Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago
Join us for a conversation with Dimma Davidoff, creator of the Mafia game. We will talk about the psychological roots of the game (why was it not created before?), ways to look at it from different perspectives (how come it is not about lying?) and lessons opening the new worlds of play (what games would zombies like to play?).
Dimma Davidoff is a psychologist who studies and sometimes makes games. He graduated from the Psychology Department of Moscow State University in 1989. He designed the Contact word game and the Mafia game (which became popular worldwide and led to the creation of the Social Deduction games genre). His current quest is to make cross-species games.
Poster by Winnie Song. Find more of her work here: wsong.me
This lecture was streamed live at twitch.tv/nyugamecenter on Thursday, October 23rd, 2025
Join us for a conversation with Dimma Davidoff, creator of the Mafia game. We will talk about the psychological roots of the game (why was it not created before?), ways to look at it from different perspectives (how come it is not about lying?) and lessons opening the new worlds of play (what games would zombies like to play?).
Dimma Davidoff is a psychologist who studies and sometimes makes games. He graduated from the Psychology Department of Moscow State University in 1989. He designed the Contact word game and the Mafia game (which became popular worldwide and led to the creation of the Social Deduction games genre). His current quest is to make cross-species games.
Poster by Winnie Song. Find more of her work here: wsong.me
This lecture was streamed live at twitch.tv/nyugamecenter on Thursday, October 23rd, 2025
