The language of the table.

Slot, claim, check, parity — every term used in the Pro Mafia rules and scoring. Search, or jump by topic.

Player Roles Table Speech And Game Actions Situations And Strategies Wills And Departure Terms Voting Terms Game State Terms Conduct And Discipline Terms Audit Terms

60 terms

Player Roles

City / Table: All active players currently seated in the game.
City Mafia: A non-classic, casual variant of Mafia with flexible player counts and extra roles.
Red Player / Civilian / Citizen: A member of the red team: either a regular without any role or the Sheriff.
Black Player / Mafia: A member of the black team: regular Mafia or Don.
Sheriff: A red special role with night checks.
Don: A black special role and the coordinating figure of the black team.

Table Speech And Game Actions

Suspected / Sus: A player who is being treated as a possible black player in table discussion.
Open As Sheriff: To publicly claim to be the Sheriff.
Open As Fake Sheriff / Counter Sheriff / Black Sheriff: To publicly claim to be the Sheriff while being a black player.
Open The Table: To speak first in the morning day discussion.
Close The Table / Last Speaker: To speak last before the day vote.
Vote Out / Eliminate By Vote: To remove one or more players from the table as the result of a day vote.
Nominate A Player: To propose a player as a candidate for the day vote during one's own speech.
Fail To Nominate: To end one's own speech without nominating any candidate for the day vote.
Give For Check: To recommend that the Sheriff check a specific player at night.
Deflect A Check: To argue that the Sheriff should not check a specific player.
Make A Claim / Soft-Claim: To openly or indirectly reveal one's role, or to strongly signal that one should not be voted out.
Switch Sides / Flip: To sharply change one's stated position during a speech.
Raise Players: To remove all tied candidates from the table during a Split by majority decision.
Cover The Sheriff: For a red player who is not the Sheriff to claim or imply that they are the Sheriff in order to mislead the black team.
Check / Check A Player: For the Sheriff to learn one player's color at night.
Checked Player: A player whom the Sheriff has checked at night and whose true color is known to the Sheriff.
Unchecked Player: A player whom the Sheriff has not checked.
Give Colors: To confidently declare players as definitely red or definitely black.
Piggybacking: Repeating another player's thoughts or attaching oneself to another player's line of reasoning.
Break Down The Table / Read The Table: To confidently analyze the players' speeches, votes, actions, and relationships at the table.

Situations And Strategies

Balance / Balance Strategy: A red-team strategy for managing two competing groups that formed during discussion, often after multiple Sheriff claims.
Guaranteed Continuation / Play Balance: A voting result on a critical circle that prevents the black team from winning immediately as 3v3 or 2v2.
Clean Sweep / 3v3 Black Win: An absolute black-team win where all three black players remain at the table against three red players.
Coast / Ride Along: To reach the guessing stage or win the game without major personal effort, mostly because other players carried the game or because the player was lucky.
Bussed Black / Whitewashed Black: A black player whom the table reads as red because the black team has artificially played against that player.
Play Ahead / Pre-Team: To say on the first circle that one is ready to play with a player who has not yet given their first speech.
Play By Eyes / Wake-Up Read: To judge players by their appearance after the first night, including their eyes, pupils, or perceived wake-up behavior.
Play By Emotion / Emotion Read: To judge players by emotional presentation, facial expression, gestures, or perceived sincerity.
Assign The Shot: Before night, to openly name or gesture toward the player who should be shot at night.
Join The Train / Wagon: To join several players who are playing together and treating one another as red.
Self-Shot: A planned black-team night shot into an allied black player, used to confuse red players and undermine trust in the real Sheriff.
Vote By Heart / Open Vote: A voting situation where players agree to vote among all nominated candidates without a shared table plan.
Sweet Black / Deep Black: A black player who is well hidden among red players and is broadly treated as red by the table.
Sheriff Circle: A situation after a black-team night miss where red players try to keep everyone at the table so they do not accidentally vote out the Sheriff and can receive another Sheriff check.

Wills And Departure Terms

First Out [FO]: The first player to leave the table.
First Color Will: The will left by the First Out player.
Last Will ( Ordered ): A will left by any player who leaves the table after the First Out, no matter when that player leaves the game.
Pass The Helm: A will option where a leaving red player gives another player control over their remaining game contribution.

Voting Terms

Eliminating Vote: A vote cast against the player who leaves the table as the result of that voting round.
Non-Eliminating Vote: A vote cast against a candidate who does not leave the table as the result of that voting round.
Decisive Hand / Decisive Vote: A vote that changes the voting outcome.
Red Alternative: A real voting alternative where the same voter could have voted into a red candidate and that red candidate would have left instead of the black ally.
Split / Popil: A tied vote state where two or more candidates receive the same highest number of votes.
Raise: The table decision to lift all tied candidates after a split vote.
Break The Vote / Break The Table: During a Split, to vote against the common table agreement or cast the decisive hand that makes a player leave the table.

Game State Terms

Margin for Error / City Margin for Error: The city's ability to survive one more red-side mistake without immediately losing the game or entering a forced critical position.
Lost Margin for Error: A transition where the city moves from a safe/non-critical state into a critical state because a red player leaves, a harmful raise passes, or a night shot reduces the red count.
Critical State: A table state where the city no longer has a safe mistake available.

Conduct And Discipline Terms

Host / Judge: The person who conducts the game, controls the phase flow, confirms nominations, runs votes, records night actions, and applies discipline.
Foul: An ordinary conduct penalty for a procedural or table-behavior violation.
Technical Foul: A stronger conduct penalty for unsporting or improper behavior that does not by itself require immediate disqualification or DD.
Disqualification: Removal of a player from the table because of a serious conduct violation, a fourth ordinary foul, two technical fouls, or another disqualifying rule breach.
DD: Declared Defeat.

Audit Terms

Protocol: The chronological record of game events used for review and scoring audit.