Illuminati

Illuminati is the classic Steve Jackson Games boxed set of conspiracy and high weirdness, inspired by the equally classic Illuminatus! trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea. The game won the Origins Award when it was first released in 1982, and inspired a trading card version in 1995 called Illuminati: New World Order, which plays similarly. In all honesty, I think no other boardgame has had such an influence in my life as this one –- both in terms of my admiration for its tight yet expressive game mechanics, and also for introducing me to the work of Robert Anton Wilson, and ultimately to the Discordian Society, of which I am a key member (I could tell you why, but then I’d have to scramble your brains with a spoon).

The Discordian Society is one of eight different playable conspiracies in Illuminati, and every game begins with the player discovering which conspiracy they will be playing. The game offers fun right from the outset -– a match-up between the powerful Bavarian Illuminati and the wealthy Gnomes of Zurich becomes a completely different proposition if a third player has the self-destructive (and immensely entertaining) Servants of Cthulhu, for instance. Just knowing who the enemy is gets the imagination turning as the cloak and dagger antics commence. How many groups can the Network acquire before it is unstoppable? How can we block the Bermuda Triangle? What is the secret goal of the UFOs?

The basic game play is brilliantly simple: the player takes control of a variety of real and imaginary groups, such as the Goldfish Fanciers, the Post Office, the Society for Creative Anarchism, the Cycle Gangs, the Women’s International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell (W.I.T.C.H), or the Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow (Ed: this last isn't fictional--I was a member). The chance of taking control depends upon the various alignments of the groups in question (Government or Communist, Liberal or Conservative, Peaceful or Violent, Straight or Weird etc.), and the amount of money the player is willing to spend, with the outcome ultimately determined by a die roll. The ability to spend money, however, means that players can guarantee success –- for a price.

Much of the gameplay comes from the choices of groups the player targets, and how the player integrates them into their power structure. Illuminati groups, which every player begins with, have control arrows on all four sides of the card, allowing them to control four groups. Other powerful organizations such as Multinational Oil Companies, International Cocaine Smugglers or the CIA have three control arrows (the fourth side of the card being an incoming control arrow, which every group but the Illuminati have), and most have just two or one control arrow. Some don’t have any -– the Trekkies can be controlled, but can never control anyone else, for instance.

The arrangements of groups has a real effect on play –- it’s harder for other players to capture a group directly controlled by an Illuminati group, for instance -– but it also provides much of the fun of the play. “The Moral Minority are going to attempt to take control of the Robot Sea Monsters with the assistance of the KGB and the Orbital Mind Control Lasers” is a typical sentence in a game of Illuminati. The joy of the game is the bizarre conspiracy webs that come out of the power structures the player builds through play – sometimes, players take control of groups just for the absurdity of the outcome!

Illuminati suffers from a number of problems common to hobby games, chief of which is that the play time is often long. While a two-player game can be completed in, say, ninety minutes, the game doesn’t really come into its own unless there are four, five or six players -– enough for scheming individuals to strike deals, and ultimately to betray one another. With this many players, five or six hours is not an atypical play time. Part of the reason for this is that groups make money, which accumulates as counters on the groups. Since in strategic play it rarely pays to be the first mover, players tend to sit back and stockpile money –- but because money influences attempts to control groups, by the time the barrier of hostility between players is broken, there can be vast sums of money on the table that need to be exhausted before anyone can reach victory. Related to this, if the Gnomes of Zurich are a group in play, some players feel obligated to keep track of the money this group has acquired (its victory condition is to collect 150 megabucks), which further slows down play. The fact of the matter is, however, that many hobby games are slow, but few are as fun as Illuminati, nor as easy to set up (once the clearly-written rules are absorbed, set up takes just a few minutes). Acquiring groups and arranging them into one’s power structure is strangely compelling, and the fights that can break out between rival players can be as vicious as any you would find in other games. Furthermore, the wins that people achieve can be tremendously entertaining –- few games have anything as satisfying as the ability the Servants of Cthulhu possess to eliminate their last group and thus destroy themselves, yet win the game by hitting their twisted victory condition to destroy 8 groups.

To any hobby game player, I heartily recommend Steve Jackson’s Illuminati as a great game to while away an afternoon with, and I would also rate it higher than the trading card version, New World Order. While the later game does play well, and has many more interesting cards, it lacks the economic element of acquiring groups to stockpile cash -– this is the reason the original game plays so slowly, but it also part of the intricacy of its play.

If you have ever wanted the Hackers to take control of the Fast Food Stores, or to neutralize the Flat Earthers with the Eco-Guerrillas, or even have the FBI destroy the IRS, Illuminati is the game for you. Gather a group of 4-6 devilishly mischievous players for a Saturday evening of conspiracy, control and carnage. You won’t regret it –- and if you do, we’ll have the Orbital Mind Control Lasers alter your memories so you don’t remember it.