Mafia Game Glossary: Lynch, Claim, Skip and 25 More Terms

General concepts

• Town — every player who is not mafia (townspeople and the town-side special roles).
• Mafia (the team) — the Don, mafiosi and the lawyer; they know each other and act together at night.
• Neutral role — neither town nor mafia: the Killer wins alone, the Werewolf switches sides depending on events.
• Round — one day and one night. A game usually lasts 3–6 rounds.
• Setup — the list of roles in the room; shown to everyone at the start.

Day

• Discussion — the first part of the day: everyone talks, accuses, defends.
• Lynch — removing a player by the day vote. The lynched player's role is revealed to all.
• Skip — voting to lynch nobody today. Many skips are a gift to the mafia.
• Tie — two candidates with equal votes; nobody is lynched.
• Bandwagon — voting for the leading candidate without an opinion of your own.
• Claim (reveal) — announcing your role out loud; usually the commissioner claims with a check result.
• Fake commissioner — a mafioso posing as the commissioner and calling a townsperson "black".
• Bussing — a mafioso voting against their own partner to earn trust.
• Last words — the one message a lynched player sends before leaving.

Night

• Order — at night roles act in sequence: mafia, commissioner, doctor, escort, lawyer, killer, vagrant.
• Shot (target) — the player the mafia picks to kill. Without agreement the Don decides.
• Check — the commissioner learns a player's side: "black" (mafia) or "white" (town).
• Heal — the doctor protects a player for the night; themselves only once.
• Block — the escort occupies a player: they cannot act that night.
• Saved — a player who was shot but healed; in the morning "nobody died" is announced.

Roles and situations

Every role and the night order are described on the rules page. Once you know the terms, the strategy article reads much more easily. Play a game — everything clicks after one round.

• Don — head of the mafia: when the partners disagree, he picks the final target.
• Lawyer — on the mafia side; makes one partner appear "white" to the commissioner's check.
• Sergeant — the commissioner's deputy: sees his checks and takes over after his death.
• Vagrant — "visits" a player at night and witnesses an attack there.
• Sorcerer — when lynched, takes one player along (revenge).
• Killer — a lone neutral role; wins only when no other side remains.
• Werewolf — a survival role that changes when attacked.
• AFK — a player who is in the game but does not act; their vote does not count and the phase ends on the timer.