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In the peaceful Sicilian village of Salem, a dark presence is about to make itself known. For years, the family based crime organization known as the Mafia has been establishing itself in the foundation of the community. Until now, the naive citizens have been unaware of the evil among them. Tonight, however, the Mafia makes its move. Tonight, someone will die, and until the Mafia has eliminated all opposition, the innocent will continue to die. Unless, of course, the Mafia is destroyed first...

About Mafia

The above is a typical opening for a game called Mafia. The game is played by a group of people, each playing the role of either a murdering Mafia member or an innocent Townsperson, along with a Game Moderator. At the beginning of the game, Night falls, and the Mafia family members become aware of each other (by communication from the Moderator). They then choose a victim, and the Moderator announces the Death Scene. When Day breaks, the town must try to weed out the evil by Lynching someone they suspect to be Mafia. The game continues, alternating between Night and Day, until one side is eliminated.

The game of Mafia (in MeatWorld) is usually played with cards, representing the possible Roles in the game. The Moderator secretly distributes the cards to the players, then has everyone put their head down/close their eyes. During the Night, the Moderator "wakes up" the Mafia, and they silently choose a victim. During the Day, everyone discusses, argues, screams, and eventually Votes for someone to Lynch. The cycle repeats until the Endgame.

MafiaScum, however, is devoted to the online version of the game. As far as I know, this version was first attempted in August 2000, and has been so successful that I felt it warranted its own site. Online Mafia has the potential for more strategy and subtlety because it removes most of the possibility for cheating and provides players with a chance to form suspicion based on logic and Voting Patterns instead of facial expression. It also has the potential for just as many, if not more, laughs, because the players can act however they like, no matter how shy they might be in real life. (At this point, I must admit that Mafia in real life can be hilarious. Especially with a drunk IS.)

HowToUseTheWiki

Rules and Etiquette

• Newbie Guide
• FAQ
• Rules
• Roles
• Variations
• Commonly used abbreviations

How and Where to Play

• Forum - The premier place to play on-line mafia
• Theory - articles written by other scummers
• DontPanic - wiki-based thread for posting problems when the forum is down

Other

• Downloads - programs and files that may help with the game
• AmstaadRpg - an RPG in the works for MafiaScum... Ping [Yaw] for more info
• ScumNomic - rules notations for an ongoing MishMash game
• GameTags - notations for other games, played in the MishMash forum
• Birthdays - player birthdays!
• Scummies - An annual award for Mafiascum players
• jeepfest - A MeatWorld meet-up in 2005, co sponsored by jeep and Hey_Herb
• MeMeMeet - A MeatWorld meet-up planned for 2006, hosted by MeMe and her family.
• Where are all the scummers? - offsite map of locations
• AIM Screennames - screennames for Scummers, useful for Chat Mafia
• QuoteBook - Amusing quotes from various places around MafiaScum.
• DocumentModeMafia - an experiment in wiki mafia (stopped)

Administration

One of the cool things about wikis is that anyone can perform (most of) the administrative tasks. Feel free to hit the maintain line occasionally. I've also included some other links that some might find useful or interesting.

How? Check out the HowToUseTheWiki page, in case you didn't notice the explanation-less link above...

Getting started with MediaWiki

• Consult the User's Guide for information on using the wiki software.
• Configuration settings list
• MediaWiki FAQ
• MediaWiki release mailing list