# Mystery Mafia -- Game Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [August 17, 2011, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025 "2011-08-17T14:03:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 50
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/982 "2011-08-19T16:25:00Z")
Damn, that wasn’t really a total thought. Continuing. So, at the end of it all, vote for who you want to die most. If it comes down to multiple players who you are suspicious of then go for the one who is a lynch candidate, but don’t vote for a lynch candidate just because they are a candidate. If you think all the candidates are bad lynches, don’t associate with that lynch. Standing out is good. ---
**Author:** ![Episkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Episkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Episkey)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/983 "2011-08-19T16:25:58Z")
> [@TimeLady](#): > > And I was filch > > fucking powerless filch lol Gadarene told me that when he died since he peeked you. That really sucks. Can’t even do the fun ITA or Potion making ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Episkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Episkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Episkey)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/984 "2011-08-19T16:27:17Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > Since we got the all clear. I don’t know that I would say it’s ok, just that is isn’t terrible depending on circumstance. You have to be prepaired to stand by your vote, and I for one am not going to vote for someone I don’t want to see lynched. If none of the lynch candidates look like a good lynch to me then I will happily place a one off vote for who I think should be lynched. I think this provides better more easily readable data over the course of several Days than everyone being forced onto one wagon or another. If someone never gets on a wagon that looks bad for them too. One of the first things I look at when doing voting analysis is who has been consistently placing “safe” votes. > > It’s easier to hide in a large bandwagon, and I don’t mind the occasional townie being lynched because if it was done via scum manipulation that almost always ends up coming out in the end. Townies die, it’s part of their job and it’s part of the game. The best thing they can do is leave as clear and transparent a record as possible so we have useful data to sort out when the game gets to the end stages. > [@NAF1138](#): > > Damn, that wasn’t really a total thought. Continuing. > > \*\*So, at the end of it all, vote for who you want to die most. If it comes down to multiple players who you are suspicious of then go for the one who is a lynch candidate, but don’t vote for a lynch candidate just because they are a candidate. If you think all the candidates are bad lynches, don’t associate with that lynch. \*\* > > Standing out is good. That does make plenty of sense though. Maybe I just misread what was being said. ---
**Author:** ![peekercpa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@peekercpa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peekercpa)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/985 "2011-08-19T16:29:54Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > &highlight=colorless+mafia]Colorless Mafia, otherwise known as Why Peeker Should Never Be Vig. \ you just had to bring that one up, didn’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/986 "2011-08-19T16:30:02Z")
> [@TimeLady](#): > > And I was filch > > fucking powerless filch Heh…and I peeked you n1 (only got your role name and your affiliation) and then was super-suspicious for a while, because Filch was so mean that I could see him being a cover role for a godfather. If you look back to my d2 posts, you’ll see I kept hedging on how strong a villa lean I had on you. Once HiFi’s godfather role got killed, though, I felt better about it. And, of course, I knew you were a squib, which means I probably should have tried to get Luckay to target someone else with his Felix Felicis experiment to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![TimeLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6f9a4e/32.png) [@TimeLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeLady)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/987 "2011-08-19T16:31:55Z")
> [@Episkey](#): > > Cool. > > As I’ve said, this is my first mafia game not on that forum so the “you better vote someone who is a possibility to be lynched” method has been beaten over my head for as long as I’ve played. I’ve never really asked for an in-depth explanation as of why - though what I’ve essentially been told is it forcing people to make votes in turn giving more information to analyze. > > I think this cultural difference from the two boards is just as interesting as the fakepeek one. There are reasons for having only a few wagons, these are off the top of my head: Firstly, and most importantly, you force people, and more importantly Scum, to choose. They can’t sit off wagon and let village drive themselves into a mislynch, they have to be responsible for a lynch one way or the other. In the case of scum/town top two wagons, one would imagine that the scum would be on the townie wagon, and not so much on the scum wagon. Of course people like to throw their teammates under the bus, so it’s never 100% clearing, but when a scum/town wagon is revealed it gives town points to those on the scum wagon. Over the course of the game, you have many many lynches, so when you get to end game, say f3, and see “well, this person A here voting scum the three days we had s/t wagons, and this person B has always voted the town, plus X Y Z other reasons, B is the more likely scum”. It’s just another piece of information that you can use to deduce peoples roles. It’s not to say that each day we should only pressure one or two people, because, at least over there, you get a lot of information when someone is wagoned, they tend to sound either really townie or scummy, so during the day you wagon lots of people, and then those targets who have the best cases made on them stick. There’s also something about timing of votes, though over on the other board it probably is more important since the pace is a lot quicker. If there’s a late surge of votes onto the townie in a t/s which gets them lynched when it was otherwise very close, it is, in the majority of cases, the case that at least one scum has jumped on to “save” them. It’s not 100%, obviously, but if 4 or 5 people jumped and you can say “one of them is probably a scum”, that’s another piece of information you gain. Note, whilst doing this you’re not asked to put aside your own reads. You just have to choose between two people, and the next day you pick up on your own reads again Now, I haven’t thought about the pros of doing it this boards way, it would make people stick to their own reads a bit better, but I think the information you gain from having only one or two wagons is going to be far greater than having a lot of smaller wagons, also from the pure numbers view of the smaller the wagons, the more likely it is that scum can control the lynch onto a villager. ---
**Author:** ![peekercpa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@peekercpa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peekercpa)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/988 "2011-08-19T16:35:24Z")
i think what **naf** is trying to say that if you are equally suspicious of a & b and you are just a one off on b while a is the lynch leader then go ahead and move your vote. but if you just don’t see the a lynch at all then keep the one off on b. ---
**Author:** ![TimeLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6f9a4e/32.png) [@TimeLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeLady)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/989 "2011-08-19T16:35:58Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > Damn, that wasn’t really a total thought. Continuing. > > So, at the end of it all, vote for who you want to die most. If it comes down to multiple players who you are suspicious of then go for the one who is a lynch candidate, but don’t vote for a lynch candidate just because they are a candidate. If you think all the candidates are bad lynches, don’t associate with that lynch. > > Standing out is good. yeah, I get that, and it’s a good strategy. Just, at least in vanilla games (stupid question, you have vanilla games right?), a villagers vote is the most powerful thing he’s got. To waste it by not using it significantly seems…counter productive. Most of the time on the other board, when faced with having to choose between two wagons, one would vote for the wagon theyd like the most to get lynched. This may just be that they think that the other player is slightly more likely to be a town than the other guy, or some other reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Jan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Silver\_Jan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Jan)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/990 "2011-08-19T16:36:48Z")
I am so happy that people from another board have joined us! I am so new to my home board too. 2nd game maybe. Anyway, I listen and learn!! ---
**Author:** ![TimeLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6f9a4e/32.png) [@TimeLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeLady)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/991 "2011-08-19T16:37:01Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > Damn, that wasn’t really a total thought. Continuing. > > So, at the end of it all, vote for who you want to die most. If it comes down to multiple players who you are suspicious of then go for the one who is a lynch candidate, but don’t vote for a lynch candidate just because they are a candidate. If you think all the candidates are bad lynches, don’t associate with that lynch. > > Standing out is good. yeah, I get that, and it’s a good strategy. Just, at least in vanilla games (stupid question, you have vanilla games right?), a villagers vote is the most powerful thing he’s got. To waste it by not using it significantly seems…counter productive. Most of the time on the other board, when faced with having to choose between two wagons, one would vote for the wagon theyd like the most to get lynched. This may just be that they think that the other player is slightly more likely to be a town than the other guy, or some other reasons. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/992 "2011-08-19T16:38:55Z")
> [@peekercpa](#): > > i think what **naf** is trying to say that if you are equally suspicious of a & b and you are just a one off on b while a is the lynch leader then go ahead and move your vote. but if you just don’t see the a lynch at all then keep the one off on b. It’s a sad day for me when you make my argument in a more clear and concise way than I do. ---
**Author:** ![peekercpa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@peekercpa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peekercpa)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/993 "2011-08-19T16:39:49Z")
> [@TimeLady](#): > > Firstly, and most importantly, you force people, and more importantly Scum, to choose. They can’t sit off wagon and let village drive themselves into a mislynch, they have to be responsible for a lynch one way or the other. \ and i guess i just don’t see this because if it comes down to it scum could always reply well hell i didn’t really want to vote them but it was the only choice i had. guess that’s why baskin robbins makes 31 flavors. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Jan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Silver\_Jan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Jan)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/994 "2011-08-19T16:40:37Z")
> [@TimeLady](#): > > yeah, I get that, and it’s a good strategy. > > Just, at least in vanilla games (stupid question, you have vanilla games right?), a villagers vote is the most powerful thing he’s got. To waste it by not using it significantly seems…counter productive. > > Most of the time on the other board, when faced with having to choose between two wagons, one would vote for the wagon theyd like the most to get lynched. This may just be that they think that the other player is slightly more likely to be a town than the other guy, or some other reasons. I have never played in a Vanilla only game, surely scum have the advantage? ---
**Author:** ![TimeLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6f9a4e/32.png) [@TimeLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeLady)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/995 "2011-08-19T16:40:52Z")
> [@peekercpa](#): > > i think what **naf** is trying to say that if you are equally suspicious of a & b and you are just a one off on b while a is the lynch leader then go ahead and move your vote. but if you just don’t see the a lynch at all then keep the one off on b. I would say to that, what if you liked A as a scum with 65% confidence, and you liked B as a villager with 75% confidence, and you liked C as a villager with 50% confidence. If B is in the lead two votes ahead of C, and you are the only vote on A, surely voting C would be an overall net positive for you, since otherwise your vote is not useful at all, and you are more confidenct B is a villager than C, therefore C is the more likely scum to get lynched. * * * hmmm, sorry for the double post. my internet freaked out ---
**Author:** ![peekercpa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@peekercpa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peekercpa)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/996 "2011-08-19T16:40:56Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > It’s a sad day for me when you make my argument in a more clear and concise way than I do. even a blind pig finds an acorn now and again. ---
**Author:** ![peekercpa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@peekercpa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peekercpa)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/997 "2011-08-19T16:42:37Z")
> [@Silver\_Jan](#): > > I have never played in a Vanilla only game, surely scum have the advantage? if i am the vig then you can guarantee a scum cake walk. ---
**Author:** ![TimeLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6f9a4e/32.png) [@TimeLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeLady)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/998 "2011-08-19T16:42:48Z")
> [@Silver\_Jan](#): > > I have never played in a Vanilla only game, surely scum have the advantage? vanilla only games are the nuts (poker term, meaning the best ever). The win% over 100s of games on the other board is literally 50/50, and it is a lot more enjoyable and strategy orientated than mishmashes where so much of the result comes down to how a few roles play (like if you have a bad vigilante, that can lose the game for you right there) They’re a bit more “boring”, but the thought that goes into them is a lot more refined than mish mashes, which just have a lot of dynamics going on. I like both, but from a pure point of view, vanillas are the moee skilled games. ---
**Author:** ![TimeLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6f9a4e/32.png) [@TimeLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeLady)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/999 "2011-08-19T16:44:17Z")
> [@peekercpa](#): > > \ > > and i guess i just don’t see this because if it comes down to it scum could always reply well hell i didn’t really want to vote them but it was the only choice i had. > > guess that’s why baskin robbins makes 31 flavors. well, when you have these wagons, you’re meant to give reasons for going for the wagon you choose, even if they are “weak” reasons. Those that vote without reasons get voted themselves. ---
**Author:** ![peekercpa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@peekercpa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peekercpa)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/1000 "2011-08-19T16:45:56Z")
> [@TimeLady](#): > > I would say to that, what if you liked A as a scum with 65% confidence, and you liked B as a villager with 75% confidence, and you liked C as a villager with 50% confidence. > > If B is in the lead two votes ahead of C, and you are the only vote on A, surely voting C would be an overall net positive for you, since otherwise your vote is not useful at all, and you are more confidenct B is a villager than C, therefore C is the more likely scum to get lynched. > > * * * > > hmmm, sorry for the double post. my internet freaked out the hamsters are already getting nervous about Daybreak. i see where you are going. culturally, it’s something that i’ve really ever been exposed to. gonna have to think it through a wee bit more because you do have a valid point. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025/1001 "2011-08-19T16:48:43Z")
> [@TimeLady](#): > > I would say to that, what if you liked A as a scum with 65% confidence, and you liked B as a villager with 75% confidence, and you liked C as a villager with 50% confidence. > > If B is in the lead two votes ahead of C, and you are the only vote on A, surely voting C would be an overall net positive for you, since otherwise your vote is not useful at all, and you are more confidenct B is a villager than C, therefore C is the more likely scum to get lynched. > > * * * > > hmmm, sorry for the double post. my internet freaked out I am going to toe the line of acceptability and use the most recent lynch as my example, but I am going to pretend I was the only one voting for peek and that everyone else was on one of the top two wagons. **Gad, I will knock this off if you tell me to but it makes things so much easier if I can use concrete examples of what I am talking about** I didn’t think that Krayz or TexCat were scum. I thought no matter which got lynched it would be a bad lynch. Let’s say that everyone else in town was voting for one of the two of them but me, I’m voting for Peeker because I am damn sure that he is scum. I am not going to move my vote to Krayz or TexCat because I feel with more than 50% confidence that they are town. Me voting for someone under protest who I don’t think is scum doesn’t tell you nearly as much about me as my refusing to vote for someone who is about to be lynched. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025.md?page=49) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-mafia-game-thread/593025.md?page=51)