Double Your Free Gift Intake

Anything that a Mafia member sends to you as a Free Gift, you can now get TWO of almost every time. Anything that you can send from the Free Gift screen (there are always 15 items to choose from) - or anything your Mafia can send to you (they have different Armory parts usually) - you can now double.

The trick to DOUBLING the free gifts you get in Mafia Wars starts with the Free Gift icon that is at the top right of your Mafia Wars screen - the open envelope with the number in it (the number tells you how many free gifts/crime spree requests/mission requests await you.

Step 1: Click on the Envelope Icon. You will see a screen like the one below, showing what Free Gifts your Mafia sent you.

(This list does NOT include Wishlist gifts, which appear on your Home screen... and this trick does not work on those gifts).

Step 2: Click on the 'Accept Gift' icon to the right of each Free Gift you received. You'll receive whatever Free Gift you were sent - or a substitute gift if you're over your daily limit on Mystery Shipments or Secret Drops. Be a good sport - send gifts back when prompted. It won't affect this trick, but it's good karma.

Now here's where the fun starts. Make sure you've accepted ALL of the Free Gifts using Steps 1 and 2 above before you proceed.

Step 3: Find the Facebook 'Games' Application icon. On my Mafia Wars screen, I can see it in the upper right corner - just to the right of the Free Gift Envelope icon - it's circled in red below:

IF you don't see that list on your screen while you're playing Mafia Wars, click the Facebook icon on the top of your screen to go back to your main Facebook page/newsfeed. On the left hand column of your Facebook home page (you're out of Mafia Wars now), you should see some application icons - with 'Games' as one of them, circled in red below.

If you don't see the Facebook Games Application icon in EITHER of these locations, go into your Settings and choose 'Games' as one of the Applications to display on your Facebook home page.

Step 4: Click on the Facebook 'Games' Icon. Notice how my Games Icon had a '32' next to it. Now look at the screen below, which will appear after you click on 'Games'. It shows... 32 Requests (circled in green):

You will keep coming back to this screen and repeating Step 4 but let's pony up some proof that this much-hyped doubling trick works.

Step 5: Click on 'Accept and Play' to the right of the first "request" on the list above. It will take you back into Mafia Wars, and you'll see a screen like this.

By the way... you just got a **second Marble Slab** ... from the same Mafia member who you collected a Marble Slab from in Step 2. Why? Because in Step 2, you were inside Mafia Wars, using Zynga's envelope. In Step 5, you are starting from Facebook's Games Application icon, which sends you back INTO Mafia Wars. More on this below... but first, a warning

WARNING: If you reverse this sequence, and collect your gifts from the Facebook Games icon, the same gifts will NOT be awaiting you when you go to Mafia Wars... your Free Gift Envelope will be reduced each time you go in reverse sequence.

So... follow the steps in order, the last two being:

Step 6: Click on 'Accept More Pending Gifts' - this is outlined in blue and red, with a yellow arrow, in the screenshot above. Click on this and you will go back to your full list of "requests" from the Facebook Games Application list.

Step 7: Repeat Steps 5 and 6 and accept all "requests" to double your Free Gift intake.

This trick is a GREAT way to race through the challenges like Prized Pigs and Robbery Masks because you can get two of each needed item every time a Mafia member sends you one. (And it looks like we have another challenge of this type coming up this weekend - so you can try this trick out and see if it speeds you through).

This is simply a Facebook/Zynga quirk. Back in September, in one of my first posts on this blog, I gave an all-text (BOR-ING!) explanation of this trick and predicted it wouldn't last long. But two months later, it still works.

The Fine Print:

-When you go through the Facebook Games "request" list, never accept two gifts from the same Mafia Member in one session. Leave it on that list and collect it another time. My experience is that when you go for the second gift from the same Mafia Member, you get an error screen in Mafia Wars (the screen under Step 5) and lose the request/second gift.

-You are still subject to Mafia Wars' daily limits on Mystery Shipments, Secret Drops, Pignatas, Loyalty Points, etc. But for all of those categories (except Crime Spree), Mafia Wars will give you a Mystery Bag or a replacement item. Sometimes the replacement item for a Mystery Shipment - once I'm past my limit - is an item from my Wishlist. So instead of a second Stone Column, you might get a Foo Fighter!

-Your Mission Requests are repeated in the Facebook Games Icon/request list. If you joined or ignored them on the Mafia Wars Free Gift envelope, just hit Ignore on the Facebook request list. You can't join them twice anyway.

-Your Crime Spree requests are also repeated in the Facebook list, and you can't do two for the same person in one day. So leave an extra one in your "doubling list" and you can get the 50 energy or 40 stamina points tomorrow.

-The Gift Application Icon seems to max out at 100 requests - so clear it out regularly.

-I can't find a precise time in which you can go back and collect the "second" round of gifts from the same person within the Facebook list, but it's shorter than a full day. Just space out collecting the "double-doubles" (the multiple gifts from the same person on your Facebook request list) and you'll be fine. Note that in your Mafia Wars Free Gift envelope, if the same person sends you two gifts, you can collect both. Not so with the Facebook list.

-Gifts from other Zynga games will be in this list, so I suspect the doubling trick works for Farmville, Treasure Isle, Poker, etc. As if this wasn't taking enough of our time...

-There are other quirks, but play with it and you'll get a feel for the temperament of this trick - how often it works (for me, almost every time, if I pause a few minutes in between the Mafia Wars envelope collection and the Facebook Games collection.)

-I use Google Chrome to play Mafia Wars, and am not sure if results are different on IE or other browsers - but I think this is a Facebook/Zynga mismatch that will work for all of us. 

Good luck and let us know if it works for you! If so, you'll be collecting Italy Village parts, Armory Parts, and lots of other free loot at double the rate of other players...