October 7, 2002 - The House Rules Corner
Various Sick and Twisted Variants for Illuminati

Editor: CSW Member, Walter O'Hara, recently posted these entertaining variants for Illuminati, published by Steve Jackson Games.

IlluminatiOne of my favorite card games, bar none, is Steve Jackson Games' ILLUMINATI.

As you now know, Illuminati's great appeal is the absurdity of the power structures you create and the interplay between the players as they try to achieve wildly different victory conditions. That's the goal, naturally, but the mechanics of getting there involve money (megabucks), power, influence, and interaction between players. I've played a ton of Illuminati games over the years, ever since that first black plastic box purchase, oh so long ago. I've always enjoyed throwing in just a slightly different flavor of running an Illuminati game-- nothing that messes with the mechanics or play balance, but something that might make the original premise of the game just a tad more harder (or easier) to achieve. Some tinkerings have worked, most have not. Here is a list of simple, one-shot variants you can try for a little added fun. Most of these variants have been tried with my local gaming club as a joke or one-shot item. I don't advocate playing Illuminati this way all the time (I think the original game is just fine, thanks), but every once in a while a slice of variety can be a hoot. Sobriety is an option.

1) Illuminati Roulette: This requires a red dice and black dice, both six-sided... and I mean red and black, no other colors will do. Once per turn, as a Regular Action, you may pick a number between 11 and 66 and a color, either red or black. Then place a sum of MB of either 5, 10 , 15 or 20 MB in front of you and roll the two dice. If you hit the number/color combination EXACTLY, you receive 10 x the Megabucks you put down.

2) The Hidden Illuminati Sweepstakes: When playing, keep your Illuminati face down. Let the other guy sweat it out for a while as he figures out who the unseen puppet masters opposing him are. Once per turn, as a Free Action, the player may attempt to guess opposing Illuminati. If he guesses correctly, he wins 5MB. If he guesses incorrectly, he pays 5MB into the bank. HIGHER STAKES VARIANT: As in Regular Hidden Power Illuminati, but a Regular Action is used to make a guess. If the player wins, he gets 12 MB. If he loses, he pays 10 MB. Cannot be played when only one hidden Illuminati remains. (Hidden Powers really are effective in a game of four or more... not recommended for small games).

3) The Hideous Chop Poker Variant: Ever play Chop Poker? Of course you haven't. That's the poker variant where the players wager various digits and payment is due immediately (using a handy cleaver). My friend 'Lefty' Dowd taught me this one, but I've never played it. Once per game a player may try a chop poker challenge on another player. This counts as a Regular Action. The challenger declares a chop poker challenge and has to target a power structure emanating from the major Illuminati. The power structure MUST have at least three cards to be considered a worthy "digit" for a chop poker challenge. The challenging player then slowly deals the top four cards in a row side by side. Count the power (only, not transitory power) on the four cards. If the power total is a sum greater than the targeted player's power total (including Illuminati), then the structure is "chopped". The challenging player pockets any MB that was on the power structure, but not on the Illuminati itself. This can be a very hairy variant...

4) There's a Bomb in the Building variant: We used to call this "the Terrorist" but we've had to many real life reminders of terrorism lately, so now we call it bomb threat. Each player looks through the groups deck in advance of the game. Secretly, they select a group, and write down the name of that group on a piece of scrap paper. The piece of paper is stuffed in the player’s pocket or other holding area if you are playing the “Nude Illuminati” variant. At any point in the game, the player may pay 5MB to the bank, and pull the paper out of his or her pocket and announce the name of that group to the players. The group on the paper is then destroyed.

5) Everything Gives you Cancer variant: This one is kind of quirky, and horribly unbalanced. I present it as a variant for groups that enjoy teaming up on a player they don’t like much. You will need glass beads or some other marker to mark cancer cells. In a regular game of Illuminati, declare one player the Cancer Player. The Cancer Player’s victory conditions change from whatever is in the rules to the following.

6) Boy am I Clueless variant: this is essentially the Hidden Illuminati Sweepstakes, in reverse. Instead of being in the dark about OTHER player’s Illuminati, you have no idea what your OWN Illuminati is. This is accomplished by playing with the cards taped or rubber banded to your forehead (facing outward), without peeking at the cards first. Therefore, you will know what the other players have but not yourself (obviously, not recommended for a 5 or 6 player game). You have the same Victory Conditions as before, but you have to act according to your best hunch of what Illuminati you are running. You may be wrong! This can be a very silly variant.

So here are a few of the twisted concepts we’ve come up with over the years. I hope you have some fun with them. We did!

Walter O'Hara
Members can reach Walter at this e-mail address: hotspur@rocketmail.com

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