Mafia: Hidden Figures II

***Mafia: Hidden Figures II*** is the thirty-seventh season of *The Mafia Series* and the sequel to the first Hidden Figure games that occurred twenty-four games prior.

In this long-awaited game, certain parts of this season were truly quite a surprise. Though the season contained several inactive players, many of the Hidden Figures truly rose to the occasion - some displayed unique characters while others strategically discovered others' identities. The game concluded after a rather dominant Mafia team was outwitted at the end of the game, and only a single townsperson remained.

This game lasted from March 3rd, 2023 up to March 18, 2023. The exciting sequel to Hidden Figures had an exciting start and finish, though the middle portion of the game did proceed very slowly with little to no action. However, despite this slow point, the game was quite chaotic and entertaining from beginning to end.

# ***Roles & Twists***

**Twists**
* **Hidden Figures:** As the fan favorite twist returning from the prequel to this season, this game consisted of alumni all *hidden* under anonymous sockpuppet accounts. None of the players knew who each other were at the beginning of the game, so all the participants had a fresh start.
* **Guessing Game:** Once every in-game night and once every in-game day (or, twice per cycle), each Hidden Figure could make a guess of another Hidden Figure in the game. If a player correctly guessed another player, then the player who guessed correctly would receive an extra vote. In addition, when a player was successfully guessed, they could no longer make official guesses and obtain extra votes of their own. A player was informed that they were guessed following the next results ceremony.
	+ Only known to the Mafia and 3rd Party teams, evil players were allowed to share identities of players that they guessed with each other. However, no more than two evil players on the same team could receive an extra vote by guessing the same person, meaning that if three Mafia members correctly guessed the same person, then only the first two to guess would receive an extra vote.
* **Daily Clues:** At the beginning of each voting cycle, players were presented with a clue about the Hidden Figures present in the game. They receive seven clues in total, and they were as follows.
	+ **Day 2:** Every single season from 1-35 has been played in by at least on Hidden Figure. However, out of the 22 players, they debuted in 13 different Mafia games.
	+ **Day 3:** The Hidden Figures in this game have played a combined total of 183 Mafia games (not counting this season)!
	+ **Day 4:** The Hidden Figures who are villagers, when combined, have played 26 more total Mafia games than Hidden Figures who are aligned with the Mafia.
	+ **Day 5:** Out of the entire cast, only two Hidden Figures held a 100% win-rate prior to this game. Whether they keep this statistic... I guess we'll find out later!
	+ **Day 6:** 13 members of this cast have participated in at least one of the three Mafia All-Stars games. 8 have not.
	+ **Day 7:** Out of the evil players in this game (counting both the Mafia and 3rd Party), the most have debuted in Generation 1, while the second most have debuted in Generation 3.
	+ **Day 8:** For five Hidden Figures, this is their first time playing in Generation 4.

# ***Game Summary***

Overall, the game had one of the most unique arcs that the series has ever seen. Hades immediately became a central personality from his boisterous Hidden Figure personality. Hades's alias also quickly became the most commonly guessed identity, though he was never correctly guessed. Ava, Eevee, Jelk, Life, and Stella were also major personalities at the beginning of the game. BT proudly exercised his social game under his hidden identity, which ran quite contrary to his normal personality. Andrew F. also became quickly attached to many other players from behind the scenes, including BT and Jelk.

After a somewhat random kill, the Mafia team decided to kill **Eevee**. With the lack of claims, the Mafia team decided to kill a visible player, and they made a lucky strike by not only taking out a 3rd Party, but Eevee himself. To the confusion of many, Eevee claimed to be a healer with a hidden nurse, hoping to provide an out for his 3rd Party teammates (though neither of them took it). The first vote was very divided, as SamB and Alfie were two of the last players to claim. The vote came down to the wire between these two 3rd Party members, but **Alfie** became the ultimate first player to be executed. When Alfie revealed themself as the maniac, he dragged **Hades**. Considered an absolute travesty to most players in the game, Hades's death removed a major personality from the game, which shifted the dynamics significantly. Hades was actually the true healer with a nurse, which presented some difficulties for Jack - the nurse - down the road.

The next cycle demonstrated the Mafia's dominance over the game. Life had claimed to be a powerful role, who claimed his mayor role to other players privately. Linking himself to Life, Jelk claimed to be a joker following him. Eternal claimed his seer role publicly, and his claim was countered by Bayuka, the non-corrupted seer. The two, however, were both assumed to be safe because of their somewhat reasonable foresights. Finally, BT soon claimed to be the student. Without a counter-claim, BT was very quickly trusted by much of the town. Ava, the maid, decided to protect Life. Life conceptualized the strategy to kill himself, and thus pseudo-confirm him. However, when **Life** was killed and protected, Stella was quick to call out the potential foul play behind the kill.

In the second execution, everyone decided that either Henry, the commoner, or Stella, the suspicious detective, should be the next one to go. Though many townspeople thought of Stella as innocent, the Mafia pushed very hard for her execution due to suspecting her as a very strong player. After a re-vote between the two players, the Mafia got their way when **Stella** was executed and revealed. (In a stunning reveal, Nathaniel the host presented a lengthy execution scene to fit Stella's hidden figure identity, Benoit Blanc.)

The third kill fell onto **Arlie**, who was a noble who had sided with Stella during the previous vote. The Mafia found no need for him in the game, which led to the result of his easy death. **Dani** was the third player to get voted out because of SamB using his Mass Hysteria! Though she had contributed to the town a bit, she had ulterior motives to get executed to become an evil role, but she did not plan to die in this method. Her read that **Life** was indeed evil was on point when she took his role, robbing him of his powerful social position in the game. Dani joined the Mafia team, and it seemed that this evil team was almost guaranteed a victory with neither the town nor the 3rd Party standing in their way.

Following Arlie's death, players like Ava, Enrique, and Jet became the final defense for the town. Enrique had successfully guessed numerous players - including Life, Jelk, and Eternal - and thus had gained extra vote. There was also severe confusion regarding Jack, as he had claimed to be a nurse for Hades (who never claimed), but there was still no nurse claiming to be for Eevee. However, before he gained too much suspicion, **Jack** was killed by the Mafia while healing Henry, the herbalist. The next player to be executed was **Andrew F.** Though he had displayed his loyalty to BT, the Mafia were not able to keep him around any longer due to him being one of the most unconfirmable player remaining on the cast. Andrew also had gained suspicion due to him being the majority vote when the Mass Hysteria was activated.

The Mafia team, progressively becoming more and more arrogant as they were marching towards victory, decided to kill the confirmed sheriff **Anubis** next. Afterward, **SamB** was no longer able to fend off being executed, as a commoner claim, and 3rd Party finally fell. The game turned another corner as half the players remained. Though he was relatively inactive, **Henry** the herbalist became the next player to be killed by the Mafia. His powerful heals caused him to finally became a Mafia's target in the endgame, though he wasn't fully trusted by the villagers either.

In a major turn of events, the Mafia team decided that it was time to take control to blindside Enrique. They realized how powerful he was in the game, and little did they even realize that he had yet to use his knight sword. Though the villagers used numerous extra votes, Enrique failed to use the necessary amount to tie the vote when the Mafia went all in against him. **Enrique** was voted out as he went out with three extra votes in his possession. The Mafia appeared unstoppable as they proceeded to kill Enrique's partner for the town, **Ava**, the maid who had served Mafia members both times.

The town's last hope remained in the hands of Jet and Andrew T. During the night of Ava's death, Andrew developed a last chance plan to try and guess as many Mafia members as possible. He was confident - through Enrique and Ava's strategic advice - of the four Mafia members, but the villagers clearly were on the wrong side of the numbers. By taking the time to decipher the Hidden Figure clues, he discovered the remaining identities to slowly gain more extra votes. When the villagers tried to blindside Dani, they were unsuccessful because of the self-voting of **Nat**, which eliminated him from the game. This appeared to be the final nail in the town's coffin.

The Mafia team confidently killed **Jet**, leaving only Andrew and Bayuka left for the town. However... Andrew still had enough extra votes to incredibly override the Mafia's vote at the next trial, and he and Bayuka successfully blindsided **BT** by a one vote margin. Jelk then became the Head Mafia in place of this fantastic player. When **Andrew T.** became the final casualty of the Mafia, it looked like the three Mafia had it in the bag. But with Andrew's assistance, Bayuka had gained three extra votes, which allowed him to cast four votes against **Jelk**, executing the final Head Mafia. Thus, **Dani** and **Eternal** lost while **Bayuka** became the sole survivor to claim victory for the town!

# ***Awards***

Because this season had more than ten players and three rounds of executions, awards were handed out at the end of the game. They were given to the following recipients.

# ***Trivia***

* A pre-season teaser that was released included the text "50 - \_\_." This represented the fact that Game 37, *Hidden Figures II*, was 13 games away from Season 50. This teaser is tied together by the fact that season 13 was the original Hidden Figures season.
* The following players were all potential participants in the season:
	+ Abby (Declined)
	+ Aidan (Declined)
	+ Akunor (Declined)
	+ Aster (Declined)
	+ Boodah (Declined)
	+ Cam (Dropped)
	+ David (Did Not Respond)
	+ Diego (Dropped)
	+ Dratuna (Did Not Respond)
	+ Isa (Declined)
	+ Mari (Considered)
	+ Noah (Did Not Respond)
	+ Poteet (Declined)
	+ Ray (Considered)
	+ Sam (Declined)
	+ Smk (Dropped)
	+ Uke (Declined)
	+ Xmcl (Considered)
	+ Zach (Dropped)
* Bernkastel won the special viewing lounge guessing game this season.