The Endgame

Eliminating a Player

Exception: If the Servants of Cthulhu have destroyed 7 groups, and then destroy their own last puppet as their 8th victim, they are not destroyed themselves . . . they win.

And . . . if you eliminate a player who was using the same Illuminati that you are, you get his Resources!

If a player leaves the game, the effect is as though he had been eliminated.

Winning the Game

Otherwise, the game ends when, at the end of a turn (his own, or someone else's), a player meets one of his Goals. The winner can't claim victory until his rivals acknowledge that they can't stop him.

No one win may during the first round. The first time anyone can claim a victory is at the end of the first player's second turn.

If two or more players both meet their Goals at the same time, they share the victory, dividing the world between them. Note: players who are playing the same Illuminati (except Shangri-La) cannot share a victory. If they meet their goals at the same time, neither wins. The game continues unless some other player also met his Goals at the same time.

You can meet your Goals three ways:

Basic Goal: This is the same for all players. Control a certain number of groups, including your Illuminati. Set the number at the beginning of the game; the more groups, the longer the game.

With starter decks, we recommend playing to 10 groups. Once you have built powerful decks, play to 11 or 12 (or even more). We recommend 12 groups for the two-player game.

Special Goal: This is different for each kind of Illuminati. Some special goals just modify the basic goal -- certain kinds of groups count double for victory. No group can ever count more than double, and no more than three groups can ever count double. Thus, if you are play ing to 12 groups, you must have at least 9 cards to win even if you have some special goal.

Goal Cards: These are special Plots. If you have a Goal card in your hand, achieving that goal will give you victory. Any time a foe has even one hidden Plot, it might be a secret goal.

If a foe exposes a Goal card in your hand, it is still a valid Goal -- but now your enemies know about it.

However, no player (except the UFOs) may have more than one Goal card in his hand. If you have one Goal and draw another, you must immediately discard one.

When you win with a Goal card, you must expose all your Plots, to show that you had no other Goal cards! And if a player's Plots are exposed at any time and he has more than one Goal card, without some special card or power that allows it, he's out of the game.

Some Goal cards describe unique goals, and cannot be combined with other goals in any way. Others give bonuses to reach your other Goals. Again, no more than 3 groups can ever count double. Read the cards.

Note that a Goal card is never actually "played." When a player reveals it and says "I win!", you cannot use Hoax or a similar card to cancel the Goal card. Of course, if a Goal is exposed before its owner announces a victory, any card that affects exposed Plots can affect it.

Changing Groups to Meet Goals

Some changes are permanent (see Glossary). Permanent changes always count for goals. For instance, if you play a card that turns a group Peaceful, it now counts as Peaceful for your goals!

Temporary Power changes (from Plot cards that give +10, for instance) do not count for Goals. The same is true for anything that gives a bonus to Power effective only for specific actions.

Temporary Alignment changes (such as from the Orbital Mind Control Lasers) do count for Goals. And if the change in Alignment causes a change in Power (because of a NWO card, for instance), that change in Power also counts for Goals. But these changes only count while they're in effect! They are good only for a victory declared at the end of that turn. For instance, if the Lasers make a group Liberal, it only counts as Liberal for that turn . . . even if it is destroyed while Liberal, it is does not count that way after the turn is over. (It won't be remembered as Liberal when the winners write the history books.)