The game of Mafia hinges on the role of the moderator. However, the moderator doesn't get the enjoyment of playing. Unless you have someone who enjoys being the moderator, this could be a problem. A simple solution is to rotate the job of moderator each turn. Another solution is detailed here. Warning: It is complicated and time-consuming. The moderator from the last round (or an appointed temporary moderator) shall announce, after everyone has closed his eyes, "Mafia awake." The mafia will awake and will be given a set amount of time (say, 30 seconds) to choose their victim. The moderator shall (with his eyes closed) estimate the time, and then say "Mafia asleep." Then, each player in turn, starting with the moderator and proceeding clockwise, shall say "I'm waking up." He shall look around the table. If this is the player who was killed, the mafia will all wake up and point at him. He shall then say, "I'm going to sleep." The next player shall wake up, and so forth all the way around the table. When it's the moderator's turn to wake up again, he shall call for everyone to wake up, and he shall ask the killed individual to speak up and become permanent moderator.

Note - The first time we attempted this, it failed miserably because the person who was killed by the mafia didn't wait long enough for the mafia to awake and indicate him. One other major disadvantage-- an inexperienced player may end up as moderator.

Further Note 10/30/99 - We have received an e-mail from an anonymous source who has suggested how to fix a problem in this game. The problem is that the angel (or any other special character for that matter) doesn't get to exercise his power during the first night. Our old solution is that the moderator, once killed, sends everybody back to sleep and wakes up the angel. The suggestion is that mafia identify themselves to the angel on the first night. We assume that this means the mafia choose one of their own number to identify himself to the angel.