Game: Illuminati: Deluxe Edition

Thread: Re: Cthulhu attacking itself

Progmode — 2008-09-23T15:47:23+00:00

davepanzer wrote:
I don't have the rules in front of me, but I seem to recall them explicitly stating that the Servants Of Cthulhu can attack its own power structure and even concievably use such an attack to score a victory*. In such a case:

A: Would normal defense bonuses for proximity to the Illuminati apply?
(I would assume "no" but I'd like some feedback)
No, the rules state that proximity to the Illuminati does not apply when attempting to destroy a group you control.

davepanzer wrote:
B: If the target group gave a bonus to Attacks to Destroy, would this bonus still apply?
(I would assume "yes" but again feedback is appreciated)
I would expect so. You gain special abilities as soon as you control a group and lose them as soon as you lose control of the group.

davepanzer wrote:
*Sometime after Cthulhu's third turn there is only one group attached, and Cthulhu has racked up six of the eight kills needed for victory. Cthulhu now attacks to destroy its attached group. If successful it counts as kill seven, then Cthulhu dies from having no groups attached for kill eight and the victory!
The group you kill would have to be group number 8 in your kill count. If you are at 6 and destroy your last group for number 7, then you'd be out of the game. The exact text from the rules is:
Illuminati wrote:
A player is eliminated if, at any time after his third turn,
he controls no Groups except his Illuminati. His money goes
to the bank. Exception: If the Servants of Cthulhu destroy
their own last Group, and in doing so, achieve their Special
Goal (eight Groups destroyed) they are not destroyed them-
selves . . . they win!

Image

ealdrich — 2008-09-08T06:44:32+00:00

Black Box edition back. This was the last edition before the modern full-color edition.

Image

ealdrich — 2008-09-08T06:42:38+00:00

Black Box edition front. Fairly rare as only about 500 copies were produced.

Thread: Cthulhu attacking itself

davepanzer — 2008-08-02T02:04:21+00:00

I don't have the rules in front of me, but I seem to recall them explicitly stating that the Servants Of Cthulhu can attack its own power structure and even concievably use such an attack to score a victory*. In such a case:

A: Would normal defense bonuses for proximity to the Illuminati apply?
(I would assume "no" but I'd like some feedback)

B: If the target group gave a bonus to Attacks to Destroy, would this bonus still apply?
(I would assume "yes" but again feedback is appreciated)

*Sometime after Cthulhu's third turn there is only one group attached, and Cthulhu has racked up six of the eight kills needed for victory. Cthulhu now attacks to destroy its attached group. If successful it counts as kill seven, then Cthulhu dies from having no groups attached for kill eight and the victory!

Thread: Re: The Discordian Society Has taken Over!

gmonk — 2008-05-30T01:45:20+00:00

Ah yesssss. Many fond memories of the weird, hilarious game sessions this game was responsible for over the years.

Thread: Re: Captured Groups Overlapping

weishaupt — 2008-05-06T14:28:55+00:00

muzzleflash wrote:

In the rules it states: When winning an attack to control against your opponent you must place the new master and it puppets in your power structure. If any of the puppets are overlapping your current power structure you must rearrange them. Can you choose not to rearrange them and drop them to the uncontrolled groups?

You can always drop groups, for any reason. Just put them back in the uncontrolled pool.

If the new puppets don't overlap any groups, can you still move them to another free arrow on the same master. For example, if you don't want it to block an outgoing arrow?

I don't have the rules in front of me, but I seem to remember that you could always rearrange the puppets of a newly captured master, no matter what.
I'm not 100% certain on this, but it just "feels" right (I'm using muscle memory as much as anything else here).

And does anyone know how to prevent the cards from sliding on the table when fiddling with money, and such?

Stop playing outdoors!
Seriously, you always spend half the game slightly realigning the cards that slide around or rotate a bit when you manipulate the money chits. It's an unfortunate side effect we have to deal with. But the game is worth it, in my opinion .

Thread: Re: Captured Groups Overlapping

freduk — 2008-05-06T14:27:08+00:00

muzzleflash wrote:
When winning an attack to control against your opponent you must place the new master and it puppets in your power structure. If any of the puppets are overlapping your current power structure you must rearrange them. Can you choose not to rearrange them and drop them to the uncontrolled groups?
Dropping groups is a free action, so the effective answer is Yes. I think, technically, you should arrange the groups under your control as part of the resolution of the attack. Then you can use a free action to drop the ones you don't want.

muzzleflash wrote:
If the new puppets don't overlap any groups, can you still move them to another free arrow on the same master. For example, if you don't want it to block an outgoing arrow?
You are only allowed to move them if they would overlap. If they don't overlap and you want to move them, you have to use an action.

The rules read:
If the captured Group already had puppets of its own, they are also captured. When placed in the attacker’s Power Structure, they should keep the same position, relative to their own master, that they had originally. If that is not possible because of overlaps with cards the attacker already has, he may rearrange any new cards that overlap, as long as they are still controlled by the same Group. New Groups which still cannot fit are dropped and become uncontrolled.
I hope that helps.

Thread: Re: Captured Groups Overlapping

qzhdad — 2008-05-06T14:14:11+00:00

It's been a while since I played Illuminati, but I seem to recall that you can always move a group from your control to uncontrolled.

I am not sure about your second question.

A felt table cover may help with your card sliding.

Happy Gaming,
Scott

Thread: Captured Groups Overlapping

muzzleflash — 2008-05-06T13:48:55+00:00

Hi

Played my first game of Illuminati today.
In the rules it states: When winning an attack to control against your opponent you must place the new master and it puppets in your power structure. If any of the puppets are overlapping your current power structure you must rearrange them. Can you choose not to rearrange them and drop them to the uncontrolled groups?

If the new puppets don't overlap any groups, can you still move them to another free arrow on the same master. For example, if you don't want it to block an outgoing arrow?

And does anyone know how to prevent the cards from sliding on the table when fiddling with money, and such?

Thanks

Thread: Re: Illuminati Deluxe With Everything, the Low-Cal Version.

DrFaust — 2008-04-22T12:31:02+00:00

chemist1981 wrote:
whats the percentages for your new deck?
I'm having difficulty finding my spreadsheet. When I do, I'll post the percentages here.

Thread: The Discordian Society Has taken Over!

Hendal — 2008-04-19T03:42:53+00:00

My friday night game got cancelled last week so i was pretty happy that our friends showed up, and with a friend who is a gamer to boot. We all agreed it had to be Illuminati and while our one friend got pizza I went over the rules with the newbie and she picked it up pretty darn quick.

KB- Cthulhu
P-the Network
T-Discordian
C-Bavarian I
K-Bermuda Triangle

A good core group of control freaks from what I could see, wonderful masters all of them in their own right. K started out and rolled a 11 to get no card. KB destroyed a group, P got a good transfer power group, T- no weird groups out yet so I collected 5 MB thank you. And C got a card with power of course.
We started drinking wine after dinner and the game really came to life, this game is just to cool at starting funny conversations or going long from cracking so many jokes. K got her card, KB got one, I got a weird group and the other 2 got cards they needed. It looked like P was about to be poised to win but then we realized the Illuminati had 34 of the 35 points needed to win, so his next turn was met with a congressional hearing card to slow him down that turn. P was getting close, and I was at 3 weird groups. I discussed a deal with C on the side to back K in destroying P, but then I figured out he was about to win and instead we all backed KB in taking out the Mafia who was in charge of almost all of C's puppets. We all chipped in, but I was holding back as much as I could. Along the way it worked out beautifully for me to save a lot of $. We then had to all back KB again to destroy the FBI who was in charge of the IRS - we where all tired of paying taxes. This worked on depleted everyones $. Next turn I got my 4th weird group. Next round I had to rearrange $ and wait for a weird group to come up. The following turn no weird had come up so I got tired and decided to attack the Men in Black for the win - P was in control of the MIB, but they where far from their Power source, and had very little $ on them. I was way ahead in the $ department from going for big income guys that where not weird, and then taking a turn of transferring $. On my turn I first moved 20 MB from my cocaine smugglers into California that was sitting on a nice stack of MB's.
The whole game I had been forgetting my +4 bonus to control weird groups, and of course I didn't remember till after the game, but I had just enough $ to fight them all and still only need a 8 or less to win, but then I pulled out my swiss bank account and put it back to 10 or less on 2d6 and a fat security blanket back at headquarters. I rolled a 4 and took control of the world.

Our friend P works for Green Peace and is looking for small games for the boat, so that is a great one to take on board - I think it would be funny to see a bunch of greenpeace people playing Illuminati! ( I also gave her my copy of Micropul, and showed her Politico from Small Box Games )

They all really enjoyed it. We are really starting to get the groups and a few more games and I think they will be up to snuff. They want to play again next friday, but they said we also have to play LNOE, so I agreed if it was the only choice I had .

Oh yea, sorry I am 20 years late for this game, but I am loving it, really fun dynamics to the game. I think with the right group this game could take long long hours and just be bizarre.

So remember if things seem weird to you, they are, the Discordians are in Charge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thread: Re: Illuminati Deluxe With Everything, the Low-Cal Version.

chemist1981 — 2008-04-17T23:28:22+00:00

whats the percentages for your new deck?

Thread: Assassination Card?

Hendal — 2008-04-04T03:15:15+00:00

So we have started playing this game and this card is pretty straght forward, but when I think of assassination I would think you would want to make it a 12 verses a 2 to kill the attempt? So really this is a card to play when you roll a 11 or 12 and fail to get something?

Thread: Re: 2 players???

AdrianPHague — 2008-04-04T01:41:56+00:00

I would concur that the optimum number of players is determined by obeying the Law of 5's.

Thread: Re: 2 players???

Hendal — 2008-04-04T01:35:31+00:00

I think it works fine with 2 people, no problems at all. You do have some run away games, but once you know what Groups not to allow it is easier. We have had a couple of games where I thought I would win only to be defeated ( once by chance, once by me playing bad - miscounted her power points as the Bavatrians ).

It is only an hour, which is great.

Thread: Re: What A Great Game : How did I miss this one?

LatinaNakita — 2008-03-31T01:04:31+00:00

Julie - go on try it, I have really enjoyed playing this one. It is such a funny theme and it gets some pretty interesting conversations started.
It is a whole lot of fun is the bottom line!

Thread: Re: What A Great Game : How did I miss this one?

ced1106 — 2008-03-31T00:37:55+00:00

1Wif wrote:
Illuminati has been sitting in our basement for years. Husband wants to play it, but I've been intimidated by it. You now have my curiosity peaked. Thanks, I'll give it a go.

You'll probably want a practice game with the husband to get the rules down straight. Illuminati was created before card games had "all the information you need on the card" and there are *many* little critical rules you will want to know (like Tom's income bonus when you skip a turn). You will also want to get a feeling of which cards are the best (such as the IRS) so someone doesn't easily acquire a powerful card early in the game.

But it's well worth playing. None of this wussy passive stuff -- it's direct confrontation and negotiation. Information is mostly public, so you know whom to take down. Great game.

aka. Washu! ^O^

Thread: Re: What A Great Game : How did I miss this one?

Hendal — 2008-03-30T21:16:35+00:00

It is alright, she told us she cheats at scrabble, so we knew to watch her, it is about being with friends with her.

But yes, good point we have to point out no cheating, we are not playing that way - we where a ways into the wine by the time I foolishly read the part about being aloud to cheat. Thank you for pointing that out.

Alex - wonderful list, I should print that up and hand it to everyone!

My wife just asked about another game later, Oh yea.................I am making some calls and seeing if any friends have extra time.

Later and thanks

Thread: Re: What A Great Game : How did I miss this one?

DrFaust — 2008-03-30T18:59:19+00:00

Hendal wrote:
I know the advanced rules say you can cheat, but after 2 hours of gaming and for Karen to not get the win was kinda a drag, not to mention it meant the game went on for another 40 minutes. There is no way to watch everyone, so if you are a cheater you can get away with a lot in this game. Being a gamer who wants to play more then win, I was kinda bummed about the cheating, but we all laughed about i, since it was very clear the the Gnomes cheated.

I just want to point out that section on cheating also says that everyone needs to agree in advance that option is in play. Someone cheating in an ordinary game of Illuminati is as lame as cheating in any other game.

Still, glad to hear you liked the game. It really is a blast when things get going.

Thread: Re: What A Great Game : How did I miss this one?

AlexYeager — 2008-03-30T18:27:05+00:00

It, and Cosmic Encounter, are the two games that brought me into gaming. I still enjoy pulling out the ol' Illuminati set every so often, and here's a few tips that I usually pass along to new players:
- Don't be scared to go after your goal. Unless you're the UFOs, everybody knows what you need, and won't usually interfere with you for your first couple of groups. (If you are the UFOs, and this is your first game, pick one of the alignment Illuminati to be your goal. They're the easiest to go after and play, to a certain extent.)
- Make the most of those first couple of groups, though. You need power (transferable or otherwise), income, and alignments (for those important like-like bonuses) to get your acquisition engine geared up.
- Remember: closer to your Illuminati is Good. Money on your critical groups (important to goal, or master to many groups) is Good.
- Don't forget to reorganize your money at the end of each turn. Keeping money flowing to the groups that use it is important.

The above will get you a good start. Learning about the 3 types of attacks, how money can be used (and by which groups when), and structure importance are the three concepts to cover before leaping into your first game. Play it with no more than 4 people for your first game (and absolutely NO cheating allowed until you KNOW the game well), and you should find it a lot of fun!

Alex Yeager

Thread: Re: First Game, wow!

Hendal — 2008-03-30T18:23:03+00:00

WOW is the same way I feel after my first 2 games, really after the first also, what a wonderful game.

I taught 2 non-gamers and my wife and it took over 2 1/2 hours, but our one friend needed everything explained a few times. Once we pre-counted the $ it went a little faster

Thread: Re: What A Great Game : How did I miss this one?

Hendal — 2008-03-30T18:15:53+00:00

Julie,

I really recommend this game to you, it is meant to be funny and it really is. The conversations from the cards will make for a wonderful night of talking and laughter. Like I said my wife really liked it and I can tell it will be a hit with our group of friends. I would guess playing it with 4 people is a great way to start, get a better feel for it before you get 5 and 6 in the mix, which will really add to the time I think.

Some one mentioned count your $ out before your turn, to make the game go faster ( we line them up like the cards off to the side and when it is your turn you put them all on quickly since they are lined up and ready to go ) - I recommend this also.

Just pull the box out and look through the cards, I find them funny and am impressed with all of them. It even give you blank cards to make your own group, which is a super cool idea for a game. Talk about wanting you to customize the game, that is pretty cool.

I already feel I got left out by not knowing about this game since it has been out since 1992 - although after reading it had less cards and has been really refined to the new deluxe version.

Hope you enjoy it!

Thread: Re: What A Great Game : How did I miss this one?

1Wif — 2008-03-30T16:51:48+00:00

Illuminati has been sitting in our basement for years. Husband wants to play it, but I've been intimidated by it. You now have my curiosity peaked. Thanks, I'll give it a go.

Thread: My wife asked for a 2 player game of...........Illuminati!

Hendal — 2008-03-30T16:41:54+00:00

So we got in our first game of Illuminati last night and the wife really like it. Here is the session report if you missed it:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/303723

But if you don't read that, when I got home from our gardens this morning my wife was reading the rules and is ready to play again.... !!!! We where discussing what other couples would be fun to play with and how we may go visit our friends who played last with us this week instead of waiting till next Sat. to play again. OK, so all that is great, but here is the kicker.
SHE JUST ASKED ME TO PLAY A 2 PLAYER GAME OF ILLUMINATI!!!!!

When I get her to play a few quicker games she will always want to play more, and she loves scrabble. She is good about my game habits but she has never asked me to play a game besides scrabble......EVER.

So I just want to thank the BGG & everyone here for helping me find amazing new games that are changing the way I play and think about Board games ( I am playing really cool cards games also .... Politico rocks http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/32639 ) but it is also getting me games that are starting to excite my wife about playing, making me one happy camper.

THANK YOU BGG AND EVERYONE HERE!

OK, she is out of the shower ,time for game and I will get back on how it worked with just 2 people, we know it will be different , but it will also be short and we get to learn rules better, hey it is only our 2nd game.

Game On'

EDIT:

So the game went great, 1 hour flat, which is what we wanted. It is still fun to play but not as much back stabbing and no ganging up, which means if you have a run away it gets bad quick, but it is still a lot of fun to play. I figured I needed more practice before I play later to day with 4 volunteers in the botanical gardens - see how the next group likes it. Of course now I just thought to look if there are any rules for just 2 people playing ( like in Politico ) - nope it just says " Not Recommended " - which makes sense, but since we are just playing to learn it for the next group game and we wanted to waste an hour it sure seemed perfect to us. Heck, she ask me to play the game it was perfect who am I kidding.

Thread: What A Great Game : How did I miss this one?

Hendal — 2008-03-30T13:48:50+00:00

I got in my first real game of Illuminati last night and all I can say is WOW. I had read the rules and played a game through by my self to understand the game for our game night and new it would be fun. I just didn't realize how much fun it really was. Our group of 4 all new to the game, and only one a real gamer, had a blast playing. Just the cards alone are worth looking though and laughing at. It was a bizarre game to say the least. I was the network, which I think is one of the hardest to win with. Our Friend Kim was the gnomes, Chris was the servatns of Cthulhu, and Karen was the Dicordian Society. I went last and everyone let the first 3 people get their first card rather easily, putting it a few bucks to try and stop them, but being last everyone ganged up on me and put in lots of money to stop my bid. So the 2nd round I sat out to gain $ ( which I forget to get my $5 bonus for doing nothing), and waited to get something the 3rd round, which I did. The others had a lead and where doing well. We didn't see a transferrable power group card till the 5th round, which I took, but the next one to come up 2 rounds later chris destroyed, the one that came up the 8th round the banker got so I was thinking this is never happening for me, and thought to go for # of cards to win, but I was really tired and not fighting enough like I should of ( our friends showed up about 2 hours late ). Karen was about to win when The banker cheated and the Cthulhu saw it but let her get away with it so Karen didn't win.

I know the advanced rules say you can cheat, but after 2 hours of gaming and for Karen to not get the win was kinda a drag, not to mention it meant the game went on for another 40 minutes. There is no way to watch everyone, so if you are a cheater you can get away with a lot in this game. Being a gamer who wants to play more then win, I was kinda bummed about the cheating, but we all laughed about i, since it was very clear the the Gnomes cheated.

The game produces a lot of funny situations to say the least and anything can happen. Chris was getting all the special cards and Karen never got one ( which bummed her out, since everyone else was throwing them around ). Everyone really enjoyed it and they all said they would love to play this one again, so it looks like Chris & Kim will be back over next week for another game!

I know I will be pulling this one out again, we had a lot of fun and laughed a lot about it. We spent time talking about what a great game this is, and how much more depth there is to the game then you would first think. I can't wait to have played 10 games or so - so I can really get a feel for this one.

I have no clue how I completely missed this game my whole life, but I recommend this one to everyone, IT ROCKS. What a great card game with dice. So simple and yet so complex. I rated it a 9 and will see if that holds up 10 games down the line!

Edit: So my wife loved the game last night. I got home from the gardens and she was reading the rules and then told me all the things I was doing wrong, duh. So as it turns out I am the guy who buys the games, read the rules, runs through it solo, and then explains the rules. Well I was so worried about doing a good job explaining the game and making sure everyone understood there special way to win and they understand the group they control that i totally forgot to play my special ability which is to draw 2 cards every time, so now I feel stupid but really really want to get another game in. Just wait till next Sat. I am going to be trying to control the world with my puppets with a little more skip in my step this time ( to be honest I had a headache and a sore neck when our friends got here and was not excited to be be playing, then half way through the game both where forgotten from having so much fun. ).

So I might have had a good chance in the game if I new the rules better, or could read my own card! I also think the Network is better then I thought, I just needed to know how to play them, but what the heck that what a demo game is all about.

Thread: Re: so close to my first game - but denied at the last minute!

PaulOlney — 2008-03-28T04:49:14+00:00

Tom,

Do you really exist or are you an agent of something trying to takeover BoardGameGeek?

Thread: Re: so close to my first game - but denied at the last minute!

Hendal — 2008-03-19T13:05:08+00:00

Scott - I can't wait to get a game in, I have been pouring over those cards and love them.

Dave - I will let you know if they exist or have an excuse for me, it will not be good enough for missing game night I tell you, I was just oh so ready to try out this cool game, I figure one of those darn groups probably got wind of the game about to go down and they did something underhanded to stop it!!!!!!!!!!

Thread: Re: so close to my first game - but denied at the last minute!

ddubin — 2008-03-19T08:25:33+00:00

Hendal wrote:
Well no one showed up, I guess we worked them to hard. Oh well, it was a giant disappointment, but I will find out there lame excuse tomorrow and still not feel any better about it.

You may find tomorrow that you're the only person with any memory of these guests having ever existed. In that case, notify detectives Goodman and Muldoon.

Thread: Re: so close to my first game - but denied at the last minute!

ScottMcChesney — 2008-03-19T06:45:19+00:00

I hope you get a game in soon. It is a whole lot of fun.

Thread: so close to my first game - but denied at the last minute!

Hendal — 2008-03-19T04:02:50+00:00

I just picked up this game in Panama City of all places - and my friend who owns the game store said it is really fun, so I have read the rules, fallen in love with the game and theme. I have played a solo game between 4 people to figure out the mechanics of it, and to know the rules when game time comes along. So tonight the wife has some friends she wants to see and I ask our volunteers ( we have a botanical gardens and take in volunteers here in Costa Rica ) if they want to do game night. My head volunteer has been turned into a gamer and seems to really be enjoying it, and asking to play some of the games before I do. We have a new couple in there and they have not experienced game night yet, well tonight I thought would be a great night. I was thinking of Politico first, as a light game, but thought just go right into Illuminati and see how it goes.

The theme and the cards are really funny and cool, so I was looking forward to a new game. Well no one showed up, I guess we worked them to hard. Oh well, it was a giant disappointment, but I will find out there lame excuse tomorrow and still not feel any better about it. I already told my wife I am not bringing them any muffins tomorrow!

So for all you people who have played illuminati - I am jealous and hope to join your ranks very shortly.

Hendal the grumpy!

Thread: Re: Session Report

Hendal — 2008-03-17T01:56:05+00:00

what if yo just made it 6 groups to control for the win, the specials are mute, but a much faster game if everyone if fighting right out the gate? Havn't played yet, hopefully tomorrow?

Thread: Re: Session Report

Hendal — 2008-03-17T01:48:34+00:00

Great Write up, nice to hear about a 7 person game, sounds like you have played a few. 2.5 isn't bad with everyone backstabbing each other!

Thread: Re: 5-player game

Hendal — 2008-03-17T01:38:13+00:00

5 players seems to make for a long game, I think 4 works best, 3 next. Thanks for sharing, a little late!

Thread: Re: Illuminati at TABS night

Hendal — 2008-03-17T01:12:19+00:00

Bill Great response, I just got it, it looks fricking great, can't wait to play. Did a dry run by myself to get a few kinks out, I think I got it figured and ready to teach the group.

Andrew - great write up, very helpful to the newbie! Could be a review it is so well done. Thanks

Thread: Re: Three Secret Masters Meet in a Coffee Shop

DrFaust — 2008-03-15T18:20:07+00:00

Hendal wrote:
Just got this one, it looks great. Great write up, makes me want to play sooner then later, and I will get a group of 4 or more to play, sounds great.
I hope you dig it. Be sure to post about it when you play!

Thread: Re: A fun game of backstabbing and betrayal

Hendal — 2008-03-15T05:35:32+00:00

Are you fricking kidding, 4-10 hours, I know I can't get that long of a game in! I wonder if you could half the goals to win in half fairly for all and get it done in half the time?

Make a Speed version of it? if it averages even 5 or 6 hours that is a really long game, IMO.

Thread: Re: Great with the RIGHT bunch of friends...

Hendal — 2008-03-15T05:28:28+00:00

Very short review, but a great one I have to say, it is a review onto itself , and very informative! Thanks for sharing, I just got it, and am happy to know to be careful of the group I play with.

Thread: Re: Congressional Wives packin' heat?

Hendal — 2008-03-15T05:25:32+00:00

Thanks for the write up, sounds great, just got this one, can't wait to play it. 2-3 hours is just a tad to long, IMO - but I am sure my volunteers will enjoy not working and playing a longer game for a change of pace.

Sounds like you could replay it a lot, IMO, you probably need 4 games to figure out the group you control, and with 8 of them that is 32 games just to get a feel for it from all angles, and a few more I bet to really get a great grasp on it!
But I like to write reviews after 20-30 games at least, some over 50 -70 before I feel I actually know the game enough to really review it.

Thread: Re: User Review

Hendal — 2008-03-15T05:17:36+00:00

low on review, lots of enjoyment for you from this one! I just got it, can't wait to play , thanks for sharing, it sounds like your a big fan - which says I want to play it also. The theme sounds great to me.
As with most games, yes the group is always important!

Thread: Re: Custom Illuminati Cards

Hendal — 2008-03-15T02:47:58+00:00

So totally rocks, thanks for the great offer. FOr geekgold, just to cool. I just got it, after I have played a few times I will be checking this out. Get my own customs made by someone who knows how to do this is killer option. can't wait to check out your customs and then use them!

Thread: Re: Three Secret Masters Meet in a Coffee Shop

Hendal — 2008-03-15T02:44:05+00:00

Just got this one, it looks great. Great write up, makes me want to play sooner then later, and I will get a group of 4 or more to play, sounds great.

Image

Fantas — 2008-03-05T18:53:37+00:00

The finnish edition - Back of the box

Image

nnoc — 2008-02-07T21:10:15+00:00

Cards & Dices

Thread: Re: Illuminati Deluxe With Everything, the Low-Cal Version.

DrFaust — 2008-02-01T21:15:55+00:00

I spent this afternoon doing a lot of swapping around to keep the alignments relatively close to their original proportions. As it turns out, there aren't enough Violent groups in all the sets to maintain the ratio of them in the basic set. I think that's okay, though, because Violent is far and away the most populous alignment in basic Illuminati, with a whopping 23 instances out of 83 groups.

As it stands with regards to control arrows, there are just as many, proportionally speaking, as in the basic set. Alignments are all pretty close. The furthest off, after Violent, is Straight, which is down five. Since only Weird and Violent matter for win conditions, I figured it would be all right if the others were off a little. There are only two fewer Weird groups -- one if you count Principia Discordia -- and 15 fewer Violent groups. If you use this list, you may want to reduce the Society of Assassins' special goal to 6 Violent groups.

Overall, I tried to make the list with an eye towards keeping interesting and funny groups. If it has a handy or neat ability, I tried to make sure it fit. The exceptions are the groups from Y2K which allow the different Illuminati groups to draw an extra card. I always thought trod a little too closely to the Network's special ability, so those were left out. In the same vein, almost all the special cards I cut were the alignment-specific ones, not only because I've found their usefulness questionable, but also they were almost enough on their own to bring the number of specials down to where it ought to be.

I'd put up the spreadsheet I used for others to look over, but Google Docs doesn't seem to like the ROUNDUP function for some reason. Anyway, here's the list. It is, unsurprisingly, quite long. It has 187 groups, 31 specials and 16 artifacts, drawn from the basic Illuminati set, Y2K and Bavarian Fire Drill. I haven't really given any thought to how Brainwash's propaganda rules would be affected by any cut media groups, as I've never played with that expansion.

Specials:
Apathy
Assassination x2
Backfire
Bailout
Bribery
Cat Burglar
Computer Espionage
Deep Agent
Emergency Powers
Gremlins
Hidden Connection
I Lied
Interference x2
Market Manipulation
Media Campaign
Murphy's Law x2
Ninjas
Nuke Them From Orbit
Reorganization
Secrets Man Was Not Meant to Know x3
Senate Investigating Committee
Slush Fund
Subliminals x2
Swiss Bank Account
Time Warp x3
Unmasked
Whispering Campaign
White Collar Crime

Artifacts:
Ark of the Covenant
Blivit
Crystal Skull
Flesh-Eating Bacteria
Hitler's Brain
The Holy Grail
Hubble Space Telescope
Midas Mill
Necronomicon
Perpetual Motion Machine
Principia Discordia
Screaming Meme
Soulburner
Shroud of Turin
Spear of Longinus
Talisman of Ahrimanes

Groups:
Actuaries
Airlines
Alien Abductors
All-Martz
American Autoduel Association
Animal Testing Labs
Anti-Nuclear Activists
Antiwar Activists
Arms Smugglers
Baristas
BATF
Big Media
Big Medicine
Bird Flu
Black Helicopters
Bloggers
Cable TV
Cellular Phones
Center for Weird Studies
Centers for Disease Control
Chain Letters
Chemtrails
Chinese Campaign Donors
Christmas
Church of Elvis
C.I.A.
Clone Arrangers
Coffee Shops
Comic Books
Congressional Wives
Convenience Stores
Credit Card Companies
Cycle Gangs
Day Care Centers
Defense Contractors
Democrats
Deprogrammers
Diamond Mines
Dolphins
Door-to-Door Salesmen
Druids
Drug Companies
Eco-Guerillas
E.P.A.
Embedded Media
Euthanasia Advocates
Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow
Exterminators
Extreme Sports
Fast Food Chains
F.B.I.
Federal Communications Commission
Federal Reserve
FEMA
Feminists
Flat Earthers
Fnord Motor Company
Fort Knox
Frankenfoods
Fraternal Orders
Furries
Gamers
Gay Activists
The Ghoul Channel
Girlie Magazines
The Great Pyramid
Green Party
Gun Lobby
Hackers
Health Food Stores
High Fashion
Hollywood
Home Schoolers
Homeland Security
Intellectuals
International Communist Conspiracy
Junk Mail
Kiddie TV
KGB
KKK
Kudzu Planters
I.R.S.
Invasive Species
L-4 Society
LARPers
Liberation Theology
Libertarians
Loan Sharks
Local Police Departments
Madison Avenue
The Mafia
The Men in Black
Microstuff
Militia
Minutemen
Moonies
Moral Minority
Museums
NASA
NATO
Nephews of God
New York
Nigerian Scams
Ninety Minutes
Nuclear Power Companies
Office Temps
Offshore Banks
Offshore Call Centers
Online Auctions
OPEC
Open Gnoonix
Orbital Mind Control Lasers
Otaku
Overnight Delivery Services
Pale People in Black
Paranoids
PATE
Patent and Trademark Office
Pentagon
The Phone Company
Phone Phreaks
Pod People
Pollsters
Post Office
Private Launch Companies
Psychiatrists
Public Art
Punk Rockers
Reality Shows
Recyclers
Red Cross
Reformed Church of Satan
Reptoids
Republicans
Robot Sea Monsters
Rosicrucians
Saturday Morning Cartoons
Savings and Loans
Science Alarmists
Science Fiction Fans
Screen Savers
Secret Service
Semiconscious Liberation Army
Silicon Valley
Space Station
Spammers
Special Persecutor
Society for Creative Anarchism
South American Nazis
Stem Cell Researchers
Suicide Bombers
Supreme Court
Survivalists
Sushi Bars
Tabloids
Telephone Psychics
TSA
Trekkies
Ultramegahyperplexes
Underground Newspapers
The United Nations
Universities
Urban Gangs
Virtual Pets
Voice Mail
Warehouse 23
Web Designers
Webcams
W.I.T.C.H.
Yakuza
Yuppies

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cobalto — 2008-01-31T13:24:56+00:00

Some controversial cards

Thread: Re: Why is this better then INWO???

Karlsen — 2008-01-28T10:26:50+00:00

Skinny Mini wrote:
Fnord!

I am a big fan of INWO. Its one of my favorite games. Would I like Illuminati: Deluxe Edition. Everyone seams to thin this is better then INWO...why is that?

Hail Bob!

Because Illuminati: Deluxe Edition finishes?

Thread: Custom Illuminati Cards

ScottMcChesney — 2008-01-28T04:42:23+00:00

If anyone is interested, I’ve started making custom cards for Illuminati. Below is a link to the first batch I’ve posted up on the Geek, containing four groups and four artifacts.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/fileinfo/29956

Let me know if you have any suggestions for the next batch of cards.

If you would like your very own custom card made to your specifications send me a message with what you want on it and 0.25 Geek Gold and I will email the image to you. If you want a card made and sent to you I can do that as well if you cover the cost of postage and materials.

Thread: Re: Why is this better then INWO???

DrFaust — 2008-01-27T06:46:04+00:00

I think it depends on what you like about INWO. If you like the deck-building aspect, I don't think regular Illuminati would be to your liking, because every game uses the same deck that everyone shares.

Also, it's a little less complex than INWO, with fewer types of cards and rules about them. So I think it appeals to people who prefer to deal with a single core mechanic than several types or subsets of rules.

I've yet to play INWO myself, but I recently picked up a pile of cards and mean to put some thought into building decks to try it out myself.

Thread: Re: Why is this better then INWO???

Windopaene — 2008-01-27T05:06:44+00:00

Cause INWO is kinda broken? Like, if a game goes more than a turn or two someone didn't have their deck constructed right? Or something like that...

Thread: Re: Why is this better then INWO???

bwingrave — 2008-01-27T04:08:40+00:00

I have the INWO box set and the full-color version of Illuminati: Deluxe.

I think Illuminati: Deluxe is better than INWO for people who like simpler games. There are fewer cards in the deck, and there are no goals cards, plots cards, or resource cards. Players just focus on groups. It feels like the game has more room for negotiation without the players needing to take a ton of other things into consideration.

I have played shorter variants of Deluxe a few times in the past few years, but I haven't gotten INWO to the table at all, because it feels to complicated to understand, let alone teach. But I keep telling myself I'll play INWO at least one more time....

Thread: Why is this better then INWO???

Skinny Mini — 2008-01-27T02:37:09+00:00

Fnord!

I am a big fan of INWO. Its one of my favorite games. Would I like Illuminati: Deluxe Edition. Everyone seams to thin this is better then INWO...why is that?

Hail Bob!

Thread: Re: Illuminati Deluxe With Everything, the Low-Cal Version.

wylsonated — 2008-01-25T04:02:27+00:00

Thanks for your insights! Please grace us with your deck list once you've decided on what to keep and remove. It'll make for an interesting reference and discussion point.

I've been tending to want to balance the deck so all the Illuminati groups have a reasonable chance of winning, but then I realised that one of the biggest draws of this game is how to work within the limitations and special abilities of the group you get.

Now if only I can get enough friends interested in this monster of a game!

Thread: Re: Illuminati Deluxe With Everything, the Low-Cal Version.

DrFaust — 2008-01-23T19:43:51+00:00

wylsonated wrote:
If you really want to switch out the cards, would arrow direction and/or group ideology (violent, weird etc.) play a part too?

That's pretty much what I'm thinking. I'm less concerned with what direction arrows are pointing than I am there are enough of them and that the alignments are equitably represented, since juggling power structures is part of Illuminati.

wylsonated wrote:
I remember someone posting that the large number of weird groups in the game was to give the Discordian Illuminati a fighting chance among the higher-powered ones.

I agree with that. Weird is the second most populous alignment in the basic set and most populous when all sets are combined. Which is helpful to Discordia not only because others will try to deny them those groups, but they need a wide variety of targets because building a viable structure out of Weirdoes can be really tough.

Of course, it's curious that Discordia gets such a big helping hand when another conspiracy, Shangri-La, needs just as many Peaceful groups to win, and there are rather noticeably fewer groups subscribing to that ideology.

Thread: Re: Illuminati Deluxe With Everything, the Low-Cal Version.

wylsonated — 2008-01-23T09:08:55+00:00

Really good work! I hope I can use your data to do some card switching to take out some of the less interesting groups.

If you really want to switch out the cards, would arrow direction and/or group ideology (violent, weird etc.) play a part too?

I remember someone posting that the large number of weird groups in the game was to give the Discordian Illuminati a fighting chance among the higher-powered ones.

Thread: Re: Playing Online

jpmarchant — 2008-01-23T05:06:11+00:00

Is there any place to meet people online to play this?

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ScottMcChesney — 2008-01-09T06:37:56+00:00

A customer Illuminati card I created. Now we all know the truth!

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Fantas — 2007-10-10T17:37:29+00:00

These components are from the, not-at-all deluxe looking, finnish deluxe edition.

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tommih — 2007-08-18T10:03:39+00:00

Finnish edition box

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delenore — 2007-04-11T05:17:04+00:00

Uncut cash

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Rokkr — 2007-03-24T18:36:42+00:00

Superior box scan of original cover