It's been a while
So, seeing this post, you may think that I've chosen to break my rather lengthy silence with some interesting anecdote from my life (or more likely, a request for help with some programming-related thingy). Well, it's not so, but I will go on at some length about the rules of the Illuminati game.
I played a game of Illuminati with kuddliphish, Brock, and Mary this weekend. Now, there was a time when the rules to this game were fairly stable, but ever since we acquired our own updated copy, it seems like we discover new rules almost every time we play. After this last game, I was inspired to actually read through all the rules from start to end.
Here are some of the things I found, and some of the things I didn’t find. (It’s possible that I knew some of these in the past and just forgot them.):
1. At the start of the game, before anyone’s turn, each Illuminatus gets money equal to its income. I had played that you got nothing before the start of your first turn.
2. Money owed by the Post Office may be paid by its master or its Illuminatus. I had played that you could pay from anywhere on your power structure. This also seems to say that the Post Office itself is not allowed pay what it owes, but I refuse to believe that.
3. The section on the IRS didn’t seem to explicitly say whether the tax can be split between two locations on the taxed power structure. It also didn’t explicitly say whether the target or the IRS’s owner decides where the money comes from.
4. In order to collect 5 extra MB for a turn, you have to skip your whole turn (except income phase). I had played that you just had to skip your two primary actions but could still take money transfers, etc.
5. When attacking to neutralize, any alignments in common between the attacker and defender help the attack, and opposing alignments hurt. I had played the opposite.
6. At first, I played that the Orbital Mind Control Lasers’ effect could be used at any time (like playing a card) and last until just before the turn of the player who started the game (one "full" turn of play). Because the effect spanned individual players’ turns, it could be used to get an extra alignment for the purposes of victory conditions. The new version of the card says the change lasts for the owner’s turn only. I took this to mean that it couldn’t be used to aid a victory condition, but the section on The Bermuda Triangle says it can aid a victory condition. I think this third interpretation is my least favorite, and I intend to lobby against it in future games (and probably for the original version, since I’m clearly departing from the official rules anyway).
7. The Bavarian Illuminati’s special can only be used on one action per turn. This most recent game was the first time I had seen the Bavarians in play for a while, and we didn’t apply a limit. It definitely seems like a good idea, though.
8. One interpretation of the section on interference put forward at this most recent game held that even the defending Illuminatus can’t spend to influence the outcome of a priveleged attack (we weren’t talked into using this interpretation). After reading the section more carefully, I can see an argument for banning all Illuminatus payments and cards, including both attacker and defender. I think my earlier interpretation that it only prevents interference by Illuminati other than the attacker and defender is more likely.
9. At the cost of an action, you can accept a group (plus any puppets it might control) from another player on your own turn. Previously, I had played that groups could only be transferred between players on the giving player’s turn.
10. When a new group is acquired, that group itself must be able to fit into the power structure without overlap, but if its puppets overlap other things in the power structure, groups can be rearranged to fix the overlap, as long as no puppet changes masters. Any incoming group that can’t be made to fit through this process goes to the middle. I had played that no rearrangement was allowed, and any overlap immediately resulted in kicking the trouble-makers to the middle.
11. When one player gives a group to another player, all money on that group and its puppets goes along to the other player. I had played that half the money was lost, much as if the group had been captured.
12. You can’t knowingly give a gift to another player that will cause that player to win, unless you also expect to win yourself as a result (you can’t throw the game). I don't think this ever came up.
13. No straight or government group may attack the Discordian power structure in any way, or aid such an attack. Wow! I had played that they couldn’t attack directly, but this indicates that they also can’t contribute transferable power. An argument could also be made that this means these groups can’t even contribute bonuses (+n to destroy any group), but I think it’s pretty weak. This new tidbit makes that power strong enough without reading it broadly.
I played a game of Illuminati with kuddliphish, Brock, and Mary this weekend. Now, there was a time when the rules to this game were fairly stable, but ever since we acquired our own updated copy, it seems like we discover new rules almost every time we play. After this last game, I was inspired to actually read through all the rules from start to end.
Here are some of the things I found, and some of the things I didn’t find. (It’s possible that I knew some of these in the past and just forgot them.):
1. At the start of the game, before anyone’s turn, each Illuminatus gets money equal to its income. I had played that you got nothing before the start of your first turn.
2. Money owed by the Post Office may be paid by its master or its Illuminatus. I had played that you could pay from anywhere on your power structure. This also seems to say that the Post Office itself is not allowed pay what it owes, but I refuse to believe that.
3. The section on the IRS didn’t seem to explicitly say whether the tax can be split between two locations on the taxed power structure. It also didn’t explicitly say whether the target or the IRS’s owner decides where the money comes from.
4. In order to collect 5 extra MB for a turn, you have to skip your whole turn (except income phase). I had played that you just had to skip your two primary actions but could still take money transfers, etc.
5. When attacking to neutralize, any alignments in common between the attacker and defender help the attack, and opposing alignments hurt. I had played the opposite.
6. At first, I played that the Orbital Mind Control Lasers’ effect could be used at any time (like playing a card) and last until just before the turn of the player who started the game (one "full" turn of play). Because the effect spanned individual players’ turns, it could be used to get an extra alignment for the purposes of victory conditions. The new version of the card says the change lasts for the owner’s turn only. I took this to mean that it couldn’t be used to aid a victory condition, but the section on The Bermuda Triangle says it can aid a victory condition. I think this third interpretation is my least favorite, and I intend to lobby against it in future games (and probably for the original version, since I’m clearly departing from the official rules anyway).
7. The Bavarian Illuminati’s special can only be used on one action per turn. This most recent game was the first time I had seen the Bavarians in play for a while, and we didn’t apply a limit. It definitely seems like a good idea, though.
8. One interpretation of the section on interference put forward at this most recent game held that even the defending Illuminatus can’t spend to influence the outcome of a priveleged attack (we weren’t talked into using this interpretation). After reading the section more carefully, I can see an argument for banning all Illuminatus payments and cards, including both attacker and defender. I think my earlier interpretation that it only prevents interference by Illuminati other than the attacker and defender is more likely.
9. At the cost of an action, you can accept a group (plus any puppets it might control) from another player on your own turn. Previously, I had played that groups could only be transferred between players on the giving player’s turn.
10. When a new group is acquired, that group itself must be able to fit into the power structure without overlap, but if its puppets overlap other things in the power structure, groups can be rearranged to fix the overlap, as long as no puppet changes masters. Any incoming group that can’t be made to fit through this process goes to the middle. I had played that no rearrangement was allowed, and any overlap immediately resulted in kicking the trouble-makers to the middle.
11. When one player gives a group to another player, all money on that group and its puppets goes along to the other player. I had played that half the money was lost, much as if the group had been captured.
12. You can’t knowingly give a gift to another player that will cause that player to win, unless you also expect to win yourself as a result (you can’t throw the game). I don't think this ever came up.
13. No straight or government group may attack the Discordian power structure in any way, or aid such an attack. Wow! I had played that they couldn’t attack directly, but this indicates that they also can’t contribute transferable power. An argument could also be made that this means these groups can’t even contribute bonuses (+n to destroy any group), but I think it’s pretty weak. This new tidbit makes that power strong enough without reading it broadly.