Where It Comes From

Mafia (sometimes called Werewolf in its Western variant) is a social deduction party game that's been a mainstay of gatherings and classrooms for decades, long before any variety show picked it up. The core concept, a hidden minority trying to eliminate an unaware majority while everyone argues about who's lying, has spawned dozens of themed versions worldwide, but the format translates especially well to Korean variety shows, where a big cast of personalities can spend twenty minutes just accusing each other and it's still compelling television. Idols have embraced it both as a full standalone game and in creative offshoot forms built specifically for entertainment segments.

How It's Officially Played

In the classic version, every player is secretly assigned a role: one or more Mafia members, a Doctor, a Police officer (or detective), and everyone else as ordinary Citizens. A moderator (often an MC, or a rotating host among the idols themselves) keeps track of who's who without playing.

The game alternates between "night" and "day" phases. During night, everyone closes their eyes; the Mafia silently signal who they want to eliminate, the Doctor picks someone to protect, and the Police can secretly check whether one player is Mafia. During day, everyone opens their eyes, learns who was "killed" overnight, and the whole group debates and votes on who they think is Mafia based on nothing but behavior, alibis, and vibes. Whoever gets the most votes is eliminated and their role revealed. The Citizens win if they vote out all the Mafia; the Mafia win if their numbers become equal to or greater than the remaining Citizens.

BTS played a full round of this on Run BTS! Episode 72, filmed in Paris, where the game spiraled into a run of twisty side-missions once it turned out nearly everyone secretly had their own hidden agenda layered on top of their assigned role.

Fun Twists Idols Add

Idol variety shows rarely leave Mafia as a plain, quiet deduction game, the format gets stretched, themed, and stacked with extra twists to keep the pacing fast for TV. Producers love layering in secondary secret missions on top of the basic roles, so a "citizen" might also be secretly tasked with getting a specific member to say a certain word, turning simple voting rounds into a web of competing hidden agendas that even the players themselves have trouble tracking by the end.

There's also a completely different, dance-based riff called "Mafia Dance" that Weekly Idol popularized: every member gets headphones playing the same choreography's song, except one (or more) members are secretly given a different track entirely, and the whole point is for the rest of the group to figure out who's dancing offbeat because they're following the wrong song in their ears. It keeps the "spot the impostor" DNA of Mafia while trading tense interrogation for pure visual comedy, miscounted beats, member's confused double-takes, and a big reveal at the end. ITZY performed a memorable round of the original card-and-vote version of Mafia during a Weekly Idol episode, which fans still reference as one of the show's chaotic-argument highlights.

How to Play It at Home

Mafia needs zero props beyond something to randomly assign roles, index cards, slips of paper, or even just a deck of playing cards work fine.

Gather at least 6-7 people for a fun round (bigger groups get even better). Write roles on slips of paper: one or two "Mafia," one "Doctor," one "Police," and the rest "Citizen," then have everyone draw one in secret and keep it hidden. Pick one person to be the moderator who doesn't play but calls the phases and tracks who's eliminated.

Start a "night" round: everyone closes their eyes, the moderator calls "Mafia, wake up" and the Mafia silently point at who they want to eliminate, then the moderator calls the Doctor to silently point at who they want to protect, then the Police to silently point at someone whose role the moderator will reveal to them alone. Everyone opens their eyes for the "day" round, the moderator announces who was eliminated (unless the Doctor protected them), and the whole group argues and votes on who they think is Mafia. Whoever gets the most votes is out and their role revealed. Keep alternating night and day until either all Mafia are voted out (Citizens win) or the Mafia equal the remaining Citizens (Mafia win).

For a home game night, skip a formal punishment system entirely, the fun is built into losing the round and getting roasted by the group for a bad lie. If you want stakes anyway, have whoever's eliminated first each round answer an embarrassing question or do a quick dare before sitting out.

Don't want to mess with hand-writing role slips? Subscribe to the free K-Pop Game Club email list at kpopgameclub.com/join and grab our free printable Mafia Game Pack.

Watch It In Action

Whether it's a tense round of accusations or a headphone-fueled dance decoy, Mafia proves idols are at their most entertaining when someone's lying and everyone else is trying to catch them.