The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Illuminati New World Order, was a nice little collectible card game. Particularly nice because it didn't take itself too seriously, and you could buy a big box with all of the cards from its first set, a little box of cards with all of the cards in its Church of the Subgenius set, and...good luck getting all of the cards in the Assassins expansion. As funny as the game was, and as enriching as some of the variants were (particularly the roleplaying variant which appeared on Pyramid online)...I could never get my mind around the rules. All those little markers for actions or relationships...who needs it?

No markers in Deluxe Illuminati. It gets down to business with what really runs the world...money. You don't get markers for your Illuminati actions...you get money, and a lot of the fun in playing the game is in moving money around and financing various crazy actions within your conspiracy.

You start with an Illuminati (thie big bosses behind all reality...the Bermuda Triangle, Cthulhu, the Gnomes of Zurich) and build your global conspiracy from there. Every turn you collect income from your groups (interestingly Videogames seem to earn more money than Chinese Campaign Donors) draw a card...if it is a group you place it face up on the table, but if its a special (which are somewhat rare) then you get to keep it in front of you for use later. Then you take two actions (which can range from attacking someone else, seeking to control one of those groups which has just been drawn, transferring money, etc. Decide what you want to do and roll the dice (did I mention that money can influence the dice?). Then you can take some minor "Free actions," transfer some more money, let your big Illuminati group use its special power, and that's about it.

Every group has an income (positive, and even a negative for the Post Office), a resistance to attack and takeover, and some groups have power which can sometimes be used directly in actions or indirectly to help other groups with their actions. There isn't a plot deck or any personalities here (I miss Clinton and his dog collar), and I can't decide if that makes this game more "classic" or "lite." Whether it tastes great or is less filling...all I know is that this game is good!

The cards are funny. The game is well designed and looks great, though two cards have slight errors on them (The Semiconscious Liberation Army's arrow should be incoming, and the arrow on the side of the United Nations card should also be incoming). I give this game an "A." You'll have a great time playing this game, with no problems collecting all of the cards. Not to mention the fact that the Y2K supplement promises to make things even more chaotic.

Style: 5 (Excellent!)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Illuminati Deluxe Edition
Author: Steve Jackson Category: card game Company/Publisher: Steve Jackson Games Line: Illuminati Cost: 34.95 Page count: 16 pages of rules, 110 cards, money chits and dice ISBN: 1-55634-384-1 Playtest Review by Scott Shafer on 05/24/99. Genre tags: Modern_day Comedy Espionage Conspiracy	Illuminati New World Order, was a nice little collectible card game. Particularly nice because it didn't take itself too seriously, and you could buy a big box with all of the cards from its first set, a little box of cards with all of the cards in its Church of the Subgenius set, and...good luck getting all of the cards in the Assassins expansion. As funny as the game was, and as enriching as some of the variants were (particularly the roleplaying variant which appeared on Pyramid online)...I could never get my mind around the rules. All those little markers for actions or relationships...who needs it? No markers in Deluxe Illuminati. It gets down to business with what really runs the world...money. You don't get markers for your Illuminati actions...you get money, and a lot of the fun in playing the game is in moving money around and financing various crazy actions within your conspiracy. You start with an Illuminati (thie big bosses behind all reality...the Bermuda Triangle, Cthulhu, the Gnomes of Zurich) and build your global conspiracy from there. Every turn you collect income from your groups (interestingly Videogames seem to earn more money than Chinese Campaign Donors) draw a card...if it is a group you place it face up on the table, but if its a special (which are somewhat rare) then you get to keep it in front of you for use later. Then you take two actions (which can range from attacking someone else, seeking to control one of those groups which has just been drawn, transferring money, etc. Decide what you want to do and roll the dice (did I mention that money can influence the dice?). Then you can take some minor "Free actions," transfer some more money, let your big Illuminati group use its special power, and that's about it. Every group has an income (positive, and even a negative for the Post Office), a resistance to attack and takeover, and some groups have power which can sometimes be used directly in actions or indirectly to help other groups with their actions. There isn't a plot deck or any personalities here (I miss Clinton and his dog collar), and I can't decide if that makes this game more "classic" or "lite." Whether it tastes great or is less filling...all I know is that this game is good! The cards are funny. The game is well designed and looks great, though two cards have slight errors on them (The Semiconscious Liberation Army's arrow should be incoming, and the arrow on the side of the United Nations card should also be incoming). I give this game an "A." You'll have a great time playing this game, with no problems collecting all of the cards. Not to mention the fact that the Y2K supplement promises to make things even more chaotic. Style: 5 (Excellent!) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Illuminati Deluxe Edition