# Different flavors of Illuminati (the Steve Jackson game) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 17, 2001, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-flavors-of-illuminati-the-steve-jackson-game/76785 "2001-08-17T19:08:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Interrobang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/interrobang/32/17463_2.png) [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2001, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-flavors-of-illuminati-the-steve-jackson-game/76785/1 "2001-08-17T19:08:01Z")
Back in the early '80s, I owned the Steve Jackson game Illuminati – the version that came in one (or more, if you bought expansion sets) black plastic box, with cheap gold-paper money chits and smallish cards that you used to build your power structures. As with so many items from my adolescence, I have no idea what happened to my copy of the game. C’est la vie. I’d like to buy a copy again, but now I’m confused by the various options available. To wit: 1. eBay’s got at least one copy of the version of Illuminati I remember, cheap paper money and all. 2. Deluxe Illuminati – this seems to be the same as the earlier Illuminati, but with nicer, larger cards. 3. The Illuminati: New World Order CCG. My question: what’s the difference? Is Deluxe Illuminati the same game I remember fondly, or are the rules (substantially) different? And is the CCG at all comparable? I’ve never gotten into a CCG before, and if it’s a completely different game, I’m not all that interested. I’ve thrown this in IMHO rather than GQ because I figure people might want to advocate for some version or another. That’s cool. And on a side note: has any _Buffy_ fan done created the Watcher’s Council (or other Buffiverse groups) as an Illuminati group? Any stats suggestions? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2001, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-flavors-of-illuminati-the-steve-jackson-game/76785/2 "2001-08-17T19:14:57Z")
The Illuminati:NWO CCG wasn’t that great of a game. In fact, by the original rules, it sucked. There are cards that are absurdly powerful with no balance on them. Also, although some groups had high powers, making them difficult to take over, you got one free takeover a turn, making the point moot and resulting in having no reason not to play with those cards. As a result, I remember posting on a newsgroup shortly after it came out, saying “Something is wrong, because people are winning on turn three.” Someone replied, “If you’re not winning on turn three, you’re playing wrong.” They later amended the rules, eliminating the automatic takeover and weakening the reload cards. This may have gone a long way towards making the game playable, but by then I had no one who was willing to try. So I don’t know how much better the game is with the rule changes. I believe the revised rules can be found in ‘The INWO Book’ which is probably gathering dust in a game store near you. There were two expansions for the CCG: Assassins and SubGenius. Again, by the time they came out, I’ve no idea how they affected the game. I have the SubGenous expansion, but I’ve never played it. ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2001, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-flavors-of-illuminati-the-steve-jackson-game/76785/3 "2001-08-17T19:17:06Z")
When in doubt, go with the Deluxe Set. The [NWO CCG](http://www.sjgames.com/inwo/) is a “trading card” game, a-la Magic: The Gathering. [sub]The John Birch Society controls the Democratic Party to attack the Boy Sprouts for the Gnomes of Zurch[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2001, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-flavors-of-illuminati-the-steve-jackson-game/76785/4 "2001-08-17T19:21:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tranquilis \* > \*\*When in doubt, go with the Deluxe Set. The [NWO CCG](http://www.sjgames.com/inwo/) is a “trading card” game, a-la Magic: The Gathering. > > [sub]The John Birch Society controls the Democratic Party to attack the Boy Sprouts for the Gnomes of Zurch[/sub] \*\* However, unlike Magic, it is available in a Factory set, called “One With Everything” in which you can get all the cards. ---
**Author:** ![Interrobang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/interrobang/32/17463_2.png) [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2001, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-flavors-of-illuminati-the-steve-jackson-game/76785/5 "2001-08-17T20:26:35Z")
> [@](#): > > When in doubt, go with the Deluxe Set. So is the Deluxe version the same game as the original 1982 Illuminati, except with bigger, fancier cards? ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2001, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-flavors-of-illuminati-the-steve-jackson-game/76785/6 "2001-08-17T20:52:55Z")
Yup. Fancy-dancy colored cards. New, improved money counters. Expansion card sets. Paranoia. Strange aircraft, and men in dark coats. It’s _FUN_! [sub]Move along. Nothing happend here. It was swamp gas.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2001, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-flavors-of-illuminati-the-steve-jackson-game/76785/7 "2001-08-18T01:35:33Z")
Are the Boy Sprouts still “Fanatical”? ---
**Author:** ![Ennui](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ennui/32/3396_2.png) [@Ennui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ennui)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2001, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-flavors-of-illuminati-the-steve-jackson-game/76785/8 "2001-08-18T04:51:23Z")
Ahh Steve Jackson games, it’s been years. I picked up Illuminati because I was a fan of Ogre and Car Wars then later, based on the recommendation in the Illuminati credits bought my first Robert Anton Wilson book. I sorta lost track of SJ games after that, but have read almost everything RAW has published. Let me control a planet’s oxygen supply and I don’t care who makes the laws.-Great Cthulu’s Starry Wisdom Band ---
**Author:** ![robgruver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@robgruver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robgruver)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2001, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-flavors-of-illuminati-the-steve-jackson-game/76785/9 "2001-08-18T05:28:34Z")
Steve Jackson Games has reprinted it, and it should be on sale at your favorite comic/game store. If not, check the [Steve Jackson](http://www.sjgames.com) website for information on how to order the game. My wife and I bought it through a game store here in town and it is great, great fun. ---
**Author:** ![nonsequitur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ab097/32.png) [@nonsequitur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nonsequitur)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2001, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-flavors-of-illuminati-the-steve-jackson-game/76785/10 "2001-08-18T21:27:02Z")
I believe I own every card game SJG has with Illuminati on it. So here goes. **Out of Print** Original sets. These were sold in three different sets. Each set added new cards and rules. The cards were very small and in two tone. The third set which I believe is the rarest includes a global power board and rules for altering the stats of the cards. The original deluxe version. My personal favorite. The cards are still two tone but were enlarged to stanard size. Deluxe included all of the cards and rules in sets 1 and 2 but not 3. Money was on black plastic chits. By far the best MegaBucks included in any version. **Still in Print** INWO. The trading card game. This is a very different game. Each card gets an action every turn. There is no money. I own it but do not play it, EVER. No one will play with me. INWO Subgenious. Stand alone expansion to INWO. I would personally buy the expansion over INWO. Designed for multi-player and more balanced, it is really odd. More than you ever wanted to know about Bob Dobbs New Deluxe. This is vertially identical to the original. Some minor changes have been made. Such as communism has been replaced by something else. Functionally this is still the game you already own. Y2K Expansion. Add on to Deluxe. This is similar to INWO Subgenious but with the old rules. Personally I want the one SJG will never release. The one that contains the best of both rule sets. Instead we play Deluxe or Subgenious with a lot of house rules.