2018 BGG rank #14611

Illuminati (Second Edition)

2–6 players 60–180 min Ages 13+ 2.8/5 complexity 5.5/10 rating

About this game

Second edition of the classic game of world domination, in which each player is a secret society attempting to spread their tendrils into special interest groups throughout the world. The content and mechanics of the Second Edition have been revamped for the twenty-first century, dropping the Cold War-era Government/Communist alignments and adding a new alignment, Media, for the information age. The cards have been redesigned with cartoon-style artwork by Lars DeSouza, and updated to reflect modern political and social conflict: now the Russian Campaign Donors can work with Antifa to take control of Furries, or destroy the Hipsters.

What it feels like

Network and Route Building Tile Placement Variable Player Powers Dice Rolling Open Drafting Card Game Humor Negotiation Political Science Fiction

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Setup

1. Each player chooses or is randomly assigned an Illuminati card, which becomes the head of their power structure. 2. Shuffle the group deck and deal a starting hand to each player (typically 8 groups, per ruleset variant). 3. Place the remaining group deck face-down as the draw pile; remaining uncontrolled groups may be placed face-up as available targets. 4. Each player receives a starting Megabucks (MB) treasury in their Illuminati card. 5. Special cards are shuffled separately; each player draws a starting hand of special cards. 6. Determine the first player (e.g. randomly or by mutual agreement). 7. Place the group card table/stats available for reference.

Turn flow

On your turn, you may take up to two actions (unless modified by special cards or group abilities). Actions include: attempting to control an uncontrolled group, attacking a rival's group to control or neutralise it, attempting to destroy a group, and using special group abilities that count as actions. After actions, you collect income from all groups in your power structure (income phase). Special cards and group abilities that are "not an action" do not count against your action limit. The UFOs are the only group that may act more than once per turn.