Two hidden teams, twice the roles, twice the ways to win.
Players6 or 8 players (2 in Duel sub-modes)
Duration~30-55 min
The most complex of the three modes: eight possible roles split between FBI and Mafia, four sub-modes with their own win thresholds, and a board full of bombs, threats, and protection tokens. Play it Standard with one player per character, or Duel with just two players each running a whole team.
Objective
FBI wins by arresting Mafia members - reach your sub-mode's arrest target and the game ends immediately.
Mafia wins by killing FBI members and citizens - reach your sub-mode's kill target and the game ends immediately.
Both totals are checked after every single kill or arrest, so a win can happen mid-turn, not just at a round boundary.
Board Setup
The board is a 6x6 grid of suspects in the 3 vs 3 sub-modes, or a larger 7x7 grid in the 4 vs 4 sub-modes.
Every character's secret identity - which board suspect they secretly are - is assigned randomly. Characters aren't seated in any special pattern; where your identity lands on the board is pure chance.
In the 4 vs 4 sub-modes only, the Criminalist is also dealt a private hand of 4 evidence cards, drawn from the same identity pool and kept separate from their own secret identity.
ℹ
Match length scales with sub-mode: roughly 30-40 min for 3 vs 3 (Standard or Duel), and 40-55 min for the larger 4 vs 4 board with its extra roles and token types.
Roles and Seats
Eight roles exist across the game, split evenly between two teams. FBI: Undercover, Detective, and Operative in every sub-mode, plus Criminalist in the 4 vs 4 sub-modes only. Mafia: Bandit, Maniac, and Bomber in every sub-mode, plus Sniper in the 4 vs 4 sub-modes only.
3 vs 3 sub-modes use 6 total roles (3 per team); 4 vs 4 sub-modes add Criminalist and Sniper for 8 total roles (4 per team).
Standard sub-modes seat one human player per character - everyone plays their own role directly. Duel sub-modes seat only 2 humans total: one plays every FBI character, the other plays every Mafia character.
Duel doesn't let you pick which of your characters acts on a given turn - turn order still cycles through characters one at a time in the same fixed sequence as Standard. On your turn in Duel, you're simply told which of your characters is up.
Turn Order
Turn order is fixed, not randomized - characters take turns one at a time in a set alternating sequence between the two teams.
By default, the Mafia side goes first.
Turn Structure
Every character gets a turn each cycle, in the same fixed sequence - there's no elimination that removes a character from the rotation. A caught or killed character simply draws a new secret identity and keeps taking turns.
On a normal turn, a character takes exactly one action - either their role ability or a board Shift.
Two roles carry an extra mandatory step layered onto their turn: the Operative must place or remove a protection token (or skip) before their action, and the Maniac must place 1 to 3 threat tokens right after their Shift or Swap, before their turn actually ends.
Teams
FBI and Mafia are locked in a hidden-identity struggle. Both teams share the same board, and some abilities exist on both sides in mirrored form.
FBI
Undercover, Detective, Operative, and (4 vs 4 only) Criminalist. Wins by arresting Mafia identities or reaching the arrest target.
Mafia
Bandit, Maniac, Bomber, and (4 vs 4 only) Sniper. Wins by killing FBI/citizen identities or reaching the kill target.
Arrest can only ever land on a living Mafia identity - you can't legally arrest your own team.
Kill and Shoot can never target a living Mafia identity - Bandit and Sniper can't harm their own team.
The Maniac may not place a threat token on a suspect belonging to their own Mafia team.
If a Mafia action would 'kill' a suspect who currently happens to be a Mafia identity, the game instead treats it as an FBI arrest, credited to the FBI's arrest total.
Actions
Arrest
Undercover · Operative · Criminalist · Detective
Take a suspect into custody - most roles reach the 8 adjacent cells, but the Detective reaches further in a straight line.
Undercover, Operative, and Criminalist can arrest any suspect in the 8 cells surrounding their own identity, including diagonals, or arrest their own cell.
The Detective's Arrest works differently: a straight orthogonal line (up, down, left, or right only) up to 3 cells away, including their own cell at distance 0. The normal 8-adjacent set isn't also available to the Detective.
Arrest can only ever succeed against a living Mafia identity - it's never possible to legally arrest your own team.
Valid targets: Undercover/Operative/Criminalist: the 8 cells adjacent to their own identity. Detective: up to 3 cells in a straight orthogonal line, including their own cell.
Not a legal target: A living FBI-team identity can never be a legal Arrest result.
Targeting yourself: Allowed for every role with Arrest.
Targeting a teammate: Not applicable - only a living Mafia identity can ever be a legal Arrest result.
After this action: Yes.
The Detective’s Arrest reaches up to 3 cells in a straight orthogonal line - not diagonally, and not the usual 8-neighbor square.
Diagonal - not reachable
Detective
Detective
Valid Arrest target (up to 3 cells, straight line only)
Defuse
Undercover · Detective · Operative · Criminalist
Remove a bomb or threat token from a neighboring cell.
Any FBI role can Defuse - Undercover, Detective, Operative, or Criminalist.
The target must be one of the 8 adjacent cells and must currently carry a bomb or threat token.
You can never Defuse a token sitting on your own cell - only a neighbor's.
Valid targets: Any of the 8 adjacent cells carrying a bomb or threat token.
Not a legal target: Your own cell, even if it's carrying a token.
Targeting yourself: Not allowed.
Targeting a teammate: Allowed, if the teammate is adjacent and carrying a token.
After this action: Yes.
Masquerade
Undercover · Bandit
Draw the top identity from the deck and adopt it, if the drawn suspect is alive.
Both Undercover (FBI) and Bandit (Mafia) have access to Masquerade.
Draw the top identity from the deck. If that suspect is alive, discard your old identity and adopt the drawn one as your new secret identity.
If the drawn suspect is already dead, you simply discard the draw and keep your old identity instead.
After this action: Yes.
⚠
Masquerading doesn't kill your old identity's board card - it stays alive afterward as an ordinary citizen, not flagged dead. This is different from every other kill/arrest interaction and can catch players off guard.
Autopsy
Undercover
Examine an already-dead adjacent suspect for information.
Only Undercover has Autopsy.
The target must be one of the 8 adjacent cells and must already be dead - Autopsy reveals information about that dead suspect.
Valid targets: Any of the 8 adjacent cells that is already dead.
Not a legal target: Living suspects, or any suspect outside the 8 adjacent cells.
Targeting a teammate: Allowed, if a dead teammate identity happens to be adjacent.
After this action: Yes.
Inspect
Detective
Look at the top 2 cards of the identity deck and keep one.
Only the Detective has Inspect.
Starting Inspect is optional, but once you start, you must follow through - there's no cancelling partway.
You look at the top 2 identity cards from the deck and choose one to keep; the other returns to the deck.
After this action: Yes.
Collect evidence
Criminalist
Expose one card from your own private hand as verified innocent.
Only the Criminalist has Collect Evidence, and only in the 4 vs 4 sub-modes - the Criminalist doesn't exist in 3 vs 3.
The Criminalist holds a private hand of 4 evidence cards dealt at setup. This action exposes one of them publicly as innocent, verified information.
After this action: Yes.
Kill
Bandit
Kill an adjacent suspect, as long as they aren't a living Mafia identity.
Only the Bandit has Kill.
The target must be one of the 8 adjacent cells and must not currently be a living Mafia identity - the Bandit can't harm their own team this way.
Valid targets: Any of the 8 adjacent cells that is not currently a living Mafia identity.
Not a legal target: A living Mafia identity - attempting this is redirected into an FBI arrest instead.
Targeting yourself: Not allowed - your own identity is a living Mafia identity.
Targeting a teammate: Not allowed, for the same reason.
After this action: Yes.
Shoot
Sniper
Diagonal-only ranged attack, 1 to 3 cells away.
Only the Sniper has Shoot, and only in the 4 vs 4 sub-modes - the Sniper doesn't exist in 3 vs 3.
The target must be diagonal from the Sniper, between 1 and 3 cells away, and must not currently be a living Mafia identity.
Valid targets: Diagonal cells only, 1 to 3 cells away, on a suspect who is not currently a living Mafia identity.
Not a legal target: Orthogonal cells, cells more than 3 diagonal steps away, or a living Mafia identity.
Targeting a teammate: Not allowed against a living Mafia teammate, same as Kill.
After this action: Yes.
Shoot only travels diagonally, up to 3 cells in any diagonal direction.
Sniper
Straight line - not reachable
Sniper
Valid Shoot target (diagonal, up to 3 cells)
Swap
Maniac
Swap the positions of two mutually adjacent suspects on the board.
Only the Maniac has Swap - it's the Maniac's only action besides Shift.
The two swapped cells can include dead cards, not just living suspects.
Swap doesn't end the turn by itself - it flows straight into a mandatory Place Threat Tokens step before the turn actually ends.
After this action: No - flows directly into the mandatory threat-token step first (see Tokens on the Board below).
Before: the Maniac picks any two mutually adjacent suspects.
Cards being swapped
Step 1 of 2
Plant bomb
Bomber
Place a bomb token on your own cell or an adjacent cell.
Only the Bomber has Plant Bomb.
No cap is currently enforced on how many bomb tokens can exist on the board.
Valid targets: Your own cell or any of the 8 adjacent cells.
Targeting yourself: Allowed.
Targeting a teammate: Allowed - a bomb can be planted on a teammate's cell too.
After this action: Yes.
Detonate
Bomber
Detonate any bomb-carrying suspect anywhere on the board.
Only the Bomber has Detonate, and it's entirely voluntary.
The current game allows detonating from anywhere on the board, not just self or adjacent cells.
The explosion can chain to adjacent living suspects if they're also carrying a bomb.
After this action: Yes, after the explosion (and any chain reaction) resolves.
Prepare
Sniper
Move one existing token from a cell to an adjacent empty cell.
Only the Sniper has Prepare, and only in the 4 vs 4 sub-modes.
Prepare relocates whichever token type is present - bomb, threat, or protection - it never creates or removes a token.
Valid targets: A cell adjacent to one currently holding a bomb, threat, or protection token, provided the destination has no token of its own.
Not a legal target: A destination cell that already carries a token.
Slide a whole row or column by one cell (two cells for Operative, Bandit, and Sniper).
Every role can Shift a whole row or column by 1 cell; it wraps around the edges.
You can't immediately undo the last shift made on the same row or column.
Operative, Bandit, and Sniper additionally get an accelerated version that moves 2 cells at once in a single action - Undercover, Detective, Criminalist, and Maniac only ever get the normal 1-cell Shift.
After this action: Yes (except for the Maniac, whose turn continues into the mandatory threat-token step first).
ℹ
For the Maniac specifically, Shift doesn't end the turn immediately either - like Swap, it flows into the mandatory threat-token step first.
Operative, Bandit, and Sniper may shift a row or column by 2 cells in one action instead of the usual 1.
Row being shifted
Step 1 of 2
Win Conditions
Each sub-mode has its own arrest and kill targets, and reaching either one wins immediately for that team: Standard/Duel 3 vs 3 - 4 arrests or 18 kills. Standard/Duel 4 vs 4 - 5 arrests or 22 kills.
A killed FBI-team identity is worth 2 toward the Mafia's kill total - one for the suspect, one as a bonus.
If a Mafia action ends up landing on a living Mafia identity, it's redirected to count as an FBI arrest instead of a Mafia kill.
Surrendering ends the game immediately for your entire team - in Standard sub-modes, even one teammate surrendering ends it for the whole team, not just that seat.
ℹ
Win thresholds: arrests - 4 (3 vs 3) / 5 (4 vs 4). Kills - 18 (3 vs 3) / 22 (4 vs 4).
Standard vs Duel Seating
Standard mode mirrors the number of characters exactly - one player, one character, one perspective.
Duel mode compresses an entire team onto a single player. Only 2 humans play total, each responsible for every action their whole team takes.
Even in Duel, turn order is unaffected - it's still one character at a time in the fixed sequence. A Duel player doesn't choose who acts next; they're told which of their characters is up each time it's their team's turn.
Tokens on the Board
Three token types exist: Protection, Bomb, and Threat. Each is placed, removed, or moved by different roles.
Protection: the Operative places or removes it, as a mandatory step at the start of their own turn (unless nothing legal to do). Max 6 protection tokens on the board at once.
Bomb: the Bomber plants it via Plant Bomb, on their own or an adjacent cell. No cap currently.
Threat: the Maniac places 1 to 3 of them, mandatorily, right after their Shift or Swap, on living suspects within 3 orthogonal cells of their own identity - never on their own Mafia teammates. No cap currently beyond the 1-3 per-turn count.
A suspect carrying an active threat token who is adjacent to the Maniac's identity at the start of the Maniac's next turn is automatically killed before the Maniac's ordinary action that turn.
Only the Sniper can relocate any token type, via Prepare - moving one token to an adjacent empty cell, never creating or removing one.
Arrested cells can never receive a newly placed or moved-in token. Any kill or arrest on a cell strips all of that cell's tokens.
Tokens appear as small badges in the corner of a card. Each is placed (or moved) only by its matching role.
Protection token
Bomb token
Threat token
Protection (Operative)
Bomb (Bomber)
Threat (Maniac)
Interrupts and Automatic Prompts
Protect: if a living Operative shares a row with a suspect about to be killed, that Operative is offered the choice to protect them before the kill resolves.
Post-arrest Detonate: if an arrested Mafia identity was secretly carrying a bomb, the Bomber (if alive) is offered the choice to detonate it immediately, chaining to adjacent living suspects if accepted.
Both are automatic prompts that interrupt the normal flow when triggered by another action - they aren't actions you choose proactively on your own turn.
Rules Reflect Current Game Behavior
Every number and behavior described on this page - board sizes, win thresholds, ranges, Mafia going first, Protect being row-only, friendly fire counting as an arrest - reflects how the game is currently implemented and played, not a printed external rulebook.
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If a future update changes any of this behavior, this page will be updated to match.
Masquerade Doesn't Erase the Old Identity
After Masquerade, your old identity's board card isn't marked dead - it stays alive as an ordinary citizen going forward, for anyone else to potentially interact with.
⚠
This is different from every other kill/arrest interaction, where the affected card gets flagged. It's easy to assume Masquerade 'kills' your old identity - it doesn't.
Examples
Swap into a threat
The Maniac (secretly Arthur) swaps two adjacent suspects, then must place 1 to 3 threat tokens on living suspects within 3 orthogonal cells of Arthur - but never on a Mafia teammate. If Vivian (an FBI Undercover) ends up with a threat token and stands adjacent to Arthur at the start of his next turn, she's killed automatically before he takes his usual action.
Friendly fire becomes an arrest
The Bandit tries to Kill an adjacent suspect, not realizing that suspect is actually another living Mafia identity. The game blocks the kill and instead resolves it as an FBI arrest, crediting the FBI's arrest total - not the Mafia's kill total.
