During an attack to control the attacker must overcome the Resistance of attacked groups with combined Power of his groups (affected by Alignment of attacker and attacked), money spent, and influence of special cards. The primary Illuminati (player) activity is taking control of groups.
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Special cards represent unexpected phenomena and features, for example increasing Income or Resistance of a group. The game uses a multitude of conspiracy theory in-jokes, with cards such as the Boy Sprouts (where sinister youth leaders influence the world leaders of tomorrow), the Orbital Mind Control Lasers, the Mafia, two headed Anti-Nuclear Activists, or Trekkies. The game is written with the usual SJG humor. Every group and Illuminati has some Power, Resistance and Income values most of the world groups have an Alignment.
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The world is represented by group cards such as Secret Masters of Fandom, the CIA, The International Communist Conspiracy, Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow, California, and many more – there are over 300 official cards available. The deluxe edition added the Society of Assassins and The Network, and the Illuminati Y2K expansion added the Church of The SubGenius and Shangri-La. The Pocket Box edition depicted six Illuminati groups: The Bavarian Illuminati, The Discordian Society, The UFOs, The Servants of Cthulhu, The Bermuda Triangle, and The Gnomes of Zürich. The players take role of Illuminati societies that struggle to take over the world. The game is played with a deck of special cards, money chips (representing millions of dollars in low-nominal unmarked banknotes) and two six-sided dice. Later commentators have attributed both the game and the Illuminatus! trilogy as using real conspiracies as "targets of ridicule." Description File:Illuminatigame.jpg They must be-they are, by definition, behind everything." Despite this initial involvement, Wilson later criticized some of these products for exploiting the Illuminatus! name without paying royalties (taking advantage of what he viewed as a legal loophole). Robert Shea provided a four-paragraph introduction to the rulebook for the Illuminati Expansion Set 1 (1983), in which he wrote, "Maybe the Illuminati are behind this game. Over the next few years, three expansions for the Pocket Box Illuminati game were published-the first two were substantially incorporated into the deluxe edition, while the third was an earlier version of what would become Illuminati: Brainwash. After doing research on the Illuminati and conspiracy theories, and "extensive and enthusiastic playtesting" it went on the market in July 1982 in the Pocket Box format (a plastic box the size of a mass-market paperback) which was at the time the usual for SJG. He decided "a game about the secret-conspiracy idea behind Illuminatus!" was doable. Steve Jackson decided against adapting the novel because of the expense of game rights, and the difficulty of adapting a novel with such convoluted plots.
![1994 illuminati card game 1994 illuminati card game](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/edS-DVG8buY/hqdefault.jpg)
In September 1981, Steve Jackson and his regular freelance cover artist Dave Martin discussed their mutual admiration of the Illuminatus! Trilogy, and the latter suggested a game.