How Illuminati Works

Illuminati seems deceptively simple when you open the box. All it contains, after all, is a stack of cards with fun, comic-book type illustrations on them, a couple of dice and some money sheets known in the game as Megabucks. Well, that and the 16-page instruction booklet.

When beginning play, be aware that you might not want to ask your six year-old cousin to join in. Not only is the game complicated and above your average Monopoly strategy, it's also long (about three hours, if you've played before) and has some more mature themes. (Cards, for instance, speak of death, disease and destruction. All tongue-in-cheek, but those kindergarteners can be notorious for taking jokes literally.)

You're going to want to play with four to six players. You can play with less, but you won't have as much wiggle room in terms of negotiation (not to mention malicious backstabbing). Add more players, and you'll have to tweak the rules to add some more money to your bank and add at least an hour or so to your time set aside for global takeover.

To begin, each player draws a black Illuminati card. (Don't worry, we'll tell you what that means in the next section.) After that, all the players will roll both dice; the player with the highest score goes first. Play proceeds counter-clockwise after that.

Next, let's turn a conspiratorial eye to the next section, where we'll see how the basic structure of a turn works.

Let's not beat around the bush. Illuminati has a 16-page rule book for a reason: It's complicated. There seems to be an exception to every rule and then another exception to those. But let's familiarize ourselves with the simple objects of the game and how it's played, and soon we'll be well on our way to maliciously taking over the world.

So, how the heck do we seize all power? There are two ways to win the game:

Note that if multiple players are able to grasp domination at the same time (either by alliance or not), the victory is shared.

Now let's take one turn so we can see how the game works. This is no small feat; six things happen per turn. (This card game is no blackjack, in other words.) In the next section, we'll go into the cards more specifically, but for now, let's break it down so we can check out how each turn looks. In order, you will:

4. Take any free actions:

5. Transfer money. Move any of your money to groups you control. You can do two transfers per turn.

6. Take your special actions. This is where the special power each Illuminati group has comes in handy. Take the special privilege your group grants you.

And there you go! You've now played one turn of Illuminati. Ready to control the world? Yeah, probably not.

Since there are so many actions one must take in a game of Illuminati, it's easy to get confused about what to do when (and to whom). Here's a simple list of the actions you'll choose from on the third step of your turn. Remember, you can choose two:

First off, you're only attacking groups. That means that you're not attacking Illuminati cards themselves (those black ones that you start the game with). A player must announce who they're attacking; that is, you can't hide your intentions of what action you're taking. You also must say when you're attacking (so no saying you're going to attack someone and sneakily taking it back).

While you're adding and subtracting power and resistance numbers to determine the success of the attack, keep in mind that you can also spend your money to increase your chances of winning. One Megabuck adds one power point to you, making your odds of a victorious attack that much greater. You can also help or hurt another player's attack by spending your Illuminati money. (Group income can't be used.) For each dollar you spend, it affects the die by one point. You do need to declare when you're interfering. No covert aiding of the enemy.

As with every play in Illuminati, don't you worry; there's a way around it. You can declare your attack "Privileged" by discarding a Special Card, which means no one is allowed to interfere. Wait, Special Card? Yup, you still have a lot to learn. Let's take over the next section first, where we'll learn what those cards -- and the words on them -- really mean.

Learning how to take a turn of Illuminati is probably harder than attempting to take over the world in real life. But now that you have a vague idea of how to play -- by controlling your own groups, destroying your enemies' and amassing money -- we can get into the nitty gritty of how to go about doing that.

As we mentioned earlier, when you first start, you'll draw one Illuminati card from the eight available. That'll be your Illuminati Group, and each has cool characteristics:

All Illuminati cards have a power number (used when you're rolling numbers for attacks) and an income number (that you'll collect on every turn). Next are the Groupcards. These are the ones you'll try to control and will draw on every turn. Some things to know about Groups:

Special cards (like the Time Warp card on the previous page) are also in the general pool. These give pretty straightforward advantages to the player who draws them, but follow the instructions for how to use them correctly. Note that you can only employ them once, and they can be traded, sold or straight up given away out of the goodness (or pure cunning) of your heart.

Now that you've got your cards and actions down, it's time to figure out the basics of how to manipulate your Illuminati groups.

Power structure in Illuminati is (predictably) somewhat complicated, but can help you strategize. When a group is attacked to control successfully, that group now becomes a "puppet" of the controlling group (referred to as a "master"). You can tell it's controlled because the puppet's inward arrow is now placed next to the outward pointing arrow of the master.

The closer your card is to your Illuminati, the harder it is for another group to attack. That's because you get an extra ten points on your resistance (power if you're being attacked to destroy) if your group is adjacent to the Illuminati. One group away is five points more, and two groups away is two points. (Anything farther doesn't get any extra points.)

Keep open control areas and that aren't infringing on other cards (in other words, make sure you have room to grow). It's also important to make sure that your structure isn't too vulnerable; having a lot of groups controlled by one branch of your Illuminati card leaves you open to an attack that could completely annihilate you.

One of the most important things to keep in mind when playing? Negotiate! Wheel and deal. Trade favors, make (and break) alliances, bribe, sell your protection or attacks. Beyond that, watch other players closely. See if you can convince them to conspire against others for mutual benefit--and then drop them when it suits you.

Because another fun thing about Illuminati? You can be as duplicitous and sneaky as you like. Read on to the next section for more ways to ruin the game for everyone else.

So far, we seem to be dominating the world swimmingly. We know how to take each turn, we know what the cards mean, we know how to get or destroy cards, and we even know where to put them once we've done all that. Consider us experts!

Not quite. As we've mentioned, Illuminati is nothing if not contradictory. For almost every action, there is an opposite action to counteract it, neutralize it or simply make it more complicated. In other words, it's probably going to take a few three-hour games to really get the hang of it. Keep your instructions handy, and you'll get it.

But once you've conquered the basic game, Illuminati doesn't let you stop there. There are tons of ways to make it even more mind-boggling. Written into the very rules of Illuminati is the stipulation that to make the game even more fun, you can play a nasty, duplicitous version simply by cheating. You don't even have to let the other players know.

If you're down for more complicating factors, take the secrecy of the Illuminati to heart and keep things hidden from each other. For instance, the game suggests that instead of using the pre-determined special goal for each Illuminati, have each player pick one goal from the list and spend the game bashing your head against the table trying to figure out who is going to win how.

Even more nasty? Don't let anyone know what your Illuminati card is in the first place. Sure, you can only use your own power, income, and special power -- but you can also draw less income, use less power or not use the special power at all to confuse your fellow players.

Illuminati is a terrifically complicated game, but the irony is that you can play it in a way where almost anything goes.

The idea of the Illuminati harkens back to an 18th century theory about conspiratorial groups set to control the world. And while Illuminati claims to be a tongue-in-cheek game satirizing the idea of vast global domination, it has developed its fair share of conspiracy theories itself.

Tipping his hat to the "Illuminatus!" books by Robert Anton Wilson (another slightly satiric series about secret, global societies), game creator Steve Jackson is typically vague about how Illuminati is shaped by conspiracy. When asked in an interview if he was a member of the Illuminati, Jackson replied, "The Illuminati do not exist. I hold a moderately senior position" [source: Jackson].

That hasn't stopped some people from taking the humor out of the game and seeing it as not just a review of conspiracy theories, but a foreteller of the vast evil that will befall Earth. Sound menacing?

According to the theories, it definitely is. A lot of the conspiracies come from the cards themselves. For instance, a group card called "Combined Disasters" shows a scene of chaos, fire and a tumbling clock tower in the art. Some see the card as predicting the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami, as the clock bears a striking resemblance to the Wako Tower clock in Tokyo. The clock's hands also appear to be at 3:11 -- perhaps a tip to the March 2011 date of the (combined) disasters [source: Exohuman.com]? (We would be remiss if we didn't note that Tokyo suffered little damage in the earthquake and tsunami, and the Wako Tower was not harmed at all.)

One of the more rampant theories is that the cards predict the September 11 terrorist attacks. One group card, labeled "Terrorist Nuke" depicts a huge fireball destroying one office-type tower with a similar (standing) tower in the background. Another card called "Pentagon" shows an inferno in the center of the Pentagon building [source: Rense].

What, not convinced? Well, there's also a card called "Oil Spill" that shows a duck covered in thick crude, which some claim is evidence of the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico [source: Hayes]. There's even a Princess Di card, with the former royal surrounded by paparazzi . . . as on the night of her death? OK, bit of a stretch [source: Kardkrazy.com].

But if you do believe in the Illuminati (both the conspiracy and the power of the game) then stay out of Oregon. Because the game predicts (with the "Oregon Crud" card), that, well, something will happen to Oregon. From the picture, it appears to be some sort of purple sludge. So watch out for that, our rugged Northwestern friends [source: USAHitman.com].

Had enough conspiracy? Of course not. Check out the next page for lots more information ... if you dare!