In week two, my class explored ‘social deduction’ games, which focus on your ability to discuss with your fellow players and, well, deduce the solution to the game through reading their answers and behaviour. This style of game was popularised by Dimitry Davidoff in the late 1980s, in the form of Mafia; players are randomly assigned to either the mafiosi or the villagers. Mafiosi may kill villagers at night and, during the daytime, surviving players debate each other’s identities and vote to eliminate a suspect. The game continues until a faction achieves its win condition (outnumbering villagers (mafiosi), killing all the mafiosi (villagers), plus the win conditions of any special roles.)
Some popular games inspired by Mafia: Salem, The Resistance, Love Letter, and Coup.
For a good portion of the class, we were sorted into smaller groups to try out some social deduction…
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