How Мафия шахчаты works
Мафия шахматы (Жмурки) takes the classic tabletop mafia setup and turns it into a one-versus-one card game. Instead of sitting around a table with a group, two players face each other directly. Among the 15 inhabitants of the house there are 5 killers. One player works through the game as the peaceful side, the other as the mafia side, and each one plays their entire team alone. There is no in-game communication, so everything happens through the cards you play and the deductions you make from them.
The game runs on turn-based tactics rather than real-time action. You take your turn, your opponent takes theirs, and the outcome depends on which roles you brought and how you use them. The detective, investigation and logic themes show in how the game plays: as a civilian you are trying to identify the killers from the information you get, and as the mafia you are trying to hide them and mislead your opponent.
Playing with friends
You can compete against other players to raise your rating, or set up a match against people you already know. Since it is strictly 1v1, a group session works as a series of duels: friends take turns sitting down against each other and compare how far they get, or you watch a match and argue about the right move. The absence of chat means nobody can talk anyone into a decision, so the game stays on reading the board rather than on persuasion.
Because you control a whole team rather than a single character, there is room for each person to develop their own approach and see how it holds up against someone else's.
Building your team before you start
The role list is wide, and you assemble your own composition from it before the match begins. There is no fixed preset you are forced into, so your choice of roles is the main preparation step and the main lever for your tactics. Pick roles that suit whether you plan to push hard for information as the civilians or to keep the mafia hidden, and be ready to adjust once you see what your opponent is doing.
Worth knowing before your first game: it is turn-based, it is PvP only, and there is no voice or text communication during play. The art is hand-drawn, and the card battler structure means a lot of your decisions happen in deckbuilding and in the order you commit your roles, not in the moment-to-moment play.