I consider myself to be pretty knowledgeable when it comes to social networking games like Texas Hold ‘Em and Vampire Wars and some others.  So when I began to see these Mafia Wars guides all over the Internet I was kind of surprised. I mean, I can see why people might need some tips to get going in games like Texas Hold ‘Em, but Mafia Wars?  How hard could that be?

So I began playing the game.  Then I could say I knew what I was talking about.  But I was in for a pretty big surprise. In no time, I was attacked and out of money.  Also, my character was basically paralyzed because each time I was attacked it drained my health. I have to admit, there is a whole lot more to this game than I had originally thought.

Although I was getting a little better I wasn’t doing anything very spectacular, to put it mildly.  It seemed like everyone else knew some kind of secret that made them win more fights, play at higher levels and achieve more.  I kind of felt like everyone knew something I didn’t.  And I thought, “Boy, it sure would be nice if someone would tell me their secrets.”  So, I began to think that maybe it wouldn’t hurt to see what these guides were about. I wasn’t really expecting much, but since I hadn’t done so well playing my own way, I figured it was worth a try.

So I picked up a guide called Mafia Wars Blueprint, and was floored by the tips I found in their guides and videos. You wouldn’t think there were so many ways to screw up a mafia strategy game but believe me, there are.  And I was making all the classic errors.  It didn’t take long for things to change though.  Within several weeks of devouring the videos and guide my game skills skyrocketed!  I mean I went from losing every fight to winning every single fight!  I built up my income from nothing to having hundreds of millions a dollar an hour pouring in.  And that amount is continually rising! And I rose from Level 30 to Level 250 in no time!  I still use the guide and videos as a reference.  I also receive an email newsletter that’s been extremely useful.  In fact, one of the newsletter updates I received more than paid for my course because it revealed a way to gain tons of members overnight.  I used to think it was impossible to add 100 members in a single day let alone several hundred.  Overall I’d have to say Mafia Wars Blueprint, the guides, the videos and the updates have been a fantastic investment.

Mafia Wars is a great place to go to escape from the stresses of everyday life. You can release some stress and feel like a king by dominating your competition. However, you’ll never realize your true potential unless you have a lot of friends to help you on your journey.  The greater your ability to continually add new members to your mafia the greater your potential for success!

Players who lack the ability to recruit new members will earn less money, lose more fights and have a limited amount of opportunities and bonuses to choose from as compared to successful recruiters.  It’s unfortunate because adding new members to your mafia is actually one of the easiest things to do!

Income Benefits

Mafia Mike’s provide players with the highest return on investment than any other property available in the game.  The catch is your ability to purchase this valuable property is dependent on the amount of people you have in your Mafia.  The more members you have the more Mafia Mike’s you can purchase.  And these properties cannot be robbed or attacked (a feature that is currently disabled by Zynga).
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There are more and more people playing Mafia Wars every day. It’s extremely addicting and fun! Mafia Wars allows you to get away from the noise and stress of everyday life. Just relax, do some jobs, build up your mafia – a pretty enjoyable way to spend your free time. And as you do this, you’ll also advance in levels over time.

But, at some point (better earlier than later) you may want to get a lot more out of this game. Every time you move up a level, you unlock new jobs which requires additional loot items and other requirements. This means that in order to get the most out of your Mafia Wars experience, you’ll have to level up quickly to unlock as many items and bonuses as you can.

The Basics

But how do you do this? There are several things to keep in mind if you want to level up quickly in Mafia Wars. The most basic idea though is, if you’ve spent and used Godfather Points early on in the game on anything other than Energy, you’re not “Leveling Up” efficiently. Why?  Because when you increase your Energy you’re able to do jobs that give you more “Experience Points”.  And each “Level” is comprised of a certain number of Experience Points.  So, the more Experience Points you can gather the quicker you can “Level Up”. Read the rest of this entry

To ring in the New Year, Mafia Wars is unveiling its latest featured job – “Last Score of 2009″! For this featured job, we’re leaving it up to you on how you want to play. You’ll have your choice of three different jobs to work on that each have their own unique New Year’s Bonus. Master your job and you’ll receive a rare item as your reward! Be sure to watch your newsfeeds – if your mafia members complete any of the three jobs, they can share the wealth with you and offer you Reward Points!

We’re also just on the verge of unleashing Bangkok! If you haven’t already, go get a head start and collect your loot items needed to unlock Bangkok. Keep your eyes peeled – you’ll be able to grab your Thai Passport and travel to the new city soon enough.

If that’s not enough for you, we’re also giving away 5 FREE Reward Points in celebration of the New Year and as a thank you to our players. Click here for your points and play now! Be sure to score big before 2010!

Thank You,

The Mafia Wars Team

Mafia Wars Bangkok is the newest expansion from Zynga and is a continuation of their very popular game. This expansion takes place in the mysterious orient and is based in Thailand.

The Japanese Yakuza and Chinese Triads have battled for control of this city and country for years and you will be thrust into the middle of the conflict just as you were with the Vory and Mafiya in Moscow.

While the expansion is not live yet Zynga is giving you the ability to get your hands on the items that will be required to unlock the expansion.

Here is a quick reference for the items.

• Triad Coin – This item can be found in the New York Soldier Tier.
• Yakuza Sake – Find this item in the New York Hitman Tier.
• Thai Note – You can find this item in New York in the Enforcer Tier.
• Thai Passport – To get this item you will have to wait until the launch date.

I hope that they iron out all of the problems with the expansion before they roll it out. The Moscow expansion was released before it was ready and resulted in major changes involving earning R$ and the bribe penalties. Perhaps they have learned from their mistakes.

While the exact release date of Mafia Wars Bangkok is unknown it is probably best to get the items to unlock the expansion now and be ready. Good luck in Bangkok and look forward to up to date information as soon as it is available.

Recently Facebook announced changes being made to the privacy settings of its users. While these changes are designed to make things easier and simpler for its users is it more of a pain in the butt than helpful? You decide.

The default settings for the new privacy features will make all of your information available not only to the 350 million Facebook users as well as search engines such as Yahoo, Google and others.

Does this open up your account to even more danger in the form of hackers, scammers and other unscrupulous entities? I believe that it can, but you can do more to protect yourself by tweaking the following settings.

Search Settings

With the release of these new privacy settings all accounts were set to a default configuration. This configuration includes resetting your public search settings to the on mode. This setting means that you are allowing your information to be seen by any search engine. If you do not want your information to be available to anyone who wants to see it you need to reset the option to the off mode. Read the rest of this entry

I have been playing Mafia Wars for quite some time and have built numerous characters so I thought I would pass along four simple things that are the basis of creating a strong character.

1.) Use your Energy effectively

This is probably the most important thing in Mafia Wars. If you want to level quickly you need to make sure that you put your energy to the best use. Visit one of the bookmarklet pages and pick up a tool to help you determine how to manage your energy when completing jobs.

2.) Linear Jobs

Complete jobs in a linear manner for the best results in the long run. If you are starting a new character begin with the Street Thug tier and complete all three levels of it before moving on. Resist the urge to jump around on the tiers simply because you are high enough level for them. This holds true for expansion as well. Visit them to get your business started then forget about them except for collecting your business payouts. Read the rest of this entry

Here is a quick list of items that have been leaked for the new Bangkok expansion that should go live very soon. While the stats for the items was not part of the leak you will at least have an idea of what to expect

As soon as I have the stats for the items I will post the list so you can incorporate it into your spreadsheets.

Here we are just a few days before Christmas. In no time jolly ole Saint Nick will be making his yearly rounds and the snow is falling in the United States. With the spirit of Christmas in the air many of us think of our loved ones and look forward to spending time around the Christmas tree.

Zynga has been busy this year as well. When we had scheduled maintenance on Friday, December 12th, I thought that they may implement the Bangkok expansion but I was mistaken. Instead they were setting up a blowout sale, setting up Holiday Event, and presenting us with a charity to which we can contribute. Read the rest of this entry

Mafioso might all seem to be big tough shoot first ask questions later type of people but they do celebrate Christmas. Sometimes I imagine what a mafia member might get their family. I picture t-shirts with catchy sayings. Some of these might fit the bill.

• Mafioso Morgue – We Stab em Then We Slab em
• Carmine’s BBQ – Grill em Then Kill em
• Anthony’s Cleaning Service – Let Us Handle Your Dirty Work
• Mikie’s Dry Cleaning – We Launder Anything
• Who’s Yer Godfadda?

Zynga is in on the Yuletide season as usual and is holding a holiday event through January, 3rd, 2010. During this time they have made special Christmas gifts available for you to put under your mafia’s tree.

The Safe House

The Safe House is another Christmas feature but it should not be confused with the free gifts listed above. In order to get gifts from the Safe House you need to click on the “ask for more gifts” button and select as many of your mafia as possible each day.

In order to ensure that you get as many gifts as possible you should select members of your mafia that you know are active players. Daily players are your best of course. Make sure that you return the favor when your mafia members request gifts from you too.

The gifts that you receive are completely random but I am told that the items are some of the best yet in Mafia Wars. You can open your gifts early but it will cost you Godfather Points. Best wait until Christmas Day.

Limited Time Job

You will also have access to a holiday limited time job called “Bring the Family Together.” Completing this job results in special holiday gifts and is a multi step process once again giving you the chance to get you hands on some hard to get loot.

The holiday celebration gives Mafia Wars players the chance to grab some of the more rare in game items as well as the chance to win a real Xbox 360 or a Mafia Wars Jacket. If you have not started sending and asking for gifts do it now and your Christmas Day might include a game console or a jacket from our friends at Zynga.