Mafia

How it started

The whole series grew out of one message in the chat on 28 March 2026: “Could we play Mafia?” Three weeks later, on Saturday 18 April, the first table for 11 players was set up in a pub in central Montpellier. The host had bought masks in advance, and the rules went up in a separate Telegram group for Mafia, so people could read them at home instead of at the table. Play ran from 15:00 to 19:00, spectators stepped in for anyone who got tired, and in the evening the same room moved on to karaoke and dancing. It cost nothing to take part: the venue let the community have the space free of charge. The announcement was upfront about it: “The team is only 11 people, so grab a seat at the first table”, and it reached out straight away to anyone too shy to play: “you can even come just to watch”. A few seasoned players turned up too - one of them, in the chat, remembered the Mafia clubs of St Petersburg and was glad the game would be taken seriously.

How the game works

Mafia is a parlour game of bluffing and reading people, for a group of ten or more. The host hands out roles in secret: most of the table are ordinary townsfolk, a handful are the Mafia. By day everyone argues about which neighbour is lying and votes one player out; by night the Mafia make their move in silence. The loudest person rarely wins - the one who listens best and notices small things does. A game takes between half an hour and an hour, so an evening holds several, and the host moves people between tables. New people join the community every month, and for them this is the easiest way in: after one game you know the people at your table better than after an evening of small talk.

We play in Russian. Newcomers get the rules explained before the first game, and anyone who came to watch gets a seat in the second or third round when someone needs a break. You don’t need to bring anything: the host brings the roles, the masks and the rules.

Two-city Mafia

On 28-29 August 2026 Montpellier and Toulouse came together at a villa with a pool by a vineyard near Montpellier. The organisers later called that weekend the community’s biggest evening. The guests from the two cities didn’t know each other yet, so Friday opened with a round of introductions and a Charleston: it was a Gatsby-style evening, a live singer started it off with “It Had to Be You” from 1924, and the dress code was black and gold, with feathers, pearls and braces. Saturday was the two-city Mafia, round a long table on the terrace until deep into the night. It was run by Katerina, a host from a Toulouse club with tournament experience. The Gatsby evening cost €40, both evenings €70 a person.

Back in town

On 19 September 2026 the series came back to Montpellier, to La Chistera, two minutes from Saint-Roch station. From 14:00 to 19:00 Katerina ran several games, a seat at the table was €10 a person, and people signed up in the chat beforehand because there were only a few tables. From about 20:00 the evening turned to karaoke, and the next day part of the group headed out of town for Dacha Day.

Near Toulouse

On 1 November 2026 Mafia came to the Toulouse area for the first time: in the finale of the Slavic Weekend, Katerina hosted several games in a row at a villa from 18:00 until deep into the night, €10 a person for the evening’s play: about 25 players plus about 10 spectators, with the table laid three times between games. This time she was the one playing at home, and we were the guests.

How to get to the next game

We announce the dates of the next games in the Vibe South of France community chat on Telegram. Write there too if you’d like to sit down at the table for the first time: the rules are explained before the game, no experience needed. Seats at the table are usually few, so it’s best to sign up as soon as the announcement goes out.

Want to run a meetup of your own? Let’s organise it together.