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A deck of cards (or something else that serves the purpose, for instance unused/burnt/decapitated matches or simply paper stubs with the letters JD (=John Doe), MOB (=Mafia) or I (=Inspector) on them.)
5-25 players (An odd number is pretty essential to avoid stale mates if your game involves voting.)
An undisturbed place where everyone can sit facing eachother, with as little as possible between them to disrupt free sight.
A few hours of playing time....

Nominating

After discussing for a while, the Referee calls for nominations. Every player may nominate as many other players as wanted, including himself/herself.
In case there are too many nominees, or if the players have difficulties making up their mind, the "pointing" technique can be utilized: All players point straight up, and when the Referee says "Now" they all point at someone whom they think should be nominated. The 2 or 3 that are "most popular" are then nominated.
All nominees should be granted a short speech before the vote. This speech may be used for defense, attacking the other nominees or simply complaining about the situation. The rest of the players make up their minds from whatever is said, the important thing is that all the nominees get the same amount of time.

All votes are public, in other words by rasing of hands.
In case there are several candidates, a vote might be executed in several rounds, eliminating those nominees with the fewest votes each round, until only 2 or 3 are left for the final round.
The Referee may disqualify a vote and call for a revote in case someone is not paying attention, or some other disturbance occurs.
If there is a total stale mate, and nothing seems to work, the Referee may call for a draw, in which the player that draws the odd marker is pronounced dead.

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Last modified: Fri Apr 23 04:59:02 MET DST 1999