Mafia Wars Cheats & Tips: Seven Easy Ways to Level Up Fast

As much as Zynga's Mafia Wars has found its way into the everyday lives of Facebook fans, new users quickly discover that learning to play a game that lacks a manual or tutorial isn't easy. Armed with a mishmash of in-game hints, players do learn more about making better choices and how to make less mistakes.

One of the first things that we sought to do when playing Mafia Wars was to find better ways to level up our mafia. Why? Higher levels offer jobs that offer a higher return on energy, more loot, more competition and more money. So rather than detail all the factors that go into leveling, here are seven proven facts that will help you level up fast.

1 – Profile Points Equal Energy

Once you've earned enough experience to go up a level or when you've completed a job level, you'll have several Skill Points that you'll need to allocate to your Attack, Defense, Health, Energy and Stamina values. Adding more of those Skill Points to Energy means that when you'll be able to complete more jobs, which gives a greater level of return as you level up.

2 - Send / Receive Energy Packs

Want to make Mafia Wars a holiday for your mafia? Send them an Energy Pack. These nifty power-ups give them 125% of their total energy. So if they had a max of 100 Energy, an Energy Pack grants them 125 Energy Points. That extra 25% gets even better as you level up. Sure, you can only use a single energy pack every 23 hours so make sure that you give your growing mafia a pack every day and hopefully you'll get one in return (karma gets you nothing in the game).