Mafia Terminology

Alignment

Alignment refers to your team. Players on a mafia team are "mafia aligned" and players in the town are "town aligned".

Bandwagon

A bandwagon is a collection of votes for a particular player. Often games will require a certain number of votes to be cast for a player before they are eliminated, so other players will vote for them, joining the bandwagon. The first player to vote for someone starts that player's bandwagon.

Buddying

This is the process of trying to make another player like you. Mafia will often try to employ this strategy with town players to improve how they are seen. Town players may try it as well to attempt to form a solid town contingent.

Bussing

Bussing is a strategy in which mafia players actively try to get one of their teammates eliminated. This can make those mafia players seem more like town since they were instrumental in getting a mafia eliminated. Bussing is sometimes used as a form of damage control in a round where the teammate being bussed is likely to be eliminated, whether or not their teammates vote for them. The term originates from "throwing someone under the bus".

Claim

To claim is to say you are a certain role. Claims can be faked by both town and mafia, for various reasons, or may be partially or completely true. Players under pressure of being eliminated will often claim. The effectiveness of a claim depends partially on whether the setup is known. Claiming is disallowed in some games.

Counterclaim

When one player claims, another may counterclaim, stating they are actually that role. This can be faked, just like a claim can be faked.

Day

Day is traditionally when all players talk in the game thread and may vote to eliminate a player. It typically falls in between periods of night. In some games, mafia cannot talk amongst themselves in their designated thread during this period.

Eliminate

In most games, the collective players may choose to eliminate another player during the day phase, and the mafia submits a target to be eliminated during the night phase. Sometimes day-eliminations require a majority of players, sometimes it goes to whomever has the most votes. Some mods will allow players to vote not to eliminate anyone. An eliminated player is removed at the end of the phase. Both mafia and town may vote in the day-elimination process. Once a player has been eliminated, they are typically disallowed from posting in the game thread. There are special roles which can grant an exception to this. Different terminology was once used instead of "eliminate," but it has been replaced because of the racially charged nature of the former term.

Flavor

Flavor refers to a themed game. Many mods at Tar Valon put flavor in their game to make it more appealing.

Hammer

A hammer occurs when there is a vote threshold in play, which, once reached, ends the day phase. A hammered individual is eliminated once hammer is reached. Typically, hammering occurs when over half the existing voters cast a vote to eliminate a player. Hammering is optional and only present in some games.

Hydra

A hydra consists of two players playing the same role, at the same time. This may be allowed by a mod when there are two players who wish to play but who cannot fully commit to being dedicated 100% to the game.

Iso

Iso is short for "isolate". This is typically used when looking at just one player's posts to see if trends can be picked up on. It is rarely used at the beginning of the game but can be a common practice later.

Kivam

A specific form of the bussing strategy, named after a player famous for using it successfully. In this example, the player Kivam bussed one of his teammates Day One, not in an attempt to get his teammate eliminated but to get himself eliminated. When the town players saw that Kivam was mafia, it made his bussed-but-not-eliminated teammate look incredibly trustworthy, and they went on to win the game.

L-1

L-1 is typically used in hammer games, and refers to when a player has accumulated one less than the number of votes needed to hammer them. It stands for "eliminate minus one".

Lurking

To lurk is to be alive in game but not post. This can be frowned upon but is a legitimate strategy. A "lurker" is often described as someone who is not posting much, if at all.

Night

Night is traditionally when the mafia plots to eliminate their targets. It typically falls in between periods of day. In some games, players cannot talk in the main game thread during this period.

OMGUS

When one player votes for another player for, it appears, no better reason than the other player voted for them first. It stands for "oh my god you suck."

Scum

Another term for a mafia player.

WIFOM

The impossibility of knowing whether the mafia team acted one way, or if they acted a different way because they knew you would consider the possibility of the first way. A reference to the scene from The Princess Bride, it stands for "wine in front of me."