The Story of Vibe ·
Mafia and karaoke at La Chistera, Montpellier - 19 September
The fourth meetup in our Mafia series went back into town, two minutes from Saint-Roch station. On Saturday 19 September the afternoon was Mafia with a host from Toulouse, the evening was karaoke, and next morning half the group left town for Dacha Day. We don't have photos from this one yet.
| When | |
|---|---|
| Where | La Chistera (a pub, tapas bar and restaurant) · Montpellier |
| What it cost | €10 a head for a seat at the Mafia table; the karaoke was off the bar's menu, no fee |
| What was on | Saturday 19 September: Mafia from 14:00 to 19:00 with a host from Toulouse, several rounds at the table; karaoke with a host from about 20:00; the bar La Chistera, 2 bis rue d'Obilion, Saint-Roch district |
| What we brought | Nothing for the game: the host brought the roles, the masks and the rules; in the evening comfortable shoes and a phone with the lyrics on it came in handy |
Photos from the meet-up
In short: how the day went
On Saturday 19 September 2026 the Russian-speaking community of the South of France gathered at La Chistera, a bar in the centre of Montpellier. Two parts to the day. From 14:00 to 19:00, Mafia: several rounds at the table with an experienced host from Toulouse. From about 20:00, karaoke. And on Sunday 20 September, those who had stayed in town drove out for Dacha Day, the barbecue that closed the season.
A seat at the table cost €10 per player. There weren’t many tables, so sign-up ran in advance in the community chat. It was the fourth meetup in a Mafia series that began with a single message in the chat back in March: “Could we play Mafia sometime?”
Below is how the meetup was put together, and the gallery on this page has shots of the game, the karaoke and dinner on the terrace.
What Mafia is and why we play it
Mafia is a parlour game of bluff and psychology for a group of ten or more. The host hands out roles in secret: most of the table are peaceful townsfolk, a few are the mafia. By “day” everyone argues about which neighbour is lying and votes one player out; by “night” the mafia quietly makes its move. The winner isn’t the loudest or the best-read person at the table but the one who listens hardest, notices the small things and can strike a deal. A round takes anywhere from half an hour to an hour, so in five hours the host fits in several games and shuffles people between tables.
For a community that gains new members every month, there’s no better way to meet. At an ordinary bar table you can sit out a whole evening without a word. At a Mafia table that’s not on offer: someone will ask why you voted the way you did, and you’ll have to answer. Which is exactly why, after the first game on 18 April, the organiser wrote: “Thank you for opening up a new world of intrigue and adrenaline”, and the series became a fixture.
Afternoon: the game, 14:00 to 19:00
The table was run by Katerina, a host from Toulouse, the same one who had run the big Two-City Mafia at the villa outside Montpellier at the end of August. According to the announcement, she is an experienced host: clubs, tournaments. People who have never held a role card sit down at her table as calmly as people who never miss a game. The rules get a short run-through before the round, disputes are settled on the spot, and afterwards anyone who wants one gets a debrief: who gave themselves away, where and why.
She describes what she’s after like this: “What matters to me is that you want to listen, argue, take a risk, change your mind, and right up to the last minute have no idea who can be trusted.” If you live closer to Toulouse than to us, look for the nearest game there in the chat announcements.
Newcomers were welcome, and that wasn’t a polite formula. At the April game the table seated eleven, the rules went up in advance and spectators stepped in for players who were tired. The principle here was the same. The game cost €10 per player for a seat: that covered the host’s work and the props. Roles, masks, all of it came with her.
Evening: karaoke from about 20:00
After the last round the table was cleared and the bar switched into evening mode: karaoke with a host from about 20:00, this time with no roles and no votes. It had gone the same way in April, when the afternoon game drifted into the evening and the thank-you messages kept landing in the chat until three in the morning.
One thing to keep straight: La Chistera runs karaoke nights of its own on Tuesdays, and those are the bar’s programme. Ours was on the Saturday, straight after the Mafia. On Saturdays the bar is open from ten in the morning until one at night, so both halves fitted in one place without anyone having to move.
Where it was: La Chistera, Saint-Roch district
La Chistera is a pub, tapas bar and restaurant at 2 bis rue d’Obilion, 34000 Montpellier. That’s the Saint-Roch district, a couple of minutes on foot from Montpellier Saint-Roch station; the landmark is the Babote tower (tour de la Babote), one of the two surviving towers of the medieval city wall.
The tram is the easy way in: every line meets at the station, and the bar is a couple of minutes from there. Driving into the centre on a Saturday is best not attempted. From Toulouse or Nîmes the train brings you straight into Saint-Roch, and it’s five minutes from the platform to the table. The bar had confirmed a happy hour for the community’s guests for the duration of the meetup; your bar tab was settled with the venue and was never part of the game fee.
The community came back here a month on: on 23 October La Chistera hosted a solo guitar concert - about 50 people, the room sang along, entry was free.
Price, and how it was organised
- €10 per player for a seat at the Mafia table.
- The evening part carried no fee; you ordered off the bar menu.
- Sign-up in advance in the community chat, a plus under the announcement; tables were few.
The community doesn’t sell tickets and doesn’t run a till. The game was settled with the organisers, the bar tab with the bar.
Guests from Toulouse and shared cars
Since the summer the Mafia series has lived in two cities. In August the Toulouse crew came to a villa outside Montpellier for a gaming weekend with a Gatsby night. On 19 September the Toulouse guests drove over again, car-sharing, with the cars sorted out in the chat. At the end of October the roles swapped: the community went to Toulouse for the Slavic Weekend, and the Sunday Mafia on 1 November was played on Toulouse ground, with about 25 players and 10 spectators.
Sunday 20 September: Dacha Day
The two days made a full weekend: Saturday was the game and the karaoke in town, Sunday was Dacha Day, the barbecue with which the community closed its summer season: a grill, Uzbek plov in a kazan, a shared table, a swing for the children. For that one we have both photographs and a full account.
What the community had done before
The 19 September meetup was the fourth in the Mafia series. The first was the game and karaoke on 18 April 2026 at a bar in central Montpellier: a free table for eleven, spectators on standby and an evening of songs to follow. Then came the May games and the Two-City Mafia with a Gatsby night at the villa on 28-30 August. The whole chronicle is in the Events section.
About the community
Vibe South of France is the Russian-speaking community of Montpellier and the whole South of France, more than seven hundred people in a Telegram chat. It’s free and run by volunteers: the events are dreamed up and hosted by the members themselves. Being in the chat costs nothing; for events you pay only the real cost, the host’s work, a boat charter or the meat for the grill. If you’ve only recently arrived in the south, we have an insider’s guide to Montpellier, a page on Russian-speaking Toulouse and an account of how the community works.
Huge thanks to our organiser, Anastasiia. Many thanks, too, to our host, Katerina.