# Spectators' thread for Mafia: Goontown (no living players, please!) **URL:** \ **Category:** Thread Games\ **Created:** [September 28, 2018, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectators-thread-for-mafia-goontown-no-living-players-please/822135 "2018-09-28T20:14:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectators-thread-for-mafia-goontown-no-living-players-please/822135/81 "2018-10-18T22:21:14Z")
No genuine scum mistake from me. I played as I would as town. Including thinking bio was town and that hi neighbor reverse engineered my case. Sent from my BND-L34 using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectators-thread-for-mafia-goontown-no-living-players-please/822135/82 "2018-10-18T23:22:13Z")
I pretty much played as town, which is my general philosophy. There were a few points where I tried to muddy the water, particularly on Day 1. On Day 2, Mahaloth was fighting pretty hard, but I stayed out of it and watched for developments. It blew over. **Stranger** I thought you played a good game, but you sure talked a lot. šŸ˜ƒ I hope youā€™ll keep playing. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectators-thread-for-mafia-goontown-no-living-players-please/822135/83 "2018-10-18T23:45:44Z")
**Mahaloth** , you saying all those times you were sure I was Town after our history was definite for me. I tried. ā˜¹ ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectators-thread-for-mafia-goontown-no-living-players-please/822135/84 "2018-10-19T00:00:36Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > **Mahaloth** , you saying all those times you were sure I was Town after our history was definite for me. I tried. ā˜¹ I just believed your play was Town. Yes, I knew it was, but I also think I would have said the same if I was town. ---
**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:** [October 19, 2018, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectators-thread-for-mafia-goontown-no-living-players-please/822135/85 "2018-10-19T03:17:46Z")
Heck, Iā€™m the moderator, and Iā€™m still never completely sure that **Biotop** is Town ;). And in case you didnā€™t figure it out, any method you chose for execution was going to go wrong somehow. Vinnie and Books were not what you might call competent. And the bits about **Stranger** being a piano player and **Prof** being a crackpot inventor were both from them. I said ā€œHey, let me knowā€ in the PMs, and they did. **Knowed Out** was a garbageman, but I didnā€™t get a chance to incorporate that into the color. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectators-thread-for-mafia-goontown-no-living-players-please/822135/86 "2018-10-19T03:54:02Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I just believed your play was Town. Yes, I knew it was, but I also think I would have said the same if I was town. I agree with Biotop - my analysis of your posting showed a seriously strong defense of him. Itā€™s always hard to know what you ā€œwould have saidā€ if you were town, of course, but I definitely interpreted your posts as scummy. Your posts didnā€™t indicate a belief - they indicated perfect knowledge. In the end it didnā€™t matter, of course, nobody left by that point seemed to care much for in-depth analysis. Itā€™s true that we didnā€™t have much **to** analyze, but we werenā€™t completely in the dark. Knowed Out, if you ever play Mafia again I hope you will take it just a little more seriously. Itā€™s only a game, but itā€™s one that a lot of other people are playing with you. Having said that, I do hope you play again. Biotop, Iā€™m sorry for contributing to your lynch. Iā€™m more sorry that I couldnā€™t vindicate your suspicion of Mahaloth. You were dead on. Chronos, thanks for running it. šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectators-thread-for-mafia-goontown-no-living-players-please/822135/87 "2018-10-19T04:15:55Z")
Next time Iā€™m going to be a chef. At an Italian deli with a commercial meat grinder. Stranger ---
**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:** [October 19, 2018, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectators-thread-for-mafia-goontown-no-living-players-please/822135/88 "2018-10-19T11:18:10Z")
Named Johnny Grubek? ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectators-thread-for-mafia-goontown-no-living-players-please/822135/89 "2018-10-19T14:20:13Z")
Wow, Mahaloth lasted through an entire game? ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectators-thread-for-mafia-goontown-no-living-players-please/822135/90 "2018-10-19T14:21:44Z")
Butterbeer Zone worked. Noted. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectators-thread-for-mafia-goontown-no-living-players-please/822135/91 "2018-10-19T14:26:35Z")
Oh, and way to go, Scum! ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectators-thread-for-mafia-goontown-no-living-players-please/822135/92 "2018-10-19T15:23:29Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > Your posts didnā€™t indicate a belief - they indicated perfect knowledge. I donā€™t think they did. > [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > Wow, Mahaloth lasted through an entire game? Second one in a row! ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectators-thread-for-mafia-goontown-no-living-players-please/822135/93 "2018-10-19T15:26:43Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > Butterbeer Zone worked. Noted. Lynch the Lurker also would have worked. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectators-thread-for-mafia-goontown-no-living-players-please/822135/94 "2018-10-19T17:22:14Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Named Johnny Grubek? I donā€™t know the reference but the best grill cook and exec chef I ever worked with was a former Force Recon Marine who never had to threaten anyone because his stare was sufficient to silence the entire kitchen. Somebody once asked him how many people heā€™d killed in Viet Nam, and he just looked at them and said, ā€œYouā€™ll never prove I was in Southeast Asiaā€. He kept the cleanest, most organized kitchen Iā€™ve ever seen and did it without yelling or or bullying; if somebody wasnā€™t measuring up or pulling their weight, they were just gone, and he had a waiting list of people wanting to work in his kitchen. Thatā€™s who I want to be. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectators-thread-for-mafia-goontown-no-living-players-please/822135/95 "2018-10-19T19:58:17Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > Knowed Out, if you ever play Mafia again I hope you will take it just a little more seriously. Itā€™s only a game, but itā€™s one that a lot of other people are playing with you. I really had no idea what to do. I suspect I could have said nice, friendly things and would have been targeted instantly. I certainly didnā€™t know what your ā€œgentlemanā€™s rulesā€ were, but I have a better idea now. Iā€™ve never been a good bluffer in Poker and similar games. Iā€™ve found the best strategy for me is to act like a drunken hobo so my opponents will leave me alone, then slyly observe them while they work on other people. And Prof, you may have perceived me as self-confident, but irl Iā€™m anything but! ā€œFake it till you make it.ā€ ---
**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:** [October 19, 2018, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectators-thread-for-mafia-goontown-no-living-players-please/822135/96 "2018-10-19T20:20:20Z")
The thing is, in Mafia, itā€™s only one side that should be bluffing. As Town, you want people to have the correct impression of you, because you want to be thought Town. As Scum, you want people to have the wrong impression of you, because you also want to be thought Town. And Iā€™m certain that the version of the song I know was ā€œGrubekā€, but the All-Knowing Internet insists that itā€™s ā€œ[Verbeck](https://www.scoutsongs.com/lyrics/johnnyverbeck.html)ā€. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectators-thread-for-mafia-goontown-no-living-players-please/822135/97 "2018-10-20T14:31:48Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > I certainly didnā€™t know what your ā€œgentlemanā€™s rulesā€ were, but I have a better idea now. Not ā€˜gentlemanā€™s rules,ā€™ just the way the game works. It was even discussed in the game thread. Like Chronos said, itā€™s important for town to play genuinely. Any kind of disingenuous play must by definition be regarded as scummy or anti-town. It gets even worse in a game with power roles - random ā€œdrunken hoboā€ play may end up convincing a friendly power role to waste their ability on you when they might have otherwise found a scum player. Meanwhile, scum **know** that youā€™re town. They know that your random behavior is going to create cover and buy them time. They may very well leave you alone, but not because youā€™re confusing them. Itā€™s because they know youā€™re making yourself a liability. Finally, remember: there are no extra points for surviving till the end. Mafia is a binary game - you win with your team or you lose with your team. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectators-thread-for-mafia-goontown-no-living-players-please/822135.md?page=4)