Game Structure and Phases
Author: Vitaly - mr. Koteo (Brisbane Mafia Club)
This chapter explains how a full Sports Mafia game actually runs from start to finish: who sits where, when people talk, when they go to “sleep”, how voting works, and when the game ends.
If you already read the earlier chapters, you know the basic ideas. Here we connect everything into one clean, repeatable cycle that follows the official FIIM rules.
The Complete Cycle
A standard FIIM Sports Mafia game is built around a repeating cycle:
Night → Last Word → Day → Voting → Last Word → Night → … until one team wins.
In the official format, there are always 10 players at the table:
7 red players (civilians), including 1 Sheriff
3 dark players (mafia), including 1 Don
Here is the full sequence of a typical game.
Seating and preparation
Ten players are assigned seats randomly or according to the tournament draw.
Each seat has:
A number (1–10)
A mask
The judge explains anything special about this game (tournament rules, local variations if any).
Role distribution
The judge announces: “Night falls” (or similar phrase).
All players put on their masks.
The judge goes one by one:
Asks a player to lift their mask and open their eyes
The player chooses a card position in the deck using gestures
The judge shows them their role card
The player memorises it, puts the mask back on
After this, everyone knows their own role, but only the dark players will learn each other.
First night (“agreement night”)
The first night has a special purpose: the dark team meets and organises.
The judge asks all dark players to open their eyes.
All dark players look at each other — this is the only moment in the game when they do.
The Don:
Shows by gesture that they are the Don (for the judge and teammates)
Sets the shooting order for future nights (when/on-whom to press the imaginary trigger)
The dark team has exactly 1 minute for this.
Then the judge asks them to “sleep” again — masks back on.
During this same first night, the Sheriff also quietly identifies themselves to the judge using the Sheriff gesture, so the judge knows who will be doing red/dark checks later.
Important: On the first night there is no night kill yet. The first actual shot happens on the second night.
First day
The judge announces: “Day”. Everyone removes masks. The table sees each other for the first time after roles.
On this first day:
Each player gets 1 minute to speak in seat order.
Players share first impressions, “versions” of the game, jokes, and early guesses.
Players can nominate someone for the vote (we’ll detail that in Voting section).
If only one player is nominated on the first day, no vote happens according to FIIM rules.
Second night and further nights
From the second night onward, the full night routine starts:
Judge: “Night” → everyone puts masks on, takes night posture.
Dark team “shoots”
Judge says: “Mafia goes hunting”
Judge calls numbers 1–10 in order
When their chosen target’s number is called, all dark players must press the imaginary trigger with their raised hand (wrist motion down).
They do this with eyes closed and without seeing each other.
If all “shoot” the same number → that player will be killed.
If they disagree, skip, or shoot multiple different players → it’s a miss, nobody dies.
Don’s check
Judge: “Don wakes up and looks for the Sheriff.”
Don shows one player’s number silently.
Judge signals “found” or “not found” using the Don gesture system (see gesture chapters).
Sheriff’s check
Judge: “Sheriff wakes up.”
Sheriff shows one player’s number.
Judge answers with a red or dark result using official gestures.
Don and Sheriff each get one check per night.
Then the judge closes the night and announces the next morning.
Day, discussion, voting, last words… repeat
Every further cycle looks like:
Morning — the judge announces who (if anyone) was killed at night.
The “killed” player still sits at the table and will have a last word (Last Word section) and then leave the table.
Day speeches — everyone talks in order.
Nominations and voting (Voting section).
The voted-out player gives their last word and leaves.
Judge checks if one of the win conditions is met (Win Conditions section).
If not — the judge announces night again and the cycle continues.
Day Phase
Day is the speaking and logic phase.
Order and timing
Players speak in table order (1 → 10, then continue in a moving starting point each day).
Each player gets 1 minute for their speech.
You finish your speech with something like “Pass” or “Thank you” to signal you’re done.
The first day always starts with Player 1. Each following day starts with the next player clockwise (2, 3, etc.) so that everyone eventually gets to open a day.
What you can do in your minute
In your minute you can:
Share your version of the game (who feels red, who feels dark)
Refer to previous speeches
Ask questions to other players (they answer with gestures or when it’s their turn to speak)
Nominate someone for the vote (details in Voting section)
You cannot:
Talk during someone else’s minute
Shout, whisper comments, or “help” someone’s speech
Put the mask back on during the day
Those things are regulated under the disciplinary rules and can lead to warnings.
Addressing others
FIIM rules allow:
Addressing other players by seat number or nickname
Addressing the judge as “Mr/Ms Judge” or “Mr/Ms Host”
In English-speaking clubs you’ll often hear:
“Player 4, can you explain why you voted like that?” “Mr Judge, how many warnings do I have?”
Night Phase
Night is the information and action phase.
Night posture and behaviour
During night:
All players must:
Wear the mask properly (no gaps, no holding it with hands)
Keep their back straight
Fold arms in front of them (standard “night posture”)
Tilt head slightly forward (around 45 degrees)
It is strictly forbidden to:
Talk, sing, hum, whisper
Touch other players
Eat, drink, smoke
Remove the mask or peek under it
Breaking night behaviour can lead to disqualification (instant removal without last word) or other penalties.
Dark team shot
The key night action is the shot:
The judge calls numbers 1–10.
Dark players must all “shoot” the same number:
Hand is raised
When target’s number is called, they perform the trigger motion.
If:
All dark players choose the same number → that player is killed.
Someone shoots a different number, multiple numbers, or doesn’t shoot → miss, nobody dies.
This forces mafia to be organised and to follow the Don’s plan.
Don and Sheriff checks
Both special roles work only at night:
Don tries to find the Sheriff. He checks one player per night. The judge answers “Sheriff” or “not Sheriff” using official gestures.
Sheriff checks one player per night as red or dark. Judge uses the Sheriff gestures (thumb up for red, thumb down for dark, with head movement).
Their checks are private between them and the judge. The table only learns about them if and when the Sheriff (or Don, in rare cases) reveals information during the day.
Voting
Voting is where the table turns all speeches into a concrete decision.
Nominations
You can only vote for players who were officially nominated during speeches.
To nominate someone:
During your minute you say clearly:
“I nominate player number X.”
The judge answers:
“Accepted.”
Each player may nominate only one candidate per day.
The nominated players are then put on the voting list in the order they were nominated.
How the vote works
The judge then runs the vote:
Reads out the nominated players in nomination order.
For each candidate:
Judge calls their number.
Players who want to vote against that candidate must immediately put a vertical fist on the table and keep it there.
Time window is about 1.5 seconds.
After each candidate the judge says “Thank you” and counts the hands.
You must keep your hand on the table until the judge announces the count.
Important details:
You may vote for only one candidate.
If you don’t vote at all, your vote is counted for the last nominated candidate.
If you pull your hand back too early, the vote still counts and you may also get a warning.
Who leaves?
The player with the most votes leaves the game.
Their role is not revealed.
They get a last word (see Last Word section).
Ties and re-votes
Ties happen, often on purpose, especially during Day 1. FIIM handles them like this:
If two or more players get the same highest number of votes:
Only those tied players get 30 seconds each to speak again.
Then there is a re-vote only between them.
If the re-vote is tied again (between fewer candidates or the same set):
The judge again gives them 30 seconds each.
Another re-vote happens only between those tied players.
If after this the vote is still tied between the same players, the judge asks the table:
“Who want to vote for all of these players leaving the table?”
If most players support this, all those tied players leave.
If there is no majority (or it ties again), nobody leaves and the judge immediately announces night.
There are special restrictions:
You cannot vote to remove three players at once when there are 9 players at the table, and
You cannot vote to remove everyone at the table.
In those special cases, if re-votes keep tying between the same people, the decision is automatically treated as “everyone stays” and the judge moves the game to the night.
We’ll look at tie situations in more detail in the mathematics section and the advanced strategy chapters — here you just need to remember that ties do not automatically mean “everyone leaves”.
Last Word
Whenever a player leaves the game by:
Being killed at night, or
Being voted out during the day,
they are entitled to a last word:
Length: 1 minute.
Purpose: to leave their final version, advice, or accusations to help their team.
Typical last words include:
Sheriff revealing all their checks
Red player explaining their votes and reads
Dark player trying to confuse the table one last time
Exceptions:
A player removed by disqualification (for a serious rules violation or 4th warning) leaves without last word.
Some extra mechanics like the “best move” are handled in the scoring and tournament chapters, not in basic structure. The best move happens at night for the player killed on the second night: they must say only three numbers — the seat numbers of the players they believe are dark. They cannot say anything else, only those three numbers.
Even after the final, game-deciding kill or vote, the leaving player still has their last word. The result of the game does not cancel that right.
Win Conditions
Sports Mafia always ends in one of three results: red win, dark win, or draw.
According to FIIM:
Red team wins when all dark players (all mafia, including the Don) have been removed from the game.
Dark team wins when the number of dark players is equal to or greater than the number of red players still at the table.
This is called parity, and the game ends immediately when it is reached.
Draw (a tie) can be declared in rare technical cases, for example if there are three nights in a row with no changes in player count.
Once the judge announces the result:
Any last required last words are given.
No further penalties are applied for most rule violations that happen after the victory point, except in some special sabotage cases described in the disciplinary chapter.
If this structure looks clear to you, the next chapter will zoom in even further on gestures, signals, and table behaviour so that you can feel physically confident at the table, not just logically prepared.
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