How to Play as the Don
Author: Vitaly - mr. Koteo (Brisbane Mafia Club)
Don is the Dark team captain. You set the plan, you hunt the Sheriff, and you can later play a fake Sheriff for the table.
We’ll go step by step, from the simplest Don play to dynamic agreements and two-Sheriff games.
Simple Static Don Play
Start with the easiest version:
Don leads the Dark team,
Gives a static kill plan,
Plays normal Mafia (from the Mafia chapter).
Night 1 — agreement only
On the first night:
No one is killed,
No checks yet,
Don only gives the agreement.
Simple static version:
“We kill 10, then 3, then 4.”
Gesture example:
Show 10 with fingers + trigger motion with all 10 fingers → “First shot #10.”
Rotate hands ➰ → “Next night.”
Show 3 + trigger with all 3 fingers → “Second shot #3.”
Rotate hands ➰ → “Next night.”
Show 4 + trigger with all 4 fingers → “Third shot #4.”
Teammates confirm:
Repeat the sequence, or
Show 👍,
Show 🙅 if they don’t understand.
Days with static
With static play you:
Talk like a strong Red,
Try to keep three Dark seats alive,
Don’t change the plan just because of emotions,
Watch how the static shots change the table.
This is the basic “training wheels” Don.
Misfires, Sheriff Reveals, and Forgotten Shots
Even in simple static games, things go wrong. Don must know what to do if:
There is a misfire,
Sheriff reveals,
A Dark teammate forgets who to shoot.
Misfire
If nothing else was agreed and Mafia misfire:
Next night, Mafia must shoot the first Red at the table starting from seat #1 clockwise.
This rule:
Gives a clear default,
Avoids chaos,
Makes misfires a bit less awful.
You can agree a different misfire rule on Night 1, but this is a good default.
Sheriff reveals
In the simple static model:
Sheriff reveals during the day.
Then:
Static plan is paused.
Next night: Mafia kill that Sheriff, whatever the next static number was.
Night after that: static plan continues where it stopped.
Example:
Static = 10 → 3 → 4
Night 2: shot #10
Night 3: shot #3
Day: Sheriff #7 reveals
Night 4: shot #7 (pause)
Night 5: shot #4 (resume)
Teammate forgot the shot
If someone is clearly lost about who to shoot:
You can secretly remind your teammates in a way Reds can’t see:
Show the number + trigger motion, or
Tap lightly on your dark teammate lap (if they are sitting next to you).
On your last word, if you are leaving and obviously Dark, you can calmly say:
“Shoot #X tonight.” so your team doesn’t misfire.
Main idea: help your team without letting Reds see your reminders.
Player from your kill list was voted out or your kill list is exhausted
In a pure static game with an agreement like 10 → 3 → 4, you always move to the next living number in the list and Don quietly reminds the team with gestures if needed.
Example: Night 2 you kill #10; next day nobody changes the plan, but if the city votes out #3, then on the following night Mafia simply kill #4 (you skip #3 because it’s already gone).
If you see confusion in your Dark teammates’ eyes, you as Don secretly show 4 with fingers plus the shooting gesture, just like in the “forgotten shot” scenario. After the whole list is used — say Mafia killed #10, city voted out #3, Mafia killed #4, then city votes out #8 — the static queue is finished, and from the next night onward Don simply picks a fresh logical Red target (the most dangerous Red) and, again, shows that number to the team with the shooting gesture so everyone is aligned.
Simple Hybrid: Static First Kill, Then Dynamic
Static is easy but rigid. If Don finds the Sheriff, static doesn’t let you steer the kill quickly.
A common next step is a simple hybrid:
First kill is static, all later kills are dynamic.
On Night 1 Don does:
Show a single static target, e.g. #10 with trigger → “First real shot = #10.”
Rotate hands ➰ → “Next nights.”
Add one of the dynamic rules, for example:
“I speak second player number.”
Meaning:
Night 2: shot = #10 (static).
From Night 3 onward:
In Don’s speech, the second number they say becomes the next night’s shot.
Example:
“I play with ms. Mamba, I don’t like #4, #7 looks okay, and I’ll think later about #1.”
Numbers (only numbers matter) in order: 4, 7, 1 → second number is 7. So next night Mafia should kill player #7.
This lets you start with a safe, simple opener, then move into flexible, table-based kills.
Why this is better
Now Don’s checks become weapons:
Don uses night checks to hunt the Sheriff.
If Don finds Sheriff and Sheriff hasn’t revealed:
Next day, Don just makes sure Sheriff’s number is second in their speech,
Team knows “second number = shot” → Sheriff dies at night.
Static-only Don can’t do that. Hybrid Don can.
Dynamic from Day 1 (Seats 7+)
During agreement night, Don can decide to give dynamic from Day 1 if Don sits late at the table (seat #7 or higher).
Night 1:
Don says something like:
“I speak second player number.”
No static first kill at all — everything is dynamic.
Day 1, Don’s speech (example from seat #8):
“I want to hear more from Mamba, number #5 looks okay, I don’t mind playing with #6, and #2 sounds sus to me.”
Numbers in order: 5, 6, 2 → second number is 6. So on Night 2 (first real kill):
Mafia shoot #6.
Why this is strong
From the very first kill, Don can:
Use Day 1 speeches to guess Sheriff,
Aim the first kill at a “brain of the table”,
Adjust to what players actually said, not to a pre-made list.
Dynamic-from-day-one demands:
Teammates listening carefully for numbers,
You planning the order of numbers in your speech,
Occasional backup with gestures if you see uncertainty.
More Dynamic Agreements (Including Ahalay Mahalay)
“I speak second number” is just one pattern. Clubs use many dynamic ideas. For example:
“First number” — first number spoken is the shot.
“First number + 2” — if the first number is #5, the shot is #7.
“Second number – 1” — second number spoken minus one:
You say: “I play with #3 and #5, but don’t play with #7.”
Numbers in order: 3, 5, 7 → second number is 5 → 5 – 1 = 4 → Mafia kill player #4 next night.
“Ahalay Mahalay” agreement
Another popular dynamic type is jokingly called “ahalay mahalay”.
During Night 1 - the agreement night, Don shows both hands waving 👋 in the air - Don gives "ahalay mahalay" agreement.
Meaning:
Whatever last check you (as Don) show with gestures during the day, that player number will be the night shot.
Example:
During the day, Don:
First shows: “Who do you think is #6?”
Then: “I think #5 is Red.”
Three minutes later: “I think #4 is Red.”
According to “ahalay mahalay”, Mafia must kill player #4, because #4 was the last number Don showed with check-gesture.
There are extensions:
“Ahalay mahalay plus two” — last shown number +2 (for clarity #9 +2 is player #1, #10 +2 is player #2).
“Ahalay mahalay minus one” — last shown number –1, etc.
The key idea:
Shot is linked not to speech text,
But to the last gesture Don makes about a specific seat.
We’ll dive deeper into dynamic variants in later chapters. For now, it’s enough to know they exist and obey the same principle: Don encodes the kill; Mafia decode it.
7–8 Players: Why One Red Is Enough for Dark
Here we talk about general Dark team power, not just Don’s.
Very strong positions for Mafia are:
7 players left, 3 Mafia + 4 Reds, or
8 players left, 3 Mafia + 5 Reds.
In those positions, if all three Dark seats:
Vote together,
Coordinate their stories,
they often need to convince only one Red:
One Red joins their version → 3 Dark + 1 Red = 4 votes, against 3 remaining Reds.
Why does all this Don-agreement stuff matter here?
Because the whole chapter (static, hybrid, dynamic) is aimed at:
Arriving at 7–8 with:
Three Dark still alive,
A Red field that is confused,
At least one Red who might side with Dark.
Don’s job:
Keep team structured,
Avoid misfires and chaos,
Kill the most dangerous brains early,
So in the 7–8 zone it becomes realistic to win by convincing just one Red.
We’ll plug fake Sheriff into this picture next.
Introducing Fake Sheriff (Two-Sheriff Game)
So far we kept Don “in the shadows”.
In real games, Don often uses their Sheriff line and reveals as fake Sheriff:
Real Sheriff reveals:
“I’m the Sheriff, Night 1 I checked…, Night 2 I checked…”
Don reveals:
“No, I am the Sheriff, and here are my checks.”
Now the city sees two Sheriffs.
City doesn’t see cards; they see:
Whose check order makes more sense,
Who actually resolves conflicts,
Whose checks match night kills and old speeches,
Who sounds more consistent and calm.
If Don:
Built a realistic check tree,
Plays the Sheriff role with discipline,
Uses dynamic shots to support the story,
then quite often fake Sheriff Don can be more believable than the real Sheriff.
This is why we built all the earlier layers first:
Agreements →
Dynamic →
7–8 structure →
Now fake Sheriff sits on top of that.
Two-Sheriff Play: Do’s and Don’ts
When both Sheriffs are on the table, Don must follow some strict rules.
DO: Reveal instantly when real Sheriff reveals
As Don, if you are going to play fake Sheriff:
Reveal immediately when real Sheriff reveals,
The same way we teach real Sheriff to reveal:
Raise 👌 clearly,
Loud, clean “I am the Sheriff”,
Present checks in correct night order.
Hesitation (“I’ll think for two speeches and then maybe reveal”) often looks worse than revealing right away.
DO: Behave like a real Sheriff
Your reveal must look real:
Checks in order:
Night 1 → who, why;
Night 2 → who, why; etc.
Targets that make sense:
suspicious seat Day 1,
important conflict seat,
crossroads between versions.
Talk as if your version is the only truth.
DO: Compare logic, not emotions
Your main weapon is logic:
“Look where his first check went and what he left unresolved.”
“His checks conveniently clear all her close allies and pressure my Reds.”
“My checks hit real key points; theirs avoid them.”
City should feel:
“If this Sheriff is fake, the game becomes illogical; if that one is fake, everything clicks into place.”
DON’T: Kill Sheriff at night when you’re in a two-Sheriff war
If both Sheriffs are open and you are playing fake Sheriff:
Dark team must not kill Sheriff at night.
If real Sheriff dies at night:
City automatically sees them as Red,
You as the alive “Sheriff” become auto-fake.
You must win by day vote, not by night kill, in two-Sheriff mode.
DON’T: Claim Sheriff again after real Sheriff died first (at night)
If real Sheriff:
Was killed at night (especially as first night-kill),
Revealed on last word,
then:
City already knows who Sheriff was.
Any new Sheriff claim is obviously fake.
After that:
Don must never claim Sheriff again.
Play pure Mafia, enjoy the fact there are no more checks in the game.
(Separate case: if Sheriff was voted out, you as Don may still claim to be real Sheriff and must stick to that version till the end if you started it.)
DO: Keep your checks absolutely fixed
Once you give your “checks” as Sheriff, they are frozen.
Never:
Change the colour of an old check,
“Downgrade” your Red check from covered to “I don’t know anymore”.
You chose them → you live and die with them. That’s why it is so important to give good checks in the first place.
If circumstances change, you can change your reads on other players, but never the content of past checks.
Summary: Don’s Golden Rules (Beginner–Intermediate)
Let’s close with key points from this chapter:
Start with simple static. Learn to give a three-kill static plan, handle misfires, Sheriff reveals, and forgotten shots without chaos.
Use hybrid static + dynamic. One static first kill + “I speak second number” gives a safe opener and flexible follow-up kills.
Go fully dynamic from Day 1 when you sit 7+. From late seats, you can encode the very first kill based on Day 1 speeches and your early Sheriff guess.
Remember what checks are for. You already know who is Red and who is Dark. Your checks are only to find which Red is the Sheriff.
Plan your speeches around your agreement. Under dynamic, numbers in your speech are not random — they are the code for the night kill.
Use misfire and Sheriff rules. Misfire → first Red clockwise from #1 (by default). Sheriff reveals and you stay in simple Don mode → kill Sheriff at night, then resume static.
Understand 7–8-player power. At 7–8 with 3 Mafia, if all Dark vote together, they often need only one Red to win a key vote.
Know that fake Sheriff is a real weapon. Don can reveal as Sheriff, and quite often the fake Sheriff’s logic will be more convincing than the real one’s.
In two-Sheriff games, follow strict discipline. Reveal instantly when real Sheriff reveals, never kill Sheriff at night while you’re playing fake, never change old checks, and don’t claim Sheriff again after a night-killed real Sheriff has already revealed.
Control warnings and always leave a shot. Save warnings for when a shouted “Shooting #X!” before night can decide the game, and on your last word, calmly leave your team a clear night target if that helps close the game.
Play Don like this, layer by layer, and the role will turn from “scary responsibility” into the most strategic and creative seat in Sports Mafia.
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