Best Mafia Games for Study?

[lazarusmoth]

Hey all,

I'm new to the game and to the mafiascum forums but I must say I'm enjoying my stay immensely. I find Mafia to be an enthralling game, one that very easily pulls me away from my other gaming habits (PS2, CCGs) - who knew that a game based on forum posts could be so addictive?

The reason I'm writing is because I want to find out which mafia games have been really well-played and are truly instructive to a beginner like me; brilliant games won by mafia or townies or any other roles.

What would be the Top 3 absolutely best-of-the-best games here that I could read up and enjoy?

(On a side note: I've been reading the Road to Rome newbie games and I have to say that I am starting to be a big fan of

MeMe

. Lots of times where she would just brandish her razorsharp instincts and logic (if I may use it as a verb) her way to scum. I HAVE to see a game where she's mafia, heh)

[halfpint]

MeMe was scum in Newbie 59, where she aided in the sound defeat of the town. Me, being a newbie on the side of the town, felt her wrath.

--halfpint

[Fuldu]

If you want to see truly excellent play by MeMe as scum, you should check (among others), my MiniReg 124, Palindromafia. Town started off with an atrocious Night One, and the only good thing that happened, the cop's investigation of scum MeMe, was deflected by her silvery (forked) tongue.

As for good games you should read, I would recommend reading through the normals for an opportunity to learn how to play. Themed games have a tendency to be very much about the Theme. If you see a theme that you know a lot about, you might be able to learn something from reading it, but more often than not, you learn mostly about the interaction of the strange roles that the mod chose to throw together in that instance. It's probably better to start with games with mostly straightforward roles to learn about general gameplay, and then go back and try to apply that knowledge to the more specific situations of themed games.

[mathcam]

I think you might want to lean toward minis...normal games can be somewhat overwhelming to read through. There's just a lot of people to try to keep track of. I personally would recommend Werebear's Mountainous Mafia (Mini 77), as it's small enough to keep track of all the players and doesn't have any mind-boggling rule changes in place. It's just straight-up hardcore mafia.

While I'm talking, I'll also say that there are two good ways to go through past games: One is where you know what everyone's role is by looking at the front page first, and the other is where you read through without knowing the roles and seeing if you can figure out who's mafia as you go.

Cam

[Kerplunk]

Also Polarboy made a hard-core minimafia:Black and White.

edit

: By the way, in that game MeMe was also scum and did excellent.

[shelper]

Improbable role mafia. One of the first games i read and the one that helped convince me to sign up to this site and start playing myself.

No Meme though...

[Cadmium]

Yeah, kinda hard to imagine a game being played here without MeMe being around yet, isn't it ?

[Phoebus]

MeMe's never in any of my games.

And she detests my newbie games.

[jeep]

Definitely Improbable Role is good to read. I'll check to see if I have a copy of DP's infamous GL24.

-JEEP

[silgado106]

I just spent my whole afternoon reading Improbable Role hehe. Very interesting game indeed.

[mith]

If you want a beast of a game to read, played by players you likely haven't seen play before (except me, and mole at the end):

Brunchma Mafia 3

One of my best performances, IMO.

I'll find a mafiascum and GL game to recommend later.

[mith]

A comparison of Mini 1 and Minvitational 1 shows how powerful a Doctor can be. 3 Mafia and a Cop in both game, a Doctor in the minvitational... Town gets slaughtered in one, Mafia gets slaughtered in the other.

Mini 6 - IS doing his thing.

For GL games, 5 and 10 were both great games, I'll have to see if I can find a copy of them. (We're getting back to 2000/2001 for those. )

[Mgm]

There was a game on the GL where (was it DP?) as a Tennisball Vigilante killed almost the entire mafia and won the game for the town. I'd recommend that one.

[Fatal Malfunction]

Quick Question: What came first? The mafia game via the net (the online stuff) or the mafia game via cards?

[jeep]

http://www.mafiascum.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl

-JEEP

[lazarusmoth]

Great games posted here! Thank you for responding to my request.

[Cadmium]

There was a game on the GL where (was it DP?) as a Tennisball Vigilante killed almost the entire mafia and won the game for the town. I'd recommend that one.

DP was the mod of that game, Aussie Mafia. It was Taflinel who killed one mafia after another. Although I completely disagree with a vigilante making random kills like that, it was quite impressive and it'll definitely be a nice read.