Treachery! vs Mafia vs Werewolf vs The Traitors: what's the difference?
The short answer: they are one game in four coats. Mafia is the original, Werewolf is the same game with villagers and wolves, The Traitors is the TV show built on it, and Treachery! is our hosted version for a room of 16 to 30.
Watch The Traitors, decide you want to play it, and within a minute of searching you meet three other names. They are all the same family: a hidden few who know each other, a loyal majority who know nothing, a "murder" every night and a vote every day. What changes is who runs it, how long it takes and how you go out. Here is an honest side by side, and which one to play when.
Mafia: the original
Mafia was created by Dmitry Davidoff in the psychology department of Moscow State University, usually dated to 1986. It was a game about an informed minority against an uninformed majority, and it spread through Soviet universities and schools before reaching the rest of Europe and the US in the 1990s.
The rules fit on a napkin. A moderator who doesn't play deals secret roles; a pack of playing cards does the job. At night the mafia open their eyes and agree on a victim. By day the town argues and votes someone out. Most versions add a detective, who learns one player's side each night, and a doctor, who can save one. It ends when the mafia are all gone, or when they match the town in number.
Good for: a group of friends with a pack of cards and nothing to buy. The catch: go out in the first round and you watch for half an hour.
Werewolf: the same game, by moonlight
In 1997 the American game designer Andrew Plotkin gave Mafia a new theme: villagers and werewolves, on the reasoning that a werewolf looks like everyone else by day. The rules barely changed; the atmosphere did. The detective became the seer.
Werewolf then became a boxed game, in Are You a Werewolf? from Looney Labs, The Werewolves of Millers Hollow and the Ultimate Werewolf sets, with illustrated cards and dozens of extra roles. One Night Ultimate Werewolf squeezes the whole thing into a single night and a single vote, so nobody sits out.
Good for: a games night with people who like roles and a box to open. The catch: more roles mean more rules, and a new group can spend longer learning than playing.
The Traitors: the TV show
The Traitors is a reality show, not a game you can buy. The format began in the Netherlands as De Verraders, made by IDTV for RTL 4 in 2021, and has since been remade in many countries; the BBC's version began in 2022.
Under the castle and the cloaks, it is Mafia. A few contestants are secretly made traitors. They "murder" one of the others overnight, and the whole group votes someone out each day. The show adds what television needs: a presenter, missions that build a cash prize, weeks of filming, and an ending where the loyal players who survive share the money, unless a traitor is still among them.
Good for: watching. The catch: you can't play the show at home. What people mean by "a Traitors-style game" is Mafia in the show's mood, which is no bad thing.
Treachery!: ours
Treachery! is Get Social's own version of the classic rules, aka Mafia, which we introduced in 2024. It is built for a room of 16 to 30 and about 50 minutes, with a Get Social host who runs it and doesn't play. Three things set it apart:
- The first victim comes back. The first person "murdered" is revived as the Leader, with the deciding vote in a tie, and passes the power on after each round. Nobody spends the evening as the one who went out first.
- The room can vote for peace. Every day the vote is peace or execution. Peace with a traitor still in ends the game in the traitors' favour, so the loyal side has to decide when it is sure.
- The debate has a shape. Pairs first, then groups of four or five, then a spokesperson each. That is how 30 people argue without the loudest five doing all of it. An eliminated innocent gets a parting shot, and special roles such as the Negotiator, who can save a player from elimination, are dealt in on the night.
Good for: work socials, away days, conferences and big birthdays, with the session repeated through the day for a bigger group. The catch: it wants a host and at least 16 people. For eight friends on a sofa, the at-home version is the better fit.
Side by side
| Game | Players | Who runs it | Length | How you go out | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mafia | Eight or more | A moderator who doesn't play | Half an hour to an hour a game | Killed at night by the mafia, or voted out by day | Friends with a pack of cards |
| Werewolf | Eight or more for the classic game; boxed editions vary | A moderator, or an app in some editions | Much the same; the One Night version takes about ten minutes | Eaten at night, or voted out by day | A games night with a boxed set |
| The Traitors | A TV cast of around twenty | A presenter and a production team | A whole series | "Murdered" overnight, or voted out by the group | Watching from the sofa |
| Treachery! | 16 to 30 a session, more in repeat sessions | A Get Social host, or you with our rules | About 50 minutes | Murdered at night (the first victim returns as the Leader), or executed by vote; a vote for peace ends it | Work socials, conferences, big birthdays |
Which to play when
- Eight to twelve friends, no budget, tonight: Mafia with a pack of cards, or the home version of Treachery! in how to play a Traitors-style game at home.
- A board-game crowd who'll enjoy the roles: a boxed Werewolf.
- Short of time, or nobody wants to sit out: One Night Ultimate Werewolf.
- Fans of the show: any of them, with a host who leans into the theatre. Dim the lights for night, give each murder a little ceremony, and let the accused make a speech.
- 16 to 30 people at a work do or a big birthday, and nobody wants to run it: Treachery!, hosted.
- More than 30: more circles or more sessions, not a bigger circle. That is in a Traitors-style game for a large group.
If you want to host any of them yourself, the round-by-round rules, the traitor ratio and the twists are in how to play a Traitors-style game: Treachery! in an hour. They work just as well for a game you call Mafia.
Is any of them a murder mystery?
No. A murder mystery has a script, characters and a solution written before anyone arrives. These games have no script and no actors: everyone plays, the "murder" is a silent choice made with everyone else's eyes closed, and nobody knows how it ends until the room finds out. That is why the same group can play twice in an evening and get a different game.