How to Play Flicker
Flicker is Mafia with a lighting cue. You queue from a night street, you vote a map, the narrator tells you there is a Good Team and an Evil Team, then the lamps die. Someone uses an ability in that blackout. Morning is a body, a death scene, and a vote. Repeat until one side is gone or the living count favors Evil. This is the full loop. Role math lives on the team pages.
Lobby, modes, queue
The current lobby is a sketchy corner with shops, a subway, and a green Play control. Regular Mode is the default: custom characters, scrolls, game passes, map votes. Anonymous Mode uses the same 15-role kit with preset characters you pick as male, female, non-binary, or random. Classic Mode — Investigator, Medic, Psychic, Survivor, Murderer on House only — was removed in January 2026. Voice Chat is a Regular variant, not a fourth ruleset.
Party queue from update 4.4 lets friends land in the same match. Fifteen is a full round and the only way to see Ambusher. If you are learning, fill a 15. Thin lobbies distort the role list and teach you the wrong ratios.
Night, day, ghost
When lights die, ability users get a player list. Everyone else sits in the dark. Notes can be sent and have a 20% chance to drop on the floor for the living to read. Journals persist after death and are how you still play. Voted players leave; knifed players become staged corpses. Ghosts see, talk to other ghosts, and shut up in living chat.
Good wins when Evil is dead. Evil wins if they are the only living team, or if the last two are one Good and one Evil, or the last three are Good + Evil + Neutral. Draws happen if the round empties. That last-two rule is why you do not idly hang town “to see.”
First hour curriculum
Play Survivor or Muffin Man on purpose if the randomizer offers them. Write in the journal even if you have no ability. Vote with a reason. Watch one round as a ghost without leaving. Then read the Good Team page. The video in the middle of this article walks every role in six minutes — use it as a map, then come back to the text when a round confuses you.
Frequently asked questions
Short answers for the searches that follow a bad round.
How long is a round?
Depends on votes and night timers. Average session length across the experience sits near 15 minutes including lobby.
Can I join mid-round?
No. Queue from the lobby for the next match.
What is Anonymous Mode for?
To hide custom flex and force character tells. Same roles as Regular.
Is there PvP combat?
No. The knife is a night menu. Day is talking.