Not too much earlier; Wikipedia says the game was invented in 1986 by psychology student Dimitry Davidoff, a psychology student at Moscow State University.

[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 5 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Interesting, had no idea about its origin story.

Also... of course

In June 2006 a Rockingham school inquiry was launched after parents complained of the traumatic effects classroom Mafia was having on their fifth-grade children. Davidoff responded to the reports, saying that as a parent who had studied child psychology for 25 years, he felt that the game could "teach kids to distinguish right from wrong", and that the positive message of being honest could overcome the negative effects of an "evil narrator" moderating the game as if it were a scary story.

[–] jqubed@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

If you enjoy the game you should check out The Traitors with its many international variants. I was surprised to read that the productions provide psychologists to help the contestants as it gets traumatic, but when I watched the first UK season there were a lot of people getting into emotional distress.

There have been a lot of people cast who really shouldn’t be on the show; it’s just a game!

[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

I love the game, that show sounds really fun!

[–] BlindFrog@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago

In op's linked article: