Gameplay

Mafia Wars is set in New York City and Little Italy, with the option for players to travel betweenNew York, Cuba (level 35+), Moscow (level 70+) and Bangkok (upon unlocking items from New York levels, level 18+). In 2010, Paris, London and South Africa are introduced as challenge missions (which are available for a limited time). Las Vegas is released in June 23 as the fifth city available. The game revolves around doing and mastering jobs to earn cash and experience, with the goal of establishing and advancing one's criminal empire. Players create mafias by recruiting players and using reward points to hire extra mafia members. Social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Friendster allow players to recruit from friends to build their mafia and fight against other players.^[ Players can also improve their stats by visiting the Godfather (ie, making a micropayment).

Gameplay revolves around timers: players have limited energy (for doing jobs), and health and stamina meters (for fighting other players), in a manner similar to an RPG(role playing game),which slowly recharges over time. With the help of other mafia members that have been recruited, players can eventually fight other players, which may or may not result in the theft of cash, "icing", or "death" of the other player. The game operates on a level up basis. The player earns experience points by completing jobs. Players who manage to complete special tasks (for example, winning fights against bigger mafias or winning fifteen fights in a row) are labeled as having accomplished an "achievement", resulting in a bonus for the player. As they level up, more jobs and features become available, such as the ability to visit Cuba to expand their criminal empire.

After a significant in-game marketing blitz, Zynga added a new city, Moscow, on September 24, 2009.Once a player reaches level 70, they are granted access to Moscow, and they get to choose between the Thieves in Law Vory or the Russian Mafiya. On January 20, 2010, Bangkok Beta was released with some players being granted acess to it, but some not. This is to prevent too many people from going to Bangkok which may cause the system to crash. In Bangkok, players will be able to choose from the Triad and the Yakuza. The upcoming region Las Vegas, comes out in an unknown exact date in 2010. The ranks and episodes are: Street Thug, Associate, Soldier, Enforcer, Hitman, Capo, Consigliere, Underboss, and Boss in New York; El Soldado, El Capitan, El Jefe, El Patron, El Padrino, and El Cacique in Cuba; Baklany, Boets, Brigadir, Avtoritet, Vor, and Pakhan in Moscow; Brawler, Criminal, Pirate, Commandant, Oyabun, Dragon Head, Saboteur and Assassin in Bangkok.