How to Play as the Sheriff
Author: Vitaly - mr. Koteo (Brisbane Mafia Club)
Sheriff looks like an “easy” role from the outside. You’re Red, you don’t have to lie, you get real information at night… How hard can it be?
In real Sports Mafia Sheriff is one of the most difficult and punished roles.
You are not playing “hero mode”. You are playing a sacrificial information engine for the whole Red team:
Collect the right checks. Reveal them at the right time. Leave clean information even if you die.
The Power of Checks
At night, Sheriff wakes up and shows the judge a player number. The judge answers Red or Dark with a gesture.
That single bit of information:
Fixes one chair in your structure.
Eliminates some Dark combinations.
Can save Reds from elimination.
Defines many endgames.
On the mathematical side, each check changes the game tree and the set of possible Dark triplets — we’ll look at this properly later in The mathematics of Mafia.
Your job is not to be the most “clever” speaker, but to:
Take high-value checks.
Use them to build coherent versions.
Make it easier for the city to choose the right world.
When and How to Reveal
Revealing is the central Sheriff decision.
Reveal too early → you die fast, with too few checks. Reveal too late → Reds die randomly, fake Sheriff can control the table.
How to reveal correctly
When you reveal as the real Sheriff, do it:
Loud and clear with speech, and
Visually clear with the gesture:
Raise your hand high up so the whole table sees it, and show the OK gesture 👌 — the Sheriff sign. Not low, not hidden, not to one person. Everyone must see it.
Then clearly say you’re the Sheriff and start listing your checks.
When you MUST reveal
For basic, solid Sheriff play, there are three almost automatic reveal moments:
Fake Sheriff reveal
The moment someone opens as Sheriff and you are the real one:
You counter-reveal immediately with a high 👌 and clear speech.
For beginners there are no “sneaky exceptions” here. Possible exceptions exist, but they belong to advanced Sheriff play and will be discussed in later chapters of this book.
Critical rounds (7–8 players left)
Around 7–8 players left, a single wrong elimination can lose the game.
By that point, you usually have only two checks behind you.
It is better to reveal with two good checks than lose the whole game with them hidden.
Your last word
If you are being eliminated and still haven’t revealed:
Your last word must be the reveal:
Who you checked, in which order, and what colours.
Leaving the game with hidden or messy checks is one of the worst Sheriff mistakes.
When you can delay revealing
You can sometimes stay hidden when:
It’s still not a critical round yet (far from 7–8 players left).
It’s early (Day 1 / early Day 2).
Nobody has revealed.
You’re not under vote pressure.
You realistically expect to survive one more night and get a high-value check.
A more precise self-check is:
“If I’m about to be voted out today, will my team already have my checks?” If the honest answer is “no”, you’re late.
Night kills are different: if you die at night, you still get a last word at the start of the next day and can reveal. But if the table is seriously considering voting you out during the day and your checks are still secret, that’s on you.
What to Check
Your night checks are your whole value.
Good check priorities
Good checks usually do at least one of:
Resolve a big conflict between two strong opposite players.
If two players are in a hard war (A vs B):
Checking the more Dark-ish one is often best:
If they come Dark → the opponent is highly likely Red.
If they come Red → it might be a Red vs Red war, and you must at least stop the push against your Red check.
Target someone multiple Red-looking players have asked you to check with gestures.
Reduce the number of realistic Dark triplets in your structure.
Create strong differences between your version and the kind of story a fake Sheriff would later try to invent.
A very practical tip:
Try to check someone at the crossroads of different versions. If their colour locks one world and kills the other, it’s a great check.
“Obviously Dark” targets
Checking a player that:
Everyone already plays as obviously Dark, and
You are likely to vote out tomorrow anyway,
is usually a low-priority check — you’re wasting your check on something the table might remove without your help.
However, there are exceptions:
Sometimes that “obvious Dark” person sits at the centre of many versions.
Sometimes confirming they are truly Dark collapses a whole fake world.
So it’s not always a bad check, but in most standard situations you’ll get more value elsewhere.
Bad checks
Bad checks are mostly emotional or selfish:
Checking the person next to you just so revealing is “more comfortable”.
Checking because someone annoyed you.
Checking someone purely for personal reasons:
“He defended me, so I’ll check him.”
“She joked about me, so I’ll check her.”
Checking the safest, most obviously Red player on the table while there’s a critical conflict unresolved.
If, in your heart, the reason is “it’s easier / I’m tilted / I don’t want to think” — it’s probably a bad check.
Surviving the Early Nights
Sheriff is a sacrificial Red, not a survival role. You will often die on Night 2 or Night 3. That’s normal.
Your goal:
“Even if I die early, my checks win the game for Red.”
Soft revealing to your Red checks
If you check someone Red, you can softly let them know during the day that:
They are your Red check, and
You are the Sheriff.
There are only two classic ways to do it:
A quick wink in their direction.
A light tap on their lap (under the table).
Nuances:
The lap tap, if seen by the judge, can easily be a warning, and in some clubs even more. It is still a common practical tool, but you must understand the risk.
Use these only during the day, not at night.
And most importantly:
You tell your Red checks everything you know so far:
All your checks,
All colours,
Your current version.
They are your Red check — your mini-team inside the Red team. You work together.
No signalling at night
At night:
You only interact with the judge when asked.
You wake up when called, show your check, receive the colour, immediately go back to “sleep”.
No other movement, no signals, no scratching, no tapping, nothing.
Any extra movement during night:
Can be treated as illegal signalling,
Can lead to serious penalties, up to removal from the game.
If you want to help your team, help them legally during the day.
Protecting yourself and your checks
If you or your Red check is nominated:
You can, under warning from the judge, say something like:
“This chair is not for voting this round.”
At the same time, you can use gestures to show that you are their Red check, not that you’re the Sheriff.
They act as a cover for you,
While you still stay hidden until the right reveal moment.
If it becomes dangerous and the vote is close, be ready to stop hiding and reveal properly with the 👌.
Two-Sheriff Games
You must always be mentally ready for the “two Sheriffs” situation:
Someone reveals as Sheriff.
You counter-reveal as the real Sheriff.
The city now has to decide which of you is genuine.
Never waste a check on the other Sheriff
In a two-Sheriff game, you never check the other Sheriff at night.
Reasons:
Structurally it’s already obvious:
One of you is Red, one is Dark.
If you later say “I checked him at night, he’s Dark”:
Nobody believes you,
It adds nothing new.
Your night checks must always target other players to separate the worlds, not confirm what is already known.
How to win the two-Sheriff war
You win not by volume, but by logic:
Your check order makes sense:
You resolved key conflicts,
You checked crossroads, not random safe chairs.
Your checks fit:
Night kills,
Speeches,
Votes.
The other “Sheriff”:
Protects suspicious players,
Avoids resolving real conflicts,
Keeps making strange, low-value checks.
Call this out calmly:
“Look where his first check went and what conflict he left untouched.”
“Her checks conveniently clear all her friends and keep pressure on my Reds.”
You want the table to see that:
If you are fake, the game becomes illogical. If they are fake, everything suddenly makes sense.
Baits and Advanced Tricks
These tools are not mandatory for beginner Sheriffs. They are powerful but risky.
Fake Dark check bait
Example:
During your speech you say:
“I’m the Sheriff. I checked #X. #X is Dark.”
You watch #X’s instant, natural reaction.
Then you roll it back:
You dust off your shoulder and say:
“Relax, that was a bait. I’m not a Sheriff.”
From this:
If #X overreacted (panic, over-defence), you may upgrade them to more Dark.
If #X reacted calmly and naturally, you may upgrade them to more Red.
Dangers:
You temporarily lied about being Sheriff.
The table may now suspect you for this bait.
If you’re later forced to reveal for real:
Your previous fake claim can damage your credibility.
You can push the game into emotional chaos where logic becomes harder.
Because of this, baits are advanced tools:
Use them only when you’re already confident in your basic Sheriff play.
Use them rarely and with a clear purpose, not “for fun”.
First-night kill bait
If you are killed as the first night kill:
Hold your reveal for your last word.
In your last word, say something like:
“Sheriff, reveal to me now so I can leave the table with clear Red anchor players for you.”
What you are actually doing:
Baiting a fake Sheriff to wink or otherwise reveal softly to you.
If someone does, you can immediately:
Name them as Dark,
Leave the table giving the city a ready-made Dark candidate.
As an advanced trap, this can sometimes instantly expose a fake.
Risky early reveal to a “most Red” player
Another advanced idea:
You pick the most Red player at the table (in your view).
During the day, you soft-reveal to them:
By a wink, or
By a light under-table lap tap.
You’re telling them:
“I am the Sheriff.”
“I trust you enough to show you this early.”
If they are truly Red:
They can:
Build their speeches around protecting you,
Help structure your checks,
Calm the table around your reveals.
If they’re actually Dark:
They now know your role,
Can leak it to the Don,
Next night kill against you becomes very likely,
Their behaviour may later expose them as the one who used that information.
Again: very high risk, sometimes high reward. Definitely not required for solid Sheriff fundamentals.
Key Sheriff Principles (Summary)
You are a sacrificial Red, not a survivor.
Your main weapon is good, logical checks, not emotions.
Reveal:
With a high 👌 gesture,
Loud and clear,
At the right moments (fake reveal, critical round, last word).
Soft-reveal to Red checks only:
By wink or lap tap (daytime),
Tell them everything you know so far.
Never signal, move, or do anything at night except interact with the judge when asked.
In two-Sheriff games:
Never check the other Sheriff,
Win by showing that your checks make structural sense.
Treat baits and early private reveals as optional advanced tools, not the default.
If you do all this:
Even if nobody believes you immediately,
Even if you die on Night 2,
Your checks, your reveal, and your last word will keep playing for Red long after you leave the table.
That is what a good real Sheriff does in Sports Mafia.
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