# Forbidden Randomness of the Unspoiled Mafia **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [March 20, 2010, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-randomness-of-the-unspoiled-mafia/533111 "2010-03-20T04:14:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-randomness-of-the-unspoiled-mafia/533111/201 "2010-05-01T17:40:00Z")
OK, so we know that we have someone smart on the Scum team. That probably doesn’t buy us much, though. It’s probably a spoiler, but I am a bit curious whether you actually self-protected previous Nights, or if you just guessed the wrong mason. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-randomness-of-the-unspoiled-mafia/533111/202 "2010-05-01T17:51:20Z")
special ed is scum. That last post is clear scum gloating. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-randomness-of-the-unspoiled-mafia/533111/203 "2010-05-01T17:53:02Z")
> [@Random Mafia](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-mafia/532942/1403): > > NOOOOO!!! > > you were supposed to protect yourself so that you could make it to 3 handed! > Oh well, honestly, it’s a gamble I might have taken myself, I suppose. This is the post I mean. Edit: Chronos, I’ll PM you the answer if you really want to know. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-randomness-of-the-unspoiled-mafia/533111/204 "2010-05-01T23:19:22Z")
> [@Random Mafia](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-mafia/532942/1408): > > Intriguing. I’m not sure what is to be gained by me going back and reading the thread assuming myself to be Scum. Can you explain that for me? Easy. You waste your limited time analyzing somebody you know to be Town. Are they seriously going to listen to Ed on this? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-randomness-of-the-unspoiled-mafia/533111/205 "2010-05-01T23:58:08Z")
> [@](#): > > Edit: Chronos, I’ll PM you the answer if you really want to know. It can wait until the end of the game (which honestly can’t be all that long, no matter how it plays out). And I’m not putting as much effort into analyzing the game now that I’m dead, but **special ed** is sort of vaguely rubbing me the wrong way, too. And this latest suggestion, that people make cases against themselves? The only thing that makes that look non-Scummy is that no Scum would do something that blatant. If, as seems plausible, we’re at LyLo, then Scum just needs one mislynch, and that looks to me like a good way to try to tell who’s most vulnerable. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-randomness-of-the-unspoiled-mafia/533111/206 "2010-05-02T00:00:40Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The only thing that makes that look non-Scummy is that no Scum would do something that blatant. That’s what I thought about Oredigger. Never again. Red just made an excellent post. I’m leaning towards Mahaloth and ed as being the last scum. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-randomness-of-the-unspoiled-mafia/533111/207 "2010-05-02T00:02:05Z")
I’ve had my eye on Ed and Mal throughout, and now they seem to be working together on this scummy plan, with Mal trying to make Ed’s plan look reasonable. (and I wrote that before seeing Rysto’s previous post. Or Red’s.) ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-randomness-of-the-unspoiled-mafia/533111/208 "2010-05-02T00:47:42Z")
> [@Rysto](#): > > Damn it. I really thought my 7-2o was going to hold up until the river. :mad: If it makes you feel any better, scum originally targeted the person you protected (I’m being coy in case it’s too spoilerish), but changed to you at the last minute. You were very close to pulling it off. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-randomness-of-the-unspoiled-mafia/533111/209 "2010-05-02T01:02:06Z")
> [@ShadowFacts](#): > > If it makes you feel any better, scum originally targeted the person you protected (I’m being coy in case it’s too spoilerish), but changed to you at the last minute. You were very close to pulling it off. That makes me feel so much _worse_, actually. ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-randomness-of-the-unspoiled-mafia/533111/210 "2010-05-02T01:40:27Z")
> [@Rysto](#): > > That makes me feel so much _worse_, actually. Oh, sorry. I’ll shut my trap now, then. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-randomness-of-the-unspoiled-mafia/533111/211 "2010-05-02T03:02:11Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > OK, so we know that we have someone smart on the Scum team. That probably doesn’t buy us much, though. That’s a given. And frankly the problem with mafia as a whole. Too, ahem, random. > [@Rysto](#): > > Easy. You waste your limited time analyzing somebody you know to be Town. Are they seriously going to listen to Ed on this? I think that Freudian is asking simply to get Ed into a corner. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-randomness-of-the-unspoiled-mafia/533111/212 "2010-05-02T03:54:45Z")
Does the juxtaposition between ed saying “it was just an idea” and him getting on Mahaloth for doing it wrong and arguing in favour of it with Red strike anybody else as scummy? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-randomness-of-the-unspoiled-mafia/533111/213 "2010-05-02T08:25:24Z")
> [@Rysto](#): > > Does the juxtaposition between ed saying “it was just an idea” and him getting on Mahaloth for doing it wrong and arguing in favour of it with Red strike anybody else as scummy? Yes, but I’ve had ed pegged as scum for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-randomness-of-the-unspoiled-mafia/533111/214 "2010-05-02T18:44:29Z")
> [@](#): > > That’s what I thought about Oredigger. Never again. Right, I would never actually use “Scum would never do something that Scummy” as an actual defense; that way madness lies. I was using that as an illustration to intensify my argument, not to diminish it. I also note that **ed** jumped on **Red** for criticizing the idea immediately after **Cookies** voted **Red**. That looks opportunistic to me, and I think **Cookies** made the right move by voting early, so as to draw out that sort of behaviour. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-randomness-of-the-unspoiled-mafia/533111/215 "2010-05-02T18:54:33Z")
Oh, and it’s probably error rather than malice, but **ed** ’s summary of Day 1 is in error. He says that I jumped on **NAF** ’s typo and voted for him, but I actually voted for **Wanderers** for his jumping on the typo. And I, personally, don’t consider it to be a very useful summary that includes neither links nor all votes, but that’s just me (folks seem pretty surprised when I post my summaries with everything linked). ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-randomness-of-the-unspoiled-mafia/533111/216 "2010-05-02T19:56:10Z")
Oh, come on now, Red! Don’t talk yourself out of it now. Please guys, don’t mess this one up. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-randomness-of-the-unspoiled-mafia/533111/217 "2010-05-02T19:59:29Z")
Also, Red has apparently missed the fact that ed coattailed Cookies initial vote. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-randomness-of-the-unspoiled-mafia/533111/218 "2010-05-03T00:19:27Z")
One thing that makes me question ever actually playing the game is when people start doing the emotional defense like **ed** is doing. It really makes me mad when someone tries to guilt you into not voting for them. To the point where I would vote for you just for doing that. I’m not sure I would be able to not carry a grudge for someone doing that. Is there really ever a Town reason for doing the above? I really can’t think of one. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-randomness-of-the-unspoiled-mafia/533111/219 "2010-05-03T01:50:51Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Is there really ever a Town reason for doing the above? I really can’t think of one. Well, I would think, that if a given player didn’t have an Advocate translating for them, then I would think there would be. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-randomness-of-the-unspoiled-mafia/533111/220 "2010-05-03T02:09:29Z")
Here is the interesting thing. And yes, I’m breaking out the third person. Could there ever have been a game state, in this game, where Meeko could have left a Vote on Ed ? I mean, I think in a true meta sense, Ed and I have so much… history, that I wonder if I can ever leave a vote on him, ever. Looks like no one was smart enough to pick up that my list was my dying suspicions, – where I basically state the above concern for Ed. Their loss. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-randomness-of-the-unspoiled-mafia/533111.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forbidden-randomness-of-the-unspoiled-mafia/533111.md?page=12)