

The Yellow Car Game

Thanks to my sister's children, our family acquired a new game to alleviate drive-time boredom. It's the "Yellow Car Game."


The object of the game is pretty simple: any time you see a yellow car, truck, van, etc, you call out "Yellow Car."

We have had to lay down some minor rules:
1. If you are alone and you see a yellow car, you have to call it out loud. Just thinking it doesn't count.
2. School buses don't count.
3. Business vehicles do count. (e.g. ServiceMaster)
4. Ties go to both people, unless it was obvious that someone really did start to say it first.
5. Cars can not be counted more than once on a particular car trip.


Advantages of the game:
-- Yellow cars are not as common and stick out in a crowd.
-- It give you something to do if you're on a long, boring drive.
-- It gives you something to do if you're on a short, haven't-we-been-here-before drive.
-- You become creative in your routes about town. "How can I get to the grocery store by driving past the car dealership?"







Disadvantages of the Game
-- Children yelling "Yellow Car" can be distracting and, worst case scenario, could cause an accident.
--- Paying more attention to the presence of yellow cars while driving can cause you to miss intersections, and disobey any variety of traffic laws.
-- Arguments over who saw the yellow car first can endure the rest of that particular trip.
-- Especially competitive children and parents may require intervention.

Some Quirks of the Game:
-- Yellow cars seen on TV and movies count.
-- Gold cars do not count.
--Yellow Volkswagen bugs merit "slug-a-bug" status.
-- It's completely fair to distract other players in the car when driving past known haunts of yellow cars.
-- Once you start playing, you're committed. If you don't want to play, don't ever start.




Of course, the best part of the game: winning! To win, you must see and call out a Yellow Hummer. When you do that, you have bested all of your playing colleagues. You can quit while you're on top, or start over.