Illuminati Errata

Last modified September 21, 2017

There are no mistakes in Illuminati or its supplements. If something seems wrong, it's simply because you don't understand what's really going on . . .

Nevertheless:

Illuminati (all editions later than May 1999)

As far as we know, there are no errata in editions printed after May 1999.

Deluxe Illuminati (May 1999 Edition)

How to identify this edition: It's the one with the approximately 5" × 8" box and the full-color cards. Or you can look at the copyright date.

Remove the entry for New Turn Sequences (p. 9) from the table of contents; you're not cleared for them.

Semiconscious Liberation Army: The arrow should be incoming, not outgoing.

United Nations: The side arrow should be incoming.

Rulebook:

Page 7, column 1 says, "Privilege may be abolished only by use of the Special card Interference."
Page 8, column 2 says, "But only the Deep Agent card can abolish privilege."
Page 14, the Society of Assassins: Their special ability should read "+4 on any attempt to neutralize any group."

The truth is: "The Special card Deep Agent can abolish privilege. The Special card Interference lets you interfere in a privileged attack (but the attack is still privileged, and everybody else still has to stay out)."

1991 Edition

How to identify this edition: It's the one with the approximately 9" × 12" box, the pink-and-white cards, and the plastic money chits. Or you can look at the copyright date.

We really think this one was bug-free :-)

1987 Edition

How to identify this edition: It's the one with the approximately 9" × 12" box, the pink-and-white cards, and the cardboard money chits. Or you can look at the copyright date.

Enemy agents sabotaged Figure 2 in the first printing of the Deluxe Illuminati rulebook. In that figure, the South American Nazis card should be turned around so that its incoming control arrow connects to the outgoing control arrow of the Illuminati.

P. 14 should say that the Assassins have a +4 to neutralize. On many copies, their agents have changed that to +6 in order to terrify and intimidate their foes. But the card is right; it is a +4.

Orbital Mind Control Lasers: The card would have been clearer if it had read "Once per turn, owner can add, remove or reverse an alignment of any other card in play." This card may be used only during the owner's turn, and the change lasts for one turn only.

Illuminati Original Edition (1982)

Rules clarifications: When an attack is announced, all transferable power to be used in that attack must be added and announced before any money is spent. No transferable power may be added in the middle of the attack.

When two cards are played and one contradicts the other (e.g., Assassination and Murphy's Law, the last card played is the one that governs.

Illuminati Y2K (June 1999)

This is the first supplement to the 1999 and later ("Deluxe") editions of Illuminati; it has 109 full-color cards.

Door-To-Door Salesmen, El Nino, Spammers: These groups have no Power; the Power line should be ignored.
Dolphins, Gamers: Each of these groups should have an outgoing control arrow on the right side of the card.
I Lied: When someone takes his money back, the target number for the attack is immediately adjusted as though that money had never been spent. Other players may then contribute money, if they can, before the dice are rolled.

Several of the Special cards have numbers in parentheses after the title. Ignore these. You don't see them; they are not there; they mean nothing at all.

Illuminati Expansion Set 3 (1985)

Many people have asked whether the "Criminal" and "Weird" tracks on the gameboard have somehow been switched. That's a very good question. Fnord.

Illuminati Expansion Sets 1 and 2 (1983)

We're not aware of any errata in these sets, and by now you'd think we would know . . . unless the evidence has been mysteriously hidden somehow . . . Naaaah, couldn't happen.

Illuminati Brainwash

This was Expansion Set 3 in a new edition, with the gameboard fixed and a neater title.

However, there's a glitch in the rules. The listing of Media groups in the rules omits Empty Vee, the Phone Company, and the Tabloids. The listing on the gameboard is correct.

Update for Bavarian Fire Drill: The Bavarian Fire Drill deck adds 12 more cards which should be considered Media: Bloggers, Cellular Phones, Embedded Media, the Ghoul Channel, Ninety Minutes, Offshore Call Centers, Reality Shows, Science Alarmists, Screen Savers, Ultrahypermegaplexes, Voice Mail, and Webcams.

Bavarian Fire Drill

This is the second supplement to the 1999 and later editions of Illuminati; it has 110 full-color cards.

Second Printing (2012)

The 2012 printing, which will be in stores in July (give or take a bit) has no known errata.

First Printing (2007)

Bobbleheads, Euthanasia Advocates, Furries, Kommie Kids Klub, Low-Carb Diets, Nutrition Nazis, Otaku, Roadside Exhibits, Screen Savers, Suicide Bombers, Zero Tolerance: These groups have no Power; the Power line should be ignored.

Many copies of the game contain misplaced fnords that will prevent you from seeing the list of "Media" cards used when you play with the Brainwash expansion. These are: Bloggers, Cellular Phones, Embedded Media, the Ghoul Channel, Ninety Minutes, Offshore Call Centers, Reality Shows, Science Alarmists, Screen Savers, Ultrahypermegaplexes, Voice Mail, and Webcams.

Illuminati: Crime Lords – February 19, 2009

On page 13 of the rulebook, replace "If a player leaves or is eliminated, the number of Crooks required to win does not change." with "If a player leaves or is eliminated, the number of Rackets required to win does not change."

Deluxe Illuminati and Y2K Rulings – December 27, 2000

Q: Suppose the Church of the SubGenius loses an entire arm of its Power Structure to an attack. Does it get 10 MB for each Group it lost, or just 10 MB total?

A: It gets 10 MB for each Group.