Mafia and karaoke at La Chistera, Montpellier - 19 September

In short: what happens on 19 September

On Saturday 19 September 2026 the Russian-speaking community of the South of France meets at La Chistera, a bar in the centre of Montpellier. The programme has two parts. In the afternoon, from 14:00 to 19:00, it is Mafia: several rounds at the table with an experienced host from Toulouse. In the evening, from about 20:00, it is karaoke: singing, dancing and meeting people. And on Sunday 20 September, anyone still in town is invited to the barbecue that closes the season.

The game costs €10 per player for a seat at the table. Tables are limited, so sign-up opens in advance in the community chat, where a poll will go up. This is the fourth meetup in a Mafia line that began with a single message in the chat in March: “Could we play Mafia sometime?”

What Mafia is and why we play it

Mafia is a parlour game of psychology for a group of ten or more. The host deals out roles in secret: most people at 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 silently makes its move. The winner is not the loudest or the best-read player but the one who listens best, notices small things and knows how to make a deal. A round takes between half an hour and an hour, so over five hours the host fits in several games and can move people between tables.

For a community that gains new members every month it is the ideal way to meet. At an ordinary bar table a person can stay silent all evening; at a Mafia table silence is not an option - somebody will ask why you voted the way you did, and you will have to answer. Half an hour in, you know every neighbour by name and are already in cahoots with one of them. That is 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 line became a regular one.

Afternoon: the game, 14:00 to 19:00

The game is run by Katerina, a host from Toulouse - the same one who ran the big Two-City Mafia at the villa outside Montpellier at the end of August. She has been hosting Mafia for years: club tables, tournaments, large rooms, players of every level - from people who have never held a role card to people who never miss a game. It shows in the pace. The rules are laid out before the round briefly and clearly, disputes are settled on the spot, and after the game there is a debrief for anyone who wants one - who gave themselves away, where and why. She puts what she is after at the table like this: “What matters to me is that you want to listen, argue, take a risk, change your mind - and that until the very last minute you have no idea who can be trusted.”

If Montpellier is the wrong end of the region for you, that is worth knowing too: Katerina’s own club in Toulouse plays every weekend. For anyone living closer to Toulouse than to us, that is the short way to a seat - no four-hour round trip required; ask in the community chat and someone will tell you how to get to a Toulouse table.

Newcomers are welcome, and that is not a polite formula. At the April game the table seated eleven, the rules were posted in advance, and spectators calmly stepped in for players who were tired. The principle is the same here: if you do not feel like playing straight away, come and watch, then join the second or third round. The community’s experience keeps repeating the same lesson: newcomers often beat the veterans, because they are harder to read.

The game costs €10 per player for a seat at the table. That fee goes to the organisers for the host’s work and the props - roles, masks, all of it is brought along; you do not need to buy anything.

Evening: karaoke from about 20:00

After the last round the table is cleared and the bar switches to evening mode. From about 20:00 the karaoke starts with a host - singing, dancing and more getting to know each other, this time without roles or votes. It went the same way in April: the afternoon game flowed into the evening, videos of the singing were posted from the bar to the chat, and thank-you messages kept arriving until three in the morning.

One small clarification to avoid confusion: La Chistera has karaoke nights of its own on Tuesdays - that is the bar’s programme, not our meetup. Our karaoke is on Saturday 19 September, straight after the Mafia. On Saturdays the bar is open from 10 in the morning until 1 at night, so both the afternoon and the evening fit in one place without moving.

Where it is: La Chistera, Saint-Roch district

La Chistera is a pub, tapas bar and restaurant at 2 bis rue d’Obilion, 34000 Montpellier. This is the Saint-Roch district, a couple of minutes’ walk from Montpellier Saint-Roch station; the reliable landmark is the Babote tower (tour de la Babote), one of the two surviving towers of the medieval city wall. The pin on the map opens straight from the sign-up block at the top of this page.

The tram is the easiest way in: all four lines meet at the station, and the bar is a couple of minutes from there. Driving into the centre on a Saturday is best avoided - the car parks around the Comédie fill up by lunchtime. If you are coming from Toulouse or Nîmes, the train brings you straight to Saint-Roch, and it is five minutes from the platform to the table.

The bar has confirmed a happy hour for the community’s guests during our meetup - check the terms on the menu when you are there. A reminder: your order at the bar is settled with the venue and is not part of the game fee.

Price, sign-up and why to hurry

• €10 per player for a seat at the Mafia table.
• No price for the evening part was announced - ask in the chat; we do not invent numbers.
• Sign up in advance in the community chat: a poll, or a plus under the announcement.
• Tables are limited; seats at each table equal the number of players in a round.

An honest caveat: the community does not sell tickets and does not run a till. You settle the game with the organisers in the way announced at sign-up, and your order with the bar.

Guests from Toulouse and shared cars

Since the summer the Mafia line 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 guests from Toulouse are coming again, car-sharing, and the cars are organised in the chat. If you are in Toulouse without a car, write a day or two ahead rather than on the evening before: on every community trip so far a lift has almost always been found - but only for those who asked in time.

Sunday 20 September: Dacha Day

The two days make a full weekend: Saturday is the game and karaoke in town; Sunday 20 September is the Dacha Day, with which the community closes the summer season. It gathers from 11:00 at a country venue about twenty minutes from the city: a grill, plov cooked in a kazan, a shared table and a children’s programme; cars are arranged in the chat. It is a separate event with its own sign-up and its own fee - see its page.

What the community has done before

The 19 September meetup is the fourth in the Mafia line. The first was the game and karaoke on 18 April 2026 at a bar in central Montpellier: a free table for eleven, spectators ready to step in and an evening of songs afterwards. Then came the May games and the Two-City Mafia with a Gatsby night at the villa on 28–30 August - five hours at the table, several rounds and a champions’ table in the final. The whole chronicle is in the Events section, from the first barbecue with an overnight stay at a campsite to the catamaran on 8 August.

About the community

Vibe Sud France is the Russian-speaking community of Montpellier and the whole South of France, around four hundred people in a Telegram chat. It is free and volunteer-run: the events are thought up and hosted by the members themselves. Being in the chat costs nothing; for events people pay only the real cost - the host’s work, a boat hire or the meat for the grill. If you have recently arrived in the south and are still finding your feet, we have an insider’s guide to Montpellier, a page on Russian-speaking Toulouse and an account of how the community works.