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Card Database

Browse the cards, what they do, and the real-world conspiracy lore they riff on.

All Illuminati Group Resource Place Personality Plot Goal Special Other

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

. . . Or Kill Me!

A Plot card that lets a player demand an all-or-nothing outcome, forcing a target to either deliver a huge benefit or suffer destruction.

Place · INWO: SubGenius

'Frop Farm

A Place card representing a hidden plantation growing 'Frop,' giving its controller a strange, mind-altering home-base bonus.

Group · INWO: SubGenius

A puppet Group that raises the total number of Groups needed to satisfy Illuminated Goals without itself counting toward those Goals, and stays locked to its master, unable to be moved or removed from play except by directly attacking it or by removing its master from play.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

13013

A Plot card that channels the SubGenius church's fondness for numerology and secret codes, giving a bonus tied to invoking the number's supposed hidden significance.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

18 1/2-Minute Gap

A Plot card representing a conveniently vanished piece of evidence -- exactly what got erased isn't shown on the card, only that it's gone.

Plot (Zap) · INWO: Assassins

A Brief Attack of Conscience

A Zap plot that strikes at a specific target group, representing a sudden moral qualm that weakens whatever underhanded scheme it was pursuing.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

A.M.A.

This Peaceful, Conservative group can act to defend or attack any Science group regardless of alignment, and gets a solid bonus to control, destroy, or protect a Science group.

Illuminati · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Adepts of Hermes

This Illuminati doesn't lose a group card from hand after a failed Attack to Control -- the card just returns to hand -- and it gets a strong bonus toward controlling or destroying any Magic group. Its Special Goal counts every Magic Resource it controls as a group toward the ordinary victory count.

Group · INWO: SubGenius

Advanced Supersonic Aluminum Nazi Hell Creatures from Beneath the Hollow Earth

A Weird Group of absurdly over-the-top subterranean monsters, valued purely for shock-value chaos rather than any coherent strategy.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Agent in Place

Play this at any time using a group with Power 4 or more; look through one rival's hidden Plot cards and force them to discard one of your choosing.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Air Magic

Play this to help defend a Place against most Disasters (though not Earthquakes or Volcanoes), tripling that Place's Power for the defense; it takes an action from a Magic group to use, or you can instead discard the top card of your deck unseen to pay for it.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Airlines

A Group representing the commercial airline industry, a heavily regulated Group valued for its steady income and its usefulness for moving people and cargo.

Place · INWO: Assassins

Al Amarja

A Place card representing the fictional island of Al Amarja, giving its controller a strange, chaotic home base with unusual bonuses tied to the island's anything-goes reputation.

Group (Personality) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Al Gore

This Personality gets a strong +8 bonus toward directly controlling any Green-aligned group.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Albino Alligators

Play this at any time to give one of your Weird groups a one-time +10 bonus to either Power or Resistance -- immediate if used with an action, or lasting until end of turn if used defensively (though it won't count toward Goals in that case).

Plot · INWO: Assassins

Alien Abduction

Lets a UFOs or other Space Group spend an action to automatically seize control of a Personality straight from your hand or the shared uncontrolled area, outside of a normal attack.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Alien Abductors

A Weird Group representing supposed alien abductors, a paranormal-fringe faction valued for its unpredictable, chaos-inducing abilities rather than steady income.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Alternate Goals

A Plot card tied to the game's Special Goal system -- every Illuminati carries its own alternate "Special Goal" alongside the shared Basic Goal -- though the card's precise effect isn't reliably documented here.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

American Autoduel Association

A Group card built around the road-warrior, demolition-derby subculture of Steve Jackson Games' own Car Wars/Autoduel setting -- a violent, gearhead faction that fits neatly alongside the game's other fringe organizations.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

An Offer You Can't Refuse

A Plot card built around coercive pressure -- by most accounts, it stops a targeted rival from drawing a new Group card on their turn.

Plot (Zap) · INWO: Assassins

Anarchists Unite!

A Zap plot that strikes at an opposing group by inciting anarchist disruption against it, playing on the irony of a leaderless movement being deployed as a directed weapon.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

And STAY Dead!

Play this immediately after any Group is destroyed or discarded, using a Magic group's action, to make sure that group can never be brought back by any other card's revival effect.

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Angel's Feather

This unique Magic item attaches to one of your Peaceful groups, forcing a re-roll (with the second result standing) on any failed attempt by that group to take control, or any successful attack made against it.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Angst

Played using your Illuminati's action plus an action from either the Psychiatrists, the Intellectuals, or the Orbital Mind Control Lasers, this permanently crushes a target group's or Place's leadership morale, dropping its Power to 1 for good.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Animal Testing Labs

A Group representing pharmaceutical and cosmetic animal-testing laboratories, a business useful for research-driven bonuses but also a magnet for activist retaliation.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Annual Convention

Play this right after a Place is destroyed or Devastated to launch an instant attack (Power 12, or 9 if the Place was only Devastated) against any Organization in play -- only Magic or Weird Science groups can interfere with this particular attack, on either side.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Anti-Nuclear Activists

A Group representing the real-world anti-nuclear movement, leaning toward the game's Peaceful and Liberal alignments and finding it easier to organize alongside like-minded protest groups.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

Anti-Slack

A Plot card that strikes at a target's freedom and leisure, forcing them into unwanted, grinding obligation.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Antiwar Activists

This group provides bonus income specifically to a player who controls the Bermuda Triangle Illuminati.

Plot (Zap) · INWO: Assassins

Anything Worth Doing Is Worth Overdoing

A Zap plot that lets a player escalate an attack or scheme well past what was necessary, trading subtlety for extra destructive force.

Special · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Apathy

A Special card that saps opposing players' ability to act, representing a wave of public indifference that dulls everyone's effectiveness for a turn.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Are We Having Fun Yet?

Play this at any time, spending an action from group(s) whose combined Power exceeds the target's, to cancel one action or special-ability use by that target.

Goal · INWO: SubGenius

Arise!

A Goal that can be played once your Illuminati controls no Groups at all: it immediately protects you from elimination, and if you still hold no puppet Groups by the end of that turn you win outright; playing it also makes your Illuminati count as destroyed for goals like Fratricide or Servants of Cthulhu.

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Ark of the Covenant

This unique Magic artifact lets you secretly designate one of your own groups; if that group is ever destroyed, you reveal the note and the group that destroyed it is destroyed too (or, if an Illuminati did the destroying, its owner must sacrifice a different group instead) -- and the enemy's loss counts toward your own Goals. You may change which group is named on your turn.

Organization · INWO: Assassins

Arms Dealers

Has a special ability that can force a trade of cards between players.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Arms Smugglers

A Violent, Criminal Group representing black-market weapons trafficking, useful for a player who wants ready-made destructive leverage.

Special · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Assassination

A Special card that lets a player attempt to kill an opposing Personality outright, removing them -- and whatever bonus they provided -- from the game if the attack succeeds.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Assertiveness Training

Played using your Illuminati or Violent groups whose combined Power meets the target's Resistance (doubled if the target is currently Peaceful), this permanently makes the target group Violent-aligned, stripping away its Peaceful alignment for good.

Plot (Disaster) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Atomic Monster

This Disaster instantly attacks any Coastal Place without needing an action -- Power 16 against a Huge Place, 20 against any other Place, or 24 against Japan or California specifically -- Devastating it on success, or destroying it outright if the attack succeeds by more than 6. It can also be played to give +10 to any attack meant to destroy the Robot Sea Monsters or the Nuclear Power Companies.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

Attitude Mutation

A Plot card that forcibly shifts a target's outlook, twisting their attitude into something stranger and less predictable.

Place · INWO: Assassins

Australia

Gets a +10 bonus when defending against a standard Attack to Destroy, though the bonus does not extend to Disasters or other Instant attacks.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

B.A.T.F.

This Violent, Government group gets a strong +8 bonus on direct attacks to destroy any Fanatic group, plus a solid +6 bonus toward controlling or destroying the Gun Lobby, the Tobacco Companies, or the Liquor Companies.

Plot (Zap) · INWO: Assassins

Back to the Drawing Board

A Zap plot that undoes an opponent's recent scheme, sending their plan back to square one.

Plot · INWO: Assassins

Back to the Salt Mines

Gives a +10 bonus to a non-Instant attack made against a Place, and that bonus applies even to non-Instant Disasters.

Plot (Freeze) · INWO: Assassins

Backfire

A Freeze plot that turns a targeted group's own attribute against it for a turn, representing a scheme that blows up in its user's face.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Backlash

Played using a group that shares an alignment (besides Fanatic) with the target, this undoes one alignment, Power, or Resistance change a Plot card inflicted on that target, and discards the offending Plot card -- though it can't touch changes made by an NWO card.

Plot · INWO: Assassins

Backmasquerade

A Plot card that lets a player disguise one scheme as another, hiding its true target or purpose from opponents.

Special · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Bailout

A Special card that lets a struggling group receive an emergency infusion of cash, propping it up instead of letting it collapse.

Plot (Zap) · INWO: Assassins

Bait and Switch

A Zap plot that lures an opponent into a plan with one apparent target, then redirects the attack somewhere else entirely.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Bank Merger

Play this at any time to give every Bank group you control a fresh action, even ones that already used theirs this turn -- though it won't help a Bank group that's otherwise been blocked from getting action tokens.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Bank of England

This Straight, Government Bank group can trade its action for two Plot cards at any time.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Bar Codes

A Group representing the barcode and product-tracking industry, a quietly pervasive business useful for its surveillance-adjacent reach into everyday commerce.

Illuminati · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Bavarian Illuminati

As the game's default/premier Illuminati, this card can spend 5 Megabucks once per turn to make one of its attacks “privileged,” shielding that attack from other players' interference.

Plot · INWO: Assassins

Beach Party

A lighthearted Plot card that lets a player throw a distracting beach party, pulling attention -- and possibly resources -- away from more serious business.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Benefit Concert

Play this at any time to give one of your Liberal groups a one-time +10 bonus to either Power or Resistance -- immediate if used with an action, or lasting until end of turn if used defensively (though it won't count toward Goals in that case).

Illuminati · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Bermuda Triangle

On their turn, the player controlling this Illuminati may rearrange the internal layout of their own power structure.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Big Media

This group grants a bonus when its controller tries to take control of any other Media-aligned group.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Big Medicine

A wealthy Group representing the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry, valued for its deep pockets and its influence over public health policy.

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Bigfoot

This unique Resource can spend its own action to cancel any action taken by a Media group -- Bigfoot showing himself in public is enough to distract the cameras -- and it gives a +3 bonus toward controlling any Green group.

Group (Personality) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Bill Clinton

This Personality gets a +3 bonus toward controlling any U.S. Government group and a strong +8 bonus toward directly controlling any Government group -- and whether his Liberal alignment actually applies at any given moment is decided by a die roll (1-3 yes, 4-6 no).

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Bimbo at Eleven

Played by a Media group, this gives a +5 bonus on an attack to destroy any male Personality; the attack is shielded from outside interference except by other Media groups, and if it succeeds, the target is permanently disgraced and can never return to the game.

Plot (Freeze) · INWO: Assassins

Bite the Wax Tadpole

A Freeze plot that forces a target group to swallow something unpleasant, disabling one of its attributes for a turn.

Group (Personality) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Bjorne

This Personality gets a +4 bonus toward directly controlling any Media group and an extra action token for every Media group it directly controls -- but whoever destroys Bjorne gets to draw a Plot card, plus one more for every point of Power Bjorne had at the time.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Black Activists

This Liberal group gets a +2 bonus toward controlling any other Liberal group and a +4 defensive bonus against any attack made or assisted by a Liberal group.

Resource · INWO: Assassins

Black Helicopters

Must stay linked to a Group that is both Secret and Government; if that Group ever loses either alignment, even temporarily, Black Helicopters is discarded.

Blank · Illuminati (Base Game, current/canonical edition)

Blank cards (3)

Three intentionally blank Group cards included as spares in the deck, meant to stand in for a card lost or damaged in play, or -- with the group's blessing -- to let players invent a group of their own.

Blank (Group) · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Blank cards (4)

A set of four blank template Group cards, included so players can design and write in custom organizations of their own.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Blank Group Cards (3)

Blank template Group cards included in the box so players can design and write in a custom organization of their own to add to the game.

Illuminati · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Blank Illuminati card

A blank template Illuminati card, included so players can invent a custom secret-society faction of their own to play.

Illuminati · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Blank Illuminati Card

A blank template Illuminati card, included so players can invent a custom secret-society faction of their own to play.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Blitzkrieg

Play this immediately after taking control of any Group to give it an action token, letting it act the same turn it was captured.

Resource · INWO: Assassins

Blivit

Grants its owner immunity to the Nuclear Power Companies' ability to cancel actions.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat

A Plot card whose exact effect isn't reliably documented here, though its name signals a rallying, wartime-leadership theme.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Bodyguard

Play this immediately after any Assassination attempt to make it automatically fail; linked permanently to the Personality it protects, it then gives that Personality a further +6 against any attempt to destroy it, including future Assassinations -- until the Personality is eventually killed, at which point the Bodyguard is lost too.

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Book of Kells

This unique Magic artifact either adds 1 to the owning Illuminati's regular and Global Power, or -- if linked to a Magic group instead -- lets that group take two actions per turn, as long as neither action is an Attempt to Destroy.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Botched Contact

Play this, using an action from one of your groups, when a rival plays a Group for an automatic takeover; they must return that Group to their hand and pick a different card for the automatic takeover instead.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Boy Sprouts

A Group card built on a wholesome-looking youth-scouting movement, useful for its outsized, long-game influence over impressionable future leaders despite its harmless Boy-Scout image.

Goal · INWO: SubGenius

Brag of the SubGenius

A Goal card offering an alternate path to victory built on shameless self-promotion, rewarding a player for boasting their way to the top.

Group (Place) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Brazil

This Huge, Coastal Nation gives an extra action token to the group controlling it, if that group is Corporate-aligned.

Special · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Bribery

A Special card that lets a player pay cash directly to grease an attempt to take control of a group, buying extra effective Power for that one attack.

Plot (Zap) · INWO: Assassins

Brushfire War

A Zap plot that ignites a small, contained regional conflict, striking at a target group with localized violence rather than an all-out attack.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

Bulldada

A Plot card that unleashes absurdist chaos on a target, disrupting it through sheer nonsensical spectacle rather than logical attack.

Group · Illuminati 1982 Original + Expansion Sets 1 & 2 (1983, combined list)

C.F.L.A.I.O.

Though nominally a Corporate-aligned group, this union front can call a strike against any other Corporation, giving it a sharply increased bonus on a direct attack to destroy a Corporate group and a smaller bonus toward controlling one.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

C.I.A.

By paying 5 Megabucks from its own treasury on your turn, this group lets you secretly examine every Special card held by one opponent of your choice.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Cable TV

A Group representing the cable television industry, a Media-heavy business valued for its wide, always-on reach into households.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

California

A Group card representing the state of California, prized as a home base for a power structure built around media, entertainment, and West Coast counterculture.

Group (Place) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Canada

This Peaceful, Liberal Nation gets a strong +10 bonus toward directly controlling any Green group.

Plot (Assassination) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Car Bomb

This Assassination instantly attacks any Personality at any time without needing an action, at Power 8; a single Violent or Criminal group may optionally add its own action and Power to the attack.

Goal · INWO: SubGenius

Cast Out False Prophets!

A Goal card offering an alternate path to victory built around purging rival belief systems, rewarding a player for discrediting other Personality or religious groups.

Plot (Paralysis) · INWO: Assassins

Cat Juggling

A Paralysis plot that ties up a target group in an absurd, distracting sideshow, taking it out of action until its owner pays to restore focus.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Cattle Mutilators

A Weird Group tied to the unexplained cattle-mutilation phenomenon, a paranormal-fringe faction valued for chaos and shock value over steady income.

Plot · INWO: Assassins

Cease-Fire

A Plot card that forces a temporary halt to hostilities, preventing attacks for a turn -- useful for a player who needs a breather or wants to stall an opponent's momentum.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Celebrity Spokesman

Played any time outside of an attack, this links a Personality you control to an Organization you also control (as long as it's neither Secret nor Government, and shares no opposing alignment), boosting the Personality's Power to 4 -- until either card is captured or destroyed.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Censorship

This can be played by any Straight, Conservative, or Government group making or assisting an attack against a Media group, giving that attack a hefty +15 Power bonus and shielding it from outside interference.

Group (Place) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Center for Disease Control

This Peaceful, Government Science group can use its action to supply Relief to one Devastated location each turn; it can also, riskily, launch a direct biological-warfare attack against a Place with a startling +15 bonus -- but if that attack fails, the CDC is automatically destroyed in retaliation.

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Center for Weird Studies

This unique Resource lets you, once per turn, discard a Plot card to give an extra action token to any Group or Resource that's already acted this turn -- though it still can't use its Power twice in the same attack.

Uncategorized · Illuminati (Base Game, current/canonical edition)

CFL-AIO

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

CFL-CIO

A Group representing organized labor, likely to lean Liberal in outlook and useful for building influence among other worker- and union-aligned groups.

Plot (Paralysis) · INWO: Assassins

Chain Letter

A Paralysis plot that saddles a target group with a self-perpetuating chain letter, tying up its attention until the obligation is paid off or broken.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Chain Letters

A Group representing chain-letter and pyramid-style mail schemes, a low-cost, self-propagating annoyance useful for spreading influence rather than raw power.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Charismatic Leader

Playable at any time as the acting group's action, this immediately boosts one of your Fanatic groups' Power to 6 and stays linked to it -- though you can only have one Charismatic Leader in play at once.

Group (Place) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

China

This Huge Communist Nation gives an extra action token to a Corporate controller, and is so historically durable that any attempt to destroy it suffers a steep -20 penalty.

Uncategorized · Illuminati (Base Game, current/canonical edition)

Chinese Campaign Donors

A Group added in a later printing of the game, representing a foreign political-donor network angling for the same kind of access and influence that other Corporate or Government groups compete for.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Chinese Campaign Donors (New)

A Group built around foreign money flowing into American political campaigns, useful for a player angling to control Government-aligned groups through the back door of campaign finance.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Christmas

A Group representing the Christmas retail season, a massive, temporary surge of consumer spending useful for a quick cash infusion.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Church of Elvis

This Peaceful, Weird Church group's Power jumps to 4 if the Elvis Presley Personality card is anywhere in play, or all the way to 8 if you're the one controlling him.

Group · INWO: SubGenius

Church of Middle America

A Straight, conformist Group representing bland, mainstream normalcy, valued as a large but easily manipulated 'Pink' power base.

Illuminati · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Church of the SubGenius

Playable as its own secret-society Illuminati, this card lets a player run the game as the Church of the SubGenius itself, with a unique special ability tied to the group's cult-parody ethos.

Organization · INWO: Assassins

Church of Violentology

When it takes part in an attack, its owner draws one extra card for every participating Group, not just a single card for the whole attack.

Group · INWO: SubGenius

Citizens for Normalcy

A Straight Group of anti-Weird crusaders, useful for a player pushing back against occult, fringe, or countercultural targets.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Citizenship Award

Playable at any time as the acting group's action, this immediately boosts one of your Conservative groups' Power to 6 and stays linked to it -- though only one Citizenship Award can be in play at once.

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Clipper Chip

This Resource gives every Government group in your power structure the ability to eavesdrop on phone calls worldwide, adds +2 Power to each of them, and makes your whole structure immune to the Phone Phreaks -- though you must discard it the moment you have no Government groups left.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Clone

This lets you play a Personality from your hand that duplicates one who has already been Assassinated; you must win control of it normally, unless you control the Clone Arrangers, in which case you get it automatically -- and doing this means the original Personality no longer counts as "destroyed" for whoever killed it.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Clone Arrangers

A Group of shadowy geneticists and fixers who deal in human cloning -- a science-fiction twist on the game's roster of fringe operators.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Coffee Shops

A Group representing the coffee-shop boom, a trendy business valued for its ubiquity and its usefulness as an informal meeting spot for other groups' business.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Cold Fusion

Play this at any time to give one of your Science groups a one-time +10 bonus to either Power or Resistance -- immediate if used with an action, or lasting until end of turn if used defensively (though it won't count toward Goals in that case).

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Combined Disasters

This lets you combine two Disaster cards against the same target -- you play both, treat one as the "main" Disaster whose instructions you follow, and simply add the other Disaster's Power on top.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

Comet Hail-Bob

Played immediately after a rival successfully takes control of a Group from hand or the uncontrolled area, it destroys that newly-controlled Group outright (though the kill does not count toward any Goal); it costs an action from the player's Illuminati or two Church Groups, and can be used only once per game.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Comic Books

A Group representing the comic-book publishing industry, a cheap and disposable-seeming medium the game treats as an overlooked lever of mass influence.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Commitment

This is a free move, playable at any time -- even mid-attack -- that boosts one group's Resistance to 8 and stays linked to it; the target can belong to anyone, including a group a rival just played.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Computer Dating Services

A Group representing early computerized matchmaking services, a niche business useful for building unlikely alliances between otherwise unrelated groups.

Special · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Computer Espionage

A Special card representing a hacking-style attack, letting a player dig into an opponent's cards or plans through digital snooping rather than brute force.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Computer Security

Played immediately after a rival's card, using an action from the Network or any Computer group, this completely negates any Plot card that concerns Computers or was used against a Computer group.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Computer Virus

Played immediately after any die roll, using an action from a Science, Space, or Computer group, this retroactively shifts that roll by 2 in either direction.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Congressional Wives

A Group of Washington political spouses who use their access and social clout to push moral-crusade causes -- a Straight, Conservative-leaning faction useful for pressuring Media or entertainment groups.

Personality · INWO: SubGenius

Connie Dobbs

A Personality card representing 'Bob' Dobbs's fictional wife, giving its controlling group a bonus tied to behind-the-scenes SubGenius church influence.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Conspiracy Theorists

A self-referential Weird Group of conspiracy theorists, comically well-suited to detecting -- and disrupting -- the very kind of hidden manipulation the game itself is built around.

Plot (Paralysis) · INWO: Assassins

Contract on America

A Paralysis plot that puts a target group under a hostile 'contract,' tying it up until its owner pays to break free.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Convenience Stores

A mundane, Straight-aligned Group representing the ubiquitous corner convenience store -- easy to acquire, useful mostly for the steady trickle of income it provides.

Uncategorized · Illuminati (Base Game, current/canonical edition)

Copy Shops

A mundane, low-key Group representing the neighborhood photocopy-and-print storefronts that quietly reproduce whatever paperwork, flyers, or fringe newsletters their customers bring in.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Copy Shops (Assassins)

A Group built around neighborhood copy shops, valuable for their quiet usefulness to anyone who needs to duplicate documents, propaganda, or evidence without official notice.

Group · INWO: SubGenius

Corrective Phrenologists

A Group that can aid another Group's special attack to strip an alignment (such as Violent) from a target, and gets its own spent Action token back whenever it assists such an attack, regardless of which alignment is being removed.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Corruption

Play this right after Relief reaches a Devastated area to have corrupt local officials steal the supplies, blocking any further Relief attempts there until after your next turn.

Group (Personality) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Count Dracula

This Personality can attack Vampire groups directly despite their normal Secret protection, and can't be destroyed by ordinary means -- only Magic can finish him off for good.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Counter-Revolution

This lets you play a Nation from your hand that duplicates one already destroyed, using your Illuminati's action or Government groups with combined Power 10 or more, bringing it back as though it had never fallen -- and the original no longer counts as destroyed for whoever took it down.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Counterspell

Play this, using a Magic group's action or your Illuminati's, the moment a Magic Resource is used to attack you or help an attack against you -- that Resource is destroyed on the spot.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Cover of Darkness

Play this immediately after a Gadget or Artifact Resource is destroyed or discarded to reveal it was never lost at all -- you get to keep it.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Cover-Up

A Plot card whose exact effect isn't reliably documented here, though its name points toward suppressing or concealing some other event or card already in play.

Plot (Paralysis) · INWO: Assassins

Crackdown on Crime

A Paralysis plot that lets a player invoke tough-on-crime enforcement to freeze up a Criminal-leaning target group until it's paid off.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Credit Card Companies

A wealthy Group representing credit-card issuers, valued for its steady, debt-driven income and its detailed reach into everyone's spending habits.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Crop Circles

A Weird Group tied to mysterious crop-circle formations, a paranormal-fringe faction useful for eerie, disruptive chaos rather than steady income.

Plot · INWO: Assassins

Crusade

A Plot card that lets a player launch a righteous, ideologically driven offensive against an opposing group.

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Crystal Skull

This unique Magic artifact lets you look at the top three cards of your deck whenever you draw a Plot card, pick the one you want, and place the other two back on top or bottom as you choose.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Currency Speculation

Use this at any time to triple the Power or Resistance of one of your Bank groups for its next action or defense.

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Cyborg Soldiers

This Gadget links to any Violent group and doubles its Power -- though if that group is ever destroyed, the Cyborg Soldiers are lost along with it.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Cycle Gangs

This group grants a bonus toward any attempt to destroy another group, regardless of who owns it.

Place · INWO: SubGenius

Dallas Catacombs

A Place card representing a hidden underground SubGenius sanctuary, giving its controller a secure, secretive home base.

Group (Personality) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Dan Quayle

This Personality can, by using his own action, cancel any action taken by any Media group -- distracting them with an incredibly ill-advised public remark.

Organization · INWO: Assassins

Day Care Centers

Has no alignments of its own until it actually gains a master, since it can only enter play as a puppet within someone's Power Structure.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Deasil Engine

A Magic-themed Resource whose exact effect isn't reliably documented here, though it appears built to help power the costs of other Magic cards.

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Death Mask

This unique Magic artifact links to any Magic group, letting it use its action to jump into any attack after the dice have already been rolled -- as long as it could have joined normally -- and if its added Power is enough to flip the outcome, the result changes.

Plot (Paralysis) · INWO: Assassins

Death To All Fanatics

A Paralysis plot that specifically targets fanatic or extremist groups, tying one up until its owner pays to free it.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

Decency is OK!

A Plot card that lets a player invoke prudish moral outrage to shut down a Weird-aligned target.

Special · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Deep Agent

Playing this card strips away the special immunity to interference that an attacker had purchased for their current attack.

Plot · INWO: Assassins

Defection

A Plot card that lets a player entice a group or asset to defect from an opponent's power structure to their own.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Defense Contractors

A wealthy, Government-aligned Group representing military-industrial contractors, prized for its deep pockets and its cozy relationship with defense spending.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Democrats

This group grants a bonus when its controller tries to take control of any Liberal-aligned group.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Dentists

This Straight group can, by using its own action, cancel the action of any Personality.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Deprogrammers

This Straight group gets a +4 bonus toward destroying any Weird or Fanatic group, rising to +8 if the target is both -- and notably, the Discordian Society's usual immunity to Straight-group attacks doesn't protect it from the Deprogrammers.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

Devival

A Plot card that stages an anti-revival meeting, draining enthusiasm and fervor from a target group's followers.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Dictatorship

Played on your turn against a Nation you control, using that Nation's action or its master's, this turns the Nation into a Dictatorship -- adding +2 Power and making it Violent if it wasn't already.

Group (Place) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Dinosaur Park

This Corporate Science group can use its action to add +4 Power to any Disaster in play, as its dinosaurs conveniently "escape" amid the chaos, and it or its controller may aid or oppose any attack on a Corporate or Science group.

Illuminati · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Discordian Society

This Illuminati gets a strong bonus when trying to bring Weird-aligned groups under its control, and cannot be attacked by groups that are Conservative- or Straight-aligned.

Organization · INWO: Assassins

Dittoheads

A puppet-only Group that can be attached solely to a Personality, boosting that Personality's Power and tripling its Resistance, while always sharing the master's alignments plus Fanatic.

Group · INWO: SubGenius

Divine Mail Order

A Group representing a mail-order religious hustle, valued for turning gullible believers' donations into steady income.

Place · INWO: SubGenius

Dobbstown

A Place card representing the fictional SubGenius homeland, giving its controller a strange, self-contained refuge from the 'Pink' world.

Place · INWO: SubGenius

Dokstok

Generates a unique special token that its owner cannot simply keep to themselves: even if the token changes hands as part of a reversed deal, it ultimately must be passed along to another player or discarded rather than retained by its original holder.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Dollars for Decency

Play this at any time to give every Straight group you control that doesn't already have one a fresh action token -- though it won't help a group that's otherwise been blocked from getting one.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Dolphins

A Weird, Peaceful Group of dolphins, a whimsical nod to animal-intelligence lore valued for its harmless, oddball charm rather than serious power.

Plot (Zap) · INWO: Assassins

Don't Rock The Boat

A Zap plot that punishes a target group for causing disruption, striking at whichever group has been making the most trouble.

Plot · INWO: Assassins

Don't Touch That Dial!

A Plot card that locks in an opponent's attention on broadcast media, preventing them from shifting focus elsewhere for a turn.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Door-To-Door Salesmen

A Group representing door-to-door salesmen, a low-cost, high-reach Group useful for pestering its way into influence over ordinary households.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Double-Cross

Play this any time a rival uses a Plot card to peek at your hidden Plot cards; they lose the card that let them spy (and whatever action powered it), and never actually get to see or take any of your cards.

Personality · INWO: SubGenius

Dr. K'Taden Legume

A Personality whose special ability shields every other SubGenius-affiliated Group in its owner's Power Structure from being attacked in any way at all, including Instant Attacks such as Assassinations or Disasters.

Disaster · INWO: Assassins

Drought

A Disaster card that inflicts a sweeping dry spell, damaging groups broadly regardless of who controls them.

Group · INWO: SubGenius

Drs. for "Bob"

A Group of physicians and quack healers devoted to 'Bob,' valued for lending pseudo-medical legitimacy to the church's claims.

Organization · INWO: Assassins

Drug Companies

Can make a special attack-like roll to strip a single alignment, such as Violent, from a target Group instead of attempting a normal takeover.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Druids

The Druids can lend or oppose their power to help or hinder any attack involving a Magic-aligned group, including secret ones, without needing to spend an action of their own to do so.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

E.P.A.

A Government-aligned Group representing the Environmental Protection Agency, useful for a player who wants regulatory muscle over industrial and corporate targets.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Early Warning

This gives one Place a free +10 bonus to defend against any Disaster.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Earth Magic

Play this to help protect a Place against a Disaster, letting any Magic groups you have in play use their action tokens to oppose the attack.

Plot (Disaster) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Earthquake

This Disaster instantly attacks any Place without needing an action -- Power 12 against a Huge Place, 16 against any other -- Devastating it on success, or destroying it outright if the attack succeeds by more than 5.

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Earthquake Projector

This Gadget can act once per turn to add +2 Power to any attack meant to destroy a Place, or to any Disaster card.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Eat The Rich!

Playable by any Media group making, or aiding, an attack to destroy a Group with Power 6 or more, this gives the attack a +10 bonus and makes it Privileged.

Group · Illuminati 1982 Original + Expansion Sets 1 & 2 (1983, combined list)

Eco-Guerillas

This Violent, Liberal group gets a strong bonus on direct attacks to destroy any Corporate group, and boosts the Resistance of every group in its controller's power structure by 2 against attacks made or assisted by a Corporate group.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Eco-Guerrillas

A Violent, environmentally motivated Group willing to sabotage or attack industrial targets in the name of protecting the planet.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

EFF

This Liberal Computer group gets a +4 bonus toward directly controlling any Computer group, and if it joins the defense of a Computer group under attack, the total Power spent by every defending group is doubled.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

El Niño

A Weird, unpredictable Group representing the El Nino climate pattern, valued for the chaotic, wide-reaching disruption it can trigger rather than steady income.

Group · Illuminati 1982 Original + Expansion Sets 1 & 2 (1983, combined list)

Elders of Zion

This Fanatic, Secret-aligned group lets its controlling Illuminati completely reorganize their power structure on their own turn, though doing so requires both the group's action and the Illuminati's own action.

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Eliza

This Gadget links to any Computer group or the Network, letting that group take an extra action each turn -- but if that bonus action ever triggers a roll of 11 or 12, Eliza crashes: discard the card and expose all your hidden Plot cards.

Group (Personality) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Elvis

This Personality can, by using his own action, cancel any action taken by a Media group with a brief public appearance, and gets a +6 bonus toward directly controlling the Church of Elvis.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Elvis Impersonators

A Weird Group of Elvis impersonators, a low-cost novelty faction valued for comic chaos and its uncanny ability to show up everywhere at once.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Embezzlement

Play this the instant another player draws a Plot card, before they use it or announce what it is, to steal that card for yourself -- though you must discard a different Plot card from your own hand to do it.

Special · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Emergency Powers

A Special card that lets a player temporarily seize extraordinary authority, granting a burst of extra capability at the cost of looking like a power grab.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Empty Vee

A Group standing in for a music-video television network, prized for its outsized reach into youth culture and its usefulness for any player trying to build a Media-heavy power structure.

Group (Place) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

England

This Huge Government Nation gets two action tokens every turn instead of one.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Enormous Toy Stores

A big-box Group representing giant toy-store chains, valued for high sales volume and its outsized reach into childhood consumer culture.

Plot (Paralysis) · INWO: Assassins

Enough is Enough

A Paralysis plot that lets a player shut down a target group that's overstayed its welcome, tying it up until its owner pays to free it.

Organization · INWO: Assassins

EPA

An Organization card representing the Environmental Protection Agency, giving its controller regulatory muscle to use against industrial or corporate targets.

Plot (Disaster) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Epidemic

This Disaster attacks any Place at Power 14 without needing an action, though unlike most Disasters it's not instant -- other groups can interfere with it normally -- and even on success it can only Devastate the target, never destroy it outright.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

Eternal Salvation or Triple your Money Back

A Plot card that lets a player make an absurdly generous, obviously fraudulent guarantee, luring a target into a losing deal.

Plot (Paralysis) · INWO: Assassins

Every Year is Worse

A Paralysis plot that inflicts a slow, grinding decline on a target group, tying it up in worsening conditions until its owner pays to fix things.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow

This group grants a strong bonus specifically toward controlling, neutralizing, or destroying the Orbital Mind Control Lasers group.

Uncategorized · Illuminati (Base Game, current/canonical edition)

Evil Geniuses For a Better Tomorrow

This group grants a strong bonus specifically toward controlling, neutralizing, or destroying the Orbital Mind Control Lasers group.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

Excremeditation

A Plot card parodying a bogus meditation technique, letting a player waste an opponent's turn on a worthless self-improvement fad.

Plot · INWO: Assassins

Exorcism

A Plot card that lets a player attempt to drive a supernatural or Weird-aligned influence out of a target group.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Exposed!

Played using a Media group with Power 4 or more, this exposes one Secret group to public view; unless it's immediately countered, that group permanently loses its Secret status.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Exterminators

A Group representing pest-control exterminators, a mundane service business whose real specialty -- getting rid of unwanted infestations -- doubles neatly as a metaphor within the game.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

F.B.I.

This group grants a large bonus toward destroying groups that are Violent and/or Criminal-aligned, with an even bigger bonus if a target is both.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Faction Fight

Played alongside a duplicate card for a Group one of your rivals controls, this gives your attack on it an extra +5 bonus and makes it Privileged; playing the card itself isn't an action, though the attack still is.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

Fake Healing

A Plot card that lets a player stage a phony faith-healing performance, gaining a benefit through pure showmanship rather than any real effect.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

False Overman

A Plot card that exposes a rival's claim to superhuman status as a sham, undercutting a target's inflated self-importance.

Group · INWO: SubGenius

False Prophets

A Group of rival, competing cult leaders, useful for undermining the credibility of other belief-based groups.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

False Slack

A Plot card that offers a target hollow, temporary relief instead of real freedom, tricking them into a worse position.

Special · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Family Values

A Special card that lets a player invoke 'family values' rhetoric to pressure or shut down an opponent's group, especially one seen as morally suspect.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Fast Food Chains

A Group representing the fast-food industry, a Straight, high-volume business machine valued mainly for its steady income.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Federal Communications Commission

A Government-aligned Group representing the FCC, useful for a player who wants regulatory leverage specifically over Media groups.

Uncategorized · Illuminati (Base Game, current/canonical edition)

Federal Reserve

This Government-aligned Bank group gets a strong bonus on any attack against another Bank group, plus a smaller bonus attacking any Nation or Corporate group.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Federal Reserves

A Group representing the Federal Reserve System, the real institution that controls the U.S. money supply -- a Government-aligned group whose control lets a player quietly manipulate the whole game's economy.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Feminists

A Liberal-aligned Group representing the feminist movement, useful for a player building influence among other left-leaning social-cause groups.

Plot (Zap) · INWO: Assassins

Fickle Finger of Fate

Played against a rival Illuminati, it blocks that player's automatic takeover for the turn but grants their Illuminati a one-time +10 Power bonus on one direct attack per turn as a consolation.

Group (Personality) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Fidel Castro

This Personality lets you link one hidden Plot card face-down beneath him; nothing can expose it while he's in play, and once that Plot is used, you may link a new one to him on your own turn.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Fiendish Fluoridators

A Group of secretive chemists supposedly lacing the public water supply, a classic paranoid-fringe organization valuable for causing mayhem rather than steady income.

Group · Illuminati 1982 Original + Expansion Sets 1 & 2 (1983, combined list)

Fifth International

One of the game's classic-edition Group cards, dropped from later printings; like its counterparts it carried its own Power, Resistance, and a niche bonus ability, though the exact wording of that ability isn't reliably documented today.

Group (Place) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Finland

This Liberal Nation gets a +6 bonus toward directly controlling any Computer group, and a +2 bonus toward controlling one by any means.

Plot (Freeze) · INWO: Assassins

Five-Year Plan

A Freeze plot that locks a target group into a rigid, centrally dictated schedule, disabling one of its attributes for a turn.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Flat Earthers

A Weird-aligned Group of believers convinced the Earth is flat, more useful as comic-relief chaos than as a serious power base.

Disaster · INWO: Assassins

Flesh-Eating Bacteria

A non-Instant Attack to Destroy against any Place that needs no action to trigger; Science Groups can help defend the target, with the Center for Disease Control especially effective at it. A successful attack devastates the target, and a strong enough roll destroys it outright, letting the player later spend a Science action to reclaim the card.

Plot (Freeze) · INWO: Assassins

Floating Point Error

A Freeze plot that exploits a computing glitch to disable a target group's technological or financial systems for a turn.

Special · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Flower Power

A Special card that channels a burst of 1960s-style peaceful counterculture energy, likely boosting Peaceful or Weird groups for a turn.

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Flying Saucer

This unique Gadget, linked to a Personality, gives them +10 against any Attack to Destroy or Assassination -- though it's captured or destroyed right along with them. Left unlinked as Illuminati property instead, it lets you automatically take over one extra Resource card each turn, at the cost of discarding your top undrawn Plot card.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Fnord Motor Company

A Group standing in for a giant American automaker, its name winking at the game's own hidden-word joke while it functions as a heavyweight, Straight-aligned corporate power base.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Fnord!

Play this immediately after any die roll you make to discard that roll and try again; it doesn't cost an action, but you must discard your top Group card, or any two Group cards from your hand, to do it.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Foiled!

Played using an action from a Media group, this forces any rival to discard one of their exposed Goal cards.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Forgery

This lets you automatically take control of a Resource card from your hand that duplicates any Unique Resource already in play; yours is declared the genuine article, and the original owner must discard theirs.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Fort Knox

A heavily fortified Group representing the U.S. gold depository at Fort Knox, prized as a nearly impregnable home base for a player's treasury.

Group (Place) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

France

This Huge, Liberal Nation can lend its Power to defend any Liberal group you control, as a free action.

Plot · INWO: Assassins

Frankenfood

A Plot card that lets a player stir up public backlash against a target group's use of genetically modified food.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Fraternal Orders

A Straight-leaning Group representing lodge-style fraternal and civic organizations, whose secret handshakes and private membership make them easy to quietly co-opt.

Special · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Freaking the Mundanes

A Special card that lets a Weird player unsettle or disrupt a Straight-aligned target simply by being conspicuously strange in front of them.

Group · Illuminati 1982 Original + Expansion Sets 1 & 2 (1983, combined list)

Fred Birch Society

This Conservative, Straight group counts double -- as two Conservative groups -- toward any Illuminati's special victory goal, though not toward the game's Basic Goal.

Special · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Full Moon

A Special card that triggers a burst of lunar-fueled chaos, likely boosting Weird groups or unpredictable effects for a turn.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Fundie Money

Played using your Illuminati or Conservative groups whose combined Power meets the target's Resistance (doubled if the target is currently Liberal), this permanently makes the target group Conservative-aligned, stripping away its Liberal alignment for good.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Gamers

A self-referential Weird Group of tabletop and video gamers, useful for its enthusiasm and its uncanny knack for spotting hidden systems within systems.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Gang War

Play this at any time to give every Criminal group you control that doesn't already have one a fresh action token -- though it won't help a group that's otherwise been blocked from getting one.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Gay Activists

A Liberal-aligned Group representing the LGBTQ rights movement, useful for a player building influence among other progressive social-cause groups.

Personality · INWO: Assassins

General Disorder

Has the ability to return to his owner's Power Structure after being removed from it, and can only be kept out for good by an effect that explicitly overrides that resilience.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Genetic Engineers

A Group representing genetic-engineering scientists, a science-fiction-tinged research faction valued for unlocking unusual, unpredictable abilities.

Group (Personality) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

George Bush

This Personality is only treated as Conservative-aligned when the Illuminati controlling him actively wants him to be -- otherwise, his alignment simply doesn't apply.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

George the Janitor

Played using an action from one of your groups, this forces a chosen rival to select one of their own hidden Plot cards, then lets you decide -- without looking at it -- whether they must expose that single card, or expose all their other hidden Plots instead.

Group (Place) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Germany

This Huge, Conservative Nation banks an extra action token every turn even if it already has some saved up, and can spend several tokens together in a single attack; it also gets a +2 bonus toward controlling any Science group.

Plot (Disaster) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Giant Kudzu

This Disaster attacks any Place at Power 30 if it's Coastal, or 24 otherwise, without needing an action; unlike most Disasters it's not instant, so any group may act to help defend the target (though none can aid the Kudzu itself) -- success Devastates the Place, and beating the roll by more than 6 destroys it outright.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Girlie Magazines

A Group representing men's-interest 'girlie' magazine publishers, a lucrative Media-adjacent business useful chiefly for its income and its usefulness in a moral-panic angle against opponents.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

Give Me Slack, Or Give Me Food

A Plot card that lets a player make a desperate, theatrical demand, forcing a target to choose between two costly concessions.

Group · INWO: SubGenius

Glorps

A Weird Group of bizarre alien or mutant creatures, valued for chaotic disruption rather than steady influence.

Illuminati · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Gnomes of Zurich

On their turn, the player controlling this Illuminati may freely shift money between the treasuries within their own power structure.

Plot · INWO: Assassins

Go Fish

Lets you demand a rival reveal whether he holds copies of a named Plot; if he does, he must hand them all over and discard two undrawn Plots per copy given, but if he has none, your own hidden Plots are exposed instead. Once used against a rival, you can't target that same rival again until the end of his next turn.

Plot · INWO: Assassins

Go, Lemmings, Go!

An Ultra-rare Plot card that triggers mass, self-destructive herd behavior among a group's followers, dealing damage through sheer blind conformity.

Goal · INWO: Assassins

Goal: Blinded by Science

Requires controlling at least six Science Groups whose combined Power adds up to 30 or more.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Goal: Criminal Overlords

With this Goal card, any group that's both Violent and Criminal counts double toward your total number of groups controlled.

Goal · INWO: Assassins

Goal: Earth First!

A Goal card offering an alternate path to victory built around aggressively championing environmental causes, rewarding a player for building an eco-focused power structure.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Goal: Fratricide

This Goal requires destroying two other players' Illuminati groups outright -- removing an Illuminati's very last group, whether you deliver the final blow yourself or simply help make it happen -- and it can't be combined with any other Goal.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Goal: Hail Eris!

With this Goal card, any Weird group with Power 3 or more counts double toward your total number of groups controlled.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Goal: Kill For Peace!

This Goal is won by destroying Violent groups while controlling Peaceful ones, in one of several set ratios -- for example, destroying two Violent groups while controlling six Peaceful ones -- and it can't be combined with any other Goal.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Goal: Let Them Eat Cake!

This Goal is won by destroying Liberal groups while controlling Conservative ones, in one of several set ratios -- and it can't be combined with any other Goal.

Goal · INWO: Assassins

Goal: Population Reduction

A Goal card offering an alternate path to victory built around driving down population, rewarding a player for pursuing a deliberately depopulating strategy.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Goal: Power for Its Own Sake

This Goal is won simply by controlling groups whose combined Power reaches 50, including your own Illuminati.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Goal: Power to the People

This Goal is won by destroying Conservative groups while controlling Liberal ones, in one of several set ratios -- and it can't be combined with any other Goal.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Goal: The Corporate Masters

With this Goal card, any Corporate group with Power 4 or more counts double toward your total number of groups controlled.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Goal: The Hand of Madness

This Goal is won by destroying Peaceful groups while controlling Violent ones, in one of several set ratios -- and it can't be combined with any other Goal.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Goal: Up Against the Wall!

This Goal is won by destroying Government groups while controlling Violent ones, in one of several set ratios -- and it can't be combined with any other Goal.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Goldfish Fanciers

A small, harmless-seeming Group of pet-goldfish hobbyists included mostly for comic relief -- a Straight, low-stakes group that's easy pickings for any player.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Good Polls

Play this at any time to triple the Power and Resistance, for defense only, of every group you control with a chosen alignment, until the start of your next turn.

Group · INWO: SubGenius

Good Sex for Mutants Dating League

A Group representing a dating service for society's misfits and self-styled mutants, valued for its devoted, unconventional membership.

Group (Personality) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Gordo Remora

This Personality gets a +10 bonus if he makes a direct attack to destroy a Weird group, whipping up ratings-driven fear against fringe targets.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Grassroots Support

Playable at any time as the acting group's action, this immediately boosts one of your Straight groups' Power to 6 and stays linked to it -- though only one Grassroots Support can be in play at once.

Plot · INWO: Assassins

Grave Robbers

A Plot card that lets a player desecrate or plunder a target's resources, digging up something valuable -- or damaging -- from what should have stayed buried.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Green Party

A Liberal, environmentally focused Group representing the real-world Green political party, useful for building influence among ecology-minded groups.

Special · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Gremlins

A Special card representing mischievous mechanical sabotage, causing an unexplained malfunction in an opponent's plan or equipment.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Gun Lobby

This group is unusually hard to dislodge specifically from Liberal-aligned opponents, having much higher resistance against attacks by Liberal groups than against anyone else.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Hackers

A Weird-leaning Group of computer hackers, valuable to a player looking to disrupt Government or corporate targets through digital sabotage rather than brute force.

Group · Illuminati 1982 Original + Expansion Sets 1 & 2 (1983, combined list)

Hairdressers & Interior Decorators

One of the game's classic-edition Group cards, later removed from print; like its counterparts it would have carried its own Power, Resistance, and niche ability, though the exact ability text isn't reliably documented today.

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Hallucinations

This Resource represents an unstable telepath who can act once per turn, either canceling any Personality's action outright or giving a +3 bonus toward destroying them.

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Hammer of Thor

This unique Magic artifact can act once per turn to add +2 Power to any Government or Violent group, whether it's attacking or defending against an Attack to Destroy.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Harmonica Virgins

Play this at any time to give one of your Magic groups a one-time +10 bonus to either Power or Resistance -- immediate if used with an action, or lasting until end of turn if used defensively (though it won't count toward Goals in that case).

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Hat Trick

Played immediately after you use a Plot card, using an action from a group with Power 3 or more, this discards itself instead and puts that Plot card back into your hand as though you'd never used it.

Group (Place) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Hawaii

This Corporate, Coastal group gives an extra action token to the group controlling it, if that group is also Corporate-aligned.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Head in a Jar

Play this when one of your Personalities is killed to keep them in play as a disembodied head, overriding any attempt to capture or permanently eliminate them; they get a +10 bonus defending against further Assassinations and can still attack or aid attacks with their Power, though they can no longer take control of any new group.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

Head Launching

A Plot card representing a bizarre ritual sacrifice or send-off, removing a target from play in dramatic, over-the-top fashion.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Health Food Stores

A Group representing the health-food and natural-supplement retail industry, a Weird-tinged niche business useful for its ties to New Age and alternative-medicine circles.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Hex

Played using your Illuminati's action or a Magic group with Power 3 or more, this destroys a Magic Resource controlled by a rival at any time except during a Privileged attack.

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Hidden City

Controlling this unique location gives your Illuminati +2 to both its Power and Global Power. It can be attacked by any Disaster card, though it isn't Huge or Coastal, and defends itself as though it were a Place with Power 10; it can't be Devastated, only destroyed outright -- and if that happens, any player may play a new Hidden City of their own.

Special · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Hidden Connection

A Special card that reveals a secret link between two seemingly unrelated groups, letting a player exploit a connection no one else could see.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Hidden Influence

A Plot card that lets a player secretly boost their effective Power in a control attempt without revealing the source of the extra strength until it's too late.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

High Fashion

A Media-adjacent Group representing the high-fashion industry, valued for its cultural cachet and influence over image-conscious groups.

Group (Personality) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Hillary Clinton

A Personality card representing the real then-First Lady, giving its controlling group a bonus tied to behind-the-scenes political influence and policy involvement.

Plot (Assassination) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Hit and Run

An Assassination card that eliminates a target Personality via a deniable vehicular 'accident,' leaving the attacker's involvement hard to prove.

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Hitler's Brain

A Resource card representing Adolf Hitler's preserved brain, a grotesque relic that gives a dark power boost to whichever group controls it.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Hoax!

A Plot card that lets a player fabricate a fake event or claim, tricking an opponent into wasting resources responding to something that isn't real.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Hollywood

A heavyweight Media-aligned Group representing the film industry, prized as a home base for any player building influence through mass entertainment.

Plot (Freeze) · INWO: Assassins

Hubble Trouble

A Freeze plot that knocks out a space-based or scientific asset, disabling one of its attributes for a turn.

Plot (Disaster) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Hurricane

A Disaster card that inflicts sweeping storm damage, hitting groups broadly regardless of who controls them.

Special · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

I Lied

A Special card that lets a player retract or reverse a previous claim or commitment, turning an apparent lie into a tactical advantage.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

I.R.S

Rather than collecting normal income, this group lets its controller tax each opponent for a set amount on their own turn, though a player with no money owes nothing.

Uncategorized · Illuminati (Base Game, current/canonical edition)

I.R.S.

Rather than collecting normal income, this group lets its controller tax each opponent for a set amount on their own turn, though a player with no money owes nothing.

Place · INWO: Assassins

Illuminati University

Grants immunity to Straight and Government Groups, but only for the Illuminati itself and the Groups it directly controls, not for the player's entire Power Structure.

Group (Personality) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Imelda Marcos

A Personality card representing the real former First Lady of the Philippines, giving its controlling group a bonus tied to lavish, ill-gotten wealth.

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Immortality Serum

A Resource card representing a supposed elixir of eternal life, attaching to a group to make it especially hard to permanently destroy.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Impostor

A Plot card that lets a player pass a fake or substitute Personality off as the real thing, exploiting an opponent's trust.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Infobahn

A Plot card that lets a player exploit the emerging information superhighway, speeding up or disrupting the flow of data to gain an advantage.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

Inherently Bogus

A Plot card that discredits a target's claims outright, labeling them fraudulent regardless of any actual evidence.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Intellectuals

A Liberal, Weird-leaning Group of academics and public thinkers, more useful for prestige and influence-peddling than for raw income.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Interference

A Plot card that lets a player block or disrupt an opponent's attempted action before it can succeed.

Uncategorized · Illuminati (Base Game, current/canonical edition)

Interference (2)

Represents the general rule letting any player spend money from their own Illuminati treasury to help or hinder an attack in progress, shifting the needed die roll by one point per unit spent -- unless the attacker has paid to make that attack immune to outside interference.

Special · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Interference (x2)

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

International Cocaine Smugglers

A Violent, Criminal Group representing transnational cocaine-trafficking networks, a dangerous but lucrative faction for any player willing to get their hands dirty.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

International Communist Conspiracy

A Communist-aligned Group representing a supposed unified global communist movement -- a big, ominous Violent faction built for Cold War-style paranoia.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

International Weather Organization

A Group representing a shadowy global weather-control body, useful for a player who wants to manipulate Disaster-type effects.

Group (Place) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Israel

A Place card representing the state of Israel, a fortified, well-defended home base for any player's power structure.

Group (Place) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Italy

A Place card representing Italy, useful as a home base with ties to both the Vatican's religious influence and Italy's real organized-crime networks.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Jake Day

A Plot card representing an unexpectedly quiet, uneventful turn, giving a modest bonus for simply staying under the radar.

Resource · INWO: SubGenius

Janor Device

A Resource that can legally serve as the lead card under SubGenius-rules card draws; if its owner rolls a 12 while leading with it, the Janor Device must be given away to another player.

Group (Place) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Japan

A Place card representing Japan, a wealthy, technologically advanced home base valued for its economic strength.

Personality · INWO: SubGenius

Jesus B.

A Personality card representing a fictional, alternate 'Jesus' figure, giving its controlling group a bonus tied to competing religious authority.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

JHVH-1

A Plot card invoking the SubGenius mythology's alien god-figure, unleashing a burst of cosmic, quasi-divine power against a target.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Jihad

A Plot card that lets a player mobilize a religiously motivated offensive against a target group.

Group (Personality) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Jimmy Hoffa

A Personality card representing the real Teamsters union leader, giving its controlling group a bonus tied to labor-movement muscle and organized-crime connections.

Group · Illuminati 1982 Original + Expansion Sets 1 & 2 (1983, combined list)

Joggers

This unassuming group can't be destroyed outright, and gives a bonus to any Assassination attempt made using it -- nobody suspects the jogger.

Plot (Freeze) · INWO: Assassins

Junk Bonds

A Freeze plot that saddles a target group's finances with high-risk debt, disabling its income or resources for a turn.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Junk Mail

A low-key Group representing direct-mail marketers, useful less for power and more for the sheer irritating reach of a mailing list into every household.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Just Say No

A Plot card that lets a player shut down a target's scheme with blunt, simplified messaging rather than any real countermeasure.

Group · Illuminati 1982 Original + Expansion Sets 1 & 2 (1983, combined list)

K.K.K.

When the K.K.K. makes or assists an attack meant to destroy a Peaceful group, every Violent group involved in that fight -- on either side -- gets its Power doubled for the attack.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Ketchup Is A Vegetable

A Plot card that lets a player redefine the rules through absurd bureaucratic reclassification, twisting a technicality to their advantage.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

KGB

A Government-opposed, Violent Group representing Soviet state intelligence, a powerful foreign espionage faction for any player working against the American establishment.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Kiddie TV

A Media Group representing children's television programming, valued for its ability to shape young audiences' values and preferences early.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

Kill "Bob"!

A Plot card that lets a player strike directly at the SubGenius church's central icon, aiming to destroy the whole belief system by taking out its figurehead.

Resource · INWO: Assassins

Killer Satellite

A Resource card representing a weaponized orbital satellite, attaching to a group to give it a powerful, space-based strike capability.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Kinder and Gentler

A Plot card that lets a player soften a target's public image, blunting the impact of an attack against them for a turn.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

KKK

A Violent, Criminal Group representing organized white-supremacist terror, one of the game's darkest and most dangerous fringe factions to control.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Kudzu Planters

A Weird Group of kudzu-vine planters, a slow-motion ecological menace useful for gradually overrunning and choking out other groups.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

L-4 Society

A Group representing space-colonization advocates, valued for its idealistic, forward-looking research and its ties to space-based assets.

Plot (Zap) · INWO: Assassins

Lab Explosion

A Zap plot that strikes a target group's research or manufacturing operation, destroying it in a sudden laboratory accident.

Personality · INWO: Assassins

Lama Ramadingdong

A Personality card representing a flamboyant, self-styled spiritual guru, giving its controlling group a bonus tied to charismatic, cult-like leadership.

Group (Place) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Las Vegas

A Place card representing Las Vegas, a glittering, cash-rich home base tied to gambling, organized crime, and vice.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Lawyers

Any group in your power structure gains a defensive combat bonus when attacked by, or with the help of, a Government or Corporate group, and its controller is also spared certain IRS taxation effects.

Group · INWO: SubGenius

League for Obvious Decency

A Straight Group of self-appointed moral watchdogs, useful for a player pushing censorship against Weird-aligned targets.

Resource · INWO: Assassins

Lenin's Body

A Resource card representing Lenin's embalmed corpse, a macabre relic that gives a boost to whichever group controls it.

Plot (Freeze) · INWO: Assassins

Let the Sunshine In

A Freeze plot that forces a target group's secrets into the open, disabling its ability to operate covertly for a turn.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Let's Get Organized

A Plot card that lets a player consolidate and streamline their power structure, gaining efficiency for the turn.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Let's Get REALLY Organized

An escalated version of organizing one's power structure, giving a bigger efficiency bonus at greater cost or risk.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Let's You and Him Fight

Lets you provoke a feud inside a rival's hand: you look at a couple of his hidden Group or Resource cards, make him discard one, and he keeps the other, effectively thinning his hand through manufactured infighting.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Liberal Agenda

One of a family of alignment-changing Plot cards; it shifts a target group's alignment to Liberal, and can be powered either by an action from an existing Liberal group or by a single Illuminati action.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Libertarians

When the Libertarians take control of a Nation or U.S. state, they gain a power bonus equal to that group's base power (though not any temporary doubling effects on it), and they keep the bonus only as long as they hold control of it.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Liquor Companies

A wealthy Group representing the alcohol industry, valued for its steady, vice-driven income.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Loan Sharks

A Violent, Criminal Group representing illegal high-interest lenders, useful for quick cash at the cost of real menace.

Group · INWO: SubGenius

Local Clenches

A Group representing scattered local SubGenius chapters, valued for grassroots organizing rather than centralized power.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Local Police Departments

A Government-aligned Group representing local law enforcement, valued for its ready-made muscle and legal authority.

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Loch Ness Monster

A Resource card representing the legendary Loch Ness Monster, a mysterious asset that gives a boost to whichever group can lay claim to it.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Logic Bomb

Lets a sufficiently powerful group force a rival to reveal their hidden Plot cards and let you take one for yourself, at the cost of exposing that card.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

Luck Plane

A Plot card that channels a burst of pure, inexplicable good fortune, granting a random windfall to its player.

Personality · INWO: Assassins

Lyndon LaRouche

His alignments never count toward anyone's Goals under any circumstance, and each turn a roll determines whether he even receives an Action token.

Group · Illuminati 1982 Original + Expansion Sets 1 & 2 (1983, combined list)

Mad Scientists

This group grants a strong bonus specifically toward controlling, neutralizing, or destroying the Orbital Mind Control Lasers group -- the same card later reprinted under the name "Evil Geniuses For a Better Tomorrow."

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Madison Avenue

This group grants a bonus whenever its controller tries to take control of any Media-aligned group.

Group · Illuminati 1982 Original + Expansion Sets 1 & 2 (1983, combined list)

Mafia

This group grants a solid bonus toward controlling any Criminal-aligned group, with an even larger bonus when attacking to take direct control.

Group (Personality) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Manuel Noriega

A Personality card representing the real former Panamanian dictator, giving its controlling group a bonus tied to drug-trafficking connections and military strongman power.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

March on Washington

A Plot card that can supply the power needed for other cards requiring an action of a given alignment or attribute (though not one demanding an action from a specific named group or the Illuminati itself); playing it requires discarding a card.

Group (Personality) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Margaret Thatcher

As a Personality card, she grants a large bonus specifically toward attempts to control the group named England, referencing her role as the UK's head of government.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Market Manipulation

A Plot card that lets a player artificially inflate or crash a target group's value for personal gain.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Martial Law

A flat power-bonus Plot card in the same family as other '+10' cards, usable to boost a group's attack or defense for the current turn only.

Resource · INWO: SubGenius

Martyr Meter

A Resource card that tracks a group's suffering and sacrifice, converting accumulated hardship into a growing power bonus.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Martyrs

A flat power-bonus Plot card in the same family as Big Score or Terrorist Nuke, adding a one-time boost to a group's power for a single attack or defense.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Mass Murder

A Plot card representing a large-scale, indiscriminate act of violence, dealing serious damage to a target group.

Special · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

May Day

A Special card that unleashes a burst of labor-movement unrest, likely boosting Violent or Liberal groups for a turn.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Media Blitz

A Plot card that lets a player flood the airwaves with coordinated messaging, boosting a Media-related effort for a turn.

Special · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Media Campaign

A Special card that lets a player spend money to run a coordinated PR push, boosting a Media-related effort for one turn.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Media Connections

A Plot card that lets a player call in favors from press contacts, giving a bonus to any Media-related scheme.

Group (Personality) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Media Sensation

Lets you create a custom Personality card representing whoever is currently dominating the news, filling in a name of your choice; multiple copies may be in play at once, though it cannot be used to represent a figure who already has an official card.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

Mediocretinism

A Plot card that afflicts a target with crushing, willful stupidity and mediocrity, dulling its effectiveness for a turn.

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Mercenaries

A Resource card representing hired soldiers for rent, attaching to a group to give it extra combat strength for the right price.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Messiah

A Plot card that lets a player elevate a Personality or leader to messianic status, granting an outsized boost to devoted followers.

Plot (Disaster) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Meteor Strike

A Disaster-type instant attack representing a catastrophic meteor impact, capable of devastating or outright destroying a targeted Place.

Plot (Paralysis) · INWO: Assassins

Metric System

A Paralysis plot that forces a target group to switch to confusing new standards, tying it up in conversion chaos until its owner pays to sort it out.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

MI-5

As its special action, MI-5 can prevent a rival's attempt to expose your Plot cards, or can flip your already-exposed Plots back face down.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Microstuff

A dominant Group representing a giant software and computing corporation, valued for its near-monopoly reach into every other business's technology.

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Midas Mill

A Resource card representing a fabled machine that turns anything into gold, attaching to a group to give it an outsized income boost.

Organization · INWO: Assassins

Militia

Its printed Power actually increases whenever it wins an attack and decreases whenever it loses one, rather than receiving just a temporary bonus or penalty.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Militia (Assassins)

A Violent, armed Group representing the citizen-militia movement, well suited to a player who wants a homegrown paramilitary faction rather than a foreign or governmental one.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Miracle Diet Plan

Can be used either like a flat power-bonus card spent at the moment of an action, or played in advance on a group (even one without an action token yet) to remain in effect until that group's next action.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

Miraculous Manifestation

Forces every player, including whoever plays it, to draw a Group card from their own Group deck; in standard INWO each drawn card is shown to the player who played it and then kept, while under SubGenius's shared uncontrolled-Group-area rules it instead denies rivals a free Group draw. It cannot be played until every player has finished a first turn.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Mistaken Identity

A Plot card that lets a player redirect an attack meant for them onto an unrelated target through a case of confused identity.

Special · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Mob Influence

A Special card that lets a player lean on organized-crime connections to intimidate or coerce an opposing group.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Monopoly

A Plot card linked to one Corporate group that raises its power to a fixed higher level; only one copy may be in play at a time.

Group (Place) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Moonbase

Immune to most Disaster cards except for a couple of specific ones (such as Earthquake and Meteor), and grants a bonus to attempts to control or destroy other Space groups.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Moonies

A Weird Group representing a devoted, high-control religious movement, valued for the unquestioning loyalty of its followers.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Moral Minority

A Conservative, Straight-aligned Group of religious-right moral crusaders, useful for a player pushing censorship or 'family values' angles against Media or Weird groups.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

More Slack

A Plot card that grants a player an extra dose of freedom and leisure, letting them take an additional action or bonus this turn.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Morticians

A quiet, Straight-leaning Group of funeral-industry professionals, valued for its dependable income and its dark-comic usefulness to any player who needs bodies handled discreetly.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Mossad

Lets you peek at the bottom card of your Plot deck before drawing, giving you the option to take that card instead of the normal top-of-deck draw.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Mothers' March

A Plot card that mobilizes a grassroots march of concerned mothers, applying moral pressure against a target group.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Multinational Oil Companies

A heavyweight Group representing Big Oil, a wealthy corporate power base whose income makes it one of the strongest groups to control.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Multinational Oil Corporations

A heavyweight Group representing Big Oil, a wealthy corporate power base whose income makes it one of the strongest groups to control.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Murphy's Law

Lets you retroactively alter the outcome of a die roll, even one already changed by a Bribery card, turning a failure into a success or vice versa.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Mutual Betrayal

Lets you look through a chosen rival's hidden Plot cards and expose some of them, but only at the cost of exposing an equal number of your own hidden Plots in return.

Group · INWO: SubGenius

MWOWM

A Group representing a mysterious mystical order, valued for its arcane, tightly guarded influence.

Plot (Zap) · INWO: Assassins

My Karma Ran Over Your Dogma

A Zap plot that strikes at a target group's ideology, letting a player's own belief system trump and damage a rival's.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

N.S.A.

A Government-aligned Group representing the National Security Agency, valued for its unmatched surveillance and signals-intelligence reach.

Group (Personality) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Nancy Reagan

A Personality card representing the real former First Lady, giving its controlling group a bonus tied to moral-crusade messaging and behind-the-scenes political influence.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

NASA

A Government-aligned Group representing NASA, valued for its access to cutting-edge space technology and prestige.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Nationalization

One of a family of alignment-changing Plot cards; it shifts a target group's alignment to Government, powered either by an action from an existing Government group or by a single Illuminati action.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

NATO

A Government-aligned Group representing NATO, valued for its combined Western military muscle.

Plot · INWO: Assassins

Near Miss

Can be played to help a Place avoid the worst of being Devastated or destroyed, regardless of whether the damage came from an Attack to Destroy, a Disaster, or a backfiring special ability.

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Necronomicon

Can be linked to any group as a Resource, including one that's normally indestructible, since immunity from being affected doesn't prevent a Resource from simply being attached to it.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

Nental Ife

A Plot card representing a deliberately garbled self-help slogan, tricking a target into pursuing hollow self-improvement instead of real advantage.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Nephews of God

Each turn, before drawing your normal cards, you roll two dice; on a roll of 6 or less, you get to draw one bonus card from either your Plot deck or your Group deck.

Illuminati · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Network

At the start of each turn this Illuminati draws and reveals two cards from the deck instead of the usual one, giving its controller extra information and options.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Never Surrender

A Plot card that lets a player's group fight on after what should have been a defeat, denying an opponent a clean victory.

Plot · INWO: Assassins

Nevermore!

Unusually, it can legally be played even before every player has completed a first turn, since its effect applies evenly to everyone, including whoever plays it.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

New Blood

A Plot card that lets a player bring fresh recruits into a group, restoring or boosting its strength.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

New Federal Budget

One of a family of 'reload' Plot cards; it places an extra action token on a Government group (or on several whose combined power is low enough), and requires an Illuminati action to use.

Non-card (rules insert) · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

New rules card

Not a playable card but a rules-update insert bundled into the Y2K set, printing errata and clarifications rather than any in-game effect.

Group (Place) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

New York

Functions as a Place group representing the U.S. state of New York, and is recognized as such by other cards (such as the Libertarians) that key off specific U.S. states.

Personality · INWO: Assassins

Newt Gingrich

A Personality card representing the real Republican political leader, giving its controlling group a bonus tied to aggressive legislative maneuvering and conservative political power.

Personality · INWO: SubGenius

NHGH

A Personality card representing an obscure, minor SubGenius church figure, giving its controlling group a small, oddly specific bonus.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Nice Idea. It's Mine Now.

Lets you seize or copy a rival's exposed Goal card for your own use, one of only two Plot cards able to affect an already-exposed card in this way.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Ninjas

A Group that can even be attacked by its own controller as a risky way to try to free up an action token, since destroying your own Ninjas still counts as a legitimate attack that rivals may jump in on.

Disaster · INWO: Assassins

No Beer!

An Ultra-rare Disaster card that inflicts a sudden, widespread beer shortage, damaging groups broadly regardless of who controls them.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Nobel Peace Prize

A power-boosting Resource linked to a group to increase its strength; if a group already holding one is taken over by a player who also has a Nobel Peace Prize, a duplicate must be discarded.

Plot (Disaster) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Nuclear Accident

A Disaster-type instant attack to destroy that can strike any Place without needing an action; if it succeeds the target is devastated, and it's one of the few disasters strong enough to affect specially protected targets like Orbit One.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Nuclear Power Companies

Can cancel a rival group's action, but only after it has actually been used (not before), and this does not work against Privileged attacks or against generic power-supplying cards like March on Washington.

Organization · INWO: Assassins

Nutrition Nazis

Can be brought into play either as an ordinary Group or played instead as a linked Plot card affecting an existing Group, but not both at once; used as a Plot, it can be canceled like any other Plot card.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

NWO: A Thousand Points of Light (blue)

A 'New World Order' status card that, while in play, removes the usual bonus for attacking with an opposed alignment and the usual penalty for trying to control a group of an opposed alignment; like other NWO cards it remains in effect until replaced by another card of the same color.

NWO Yellow · INWO: Assassins

NWO: Antitrust Legislation

When it comes into play, every player may reposition their Groups, paying by discarding Plot cards for each move. While it remains active, Corporate Groups linked in a controlling relationship with other Corporate Groups lose their Action tokens and can't gain new ones or use their special abilities. It replaces any other Yellow NWO in play.

NWO Red · INWO: Assassins

NWO: Apathy

If played in the middle of an attack, it retroactively makes any aiding actions in that attack illegal, so those actions and their spent tokens are simply lost.

NWO Red · INWO: Assassins

NWO: Australian Rules

While in effect, a player draws a Plot card after rolling the dice for an attack it powers, but only when the roll needed to succeed was low enough that dice were actually rolled.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

NWO: Bigger Business (yellow)

An NWO card scored at the end of the game, rewarding a player whose power structure leans toward large corporate, business-aligned groups.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

NWO: Chicken in Every Pot (blue)

An NWO card scored at the end of the game, rewarding a player whose power structure leans toward broad, government-guaranteed prosperity for ordinary people.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

NWO: Don't Forget to Smash the State (yellow)

An NWO card scored at the end of the game, rewarding a player whose power structure leans toward anti-government, anarchist-style disruption.

NWO Yellow · INWO: Assassins

NWO: End of the World

An NWO card scored at the end of the game, rewarding a player whose power structure is built around apocalyptic, doomsday-flavored groups.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

NWO: Energy Crisis (blue)

An NWO card scored at the end of the game, rewarding a player whose power structure leans toward exploiting scarcity and resource shortages.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

NWO: Fear and Loathing (blue)

A New World Order status card under which groups sharing the same alignment get a large bonus to attempts to control each other, but suffer a matching penalty when attacking each other to destroy.

NWO Blue · INWO: Assassins

NWO: Global Warming

Makes every Place in the game that isn't in Space count as Coastal.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

NWO: Gun Control (red)

A New World Order status card that gives a power boost to Violent Government groups and a smaller boost to Criminal groups for as long as it remains in play.

NWO Blue · INWO: Assassins

NWO: Interesting Times

Affects how victory is measured under the percentage-of-goal scoring method, mattering specifically when only the Basic Goal is being used.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

NWO: Law and Order (yellow)

An NWO card scored at the end of the game, rewarding a player whose power structure leans toward strict authoritarian control and policing.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

NWO: Military-Industrial Complex (yellow)

A New World Order status card under which the Corporate alignment effectively stops mattering except for goal-scoring purposes, since every Corporate group is treated as Government instead, nullifying cards and abilities keyed specifically to Corporate status.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

NWO: Peace In Our Time (red)

A New World Order status card that weakens Violent groups, reducing very low-power ones to zero power and stripping away their action tokens.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

NWO: Political Correctness (red)

A New World Order status card under which any Conservative group with a power of 0 or 1 also becomes Criminal-aligned, among its other effects.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

NWO: Solidarity (red)

A New World Order status card that doubles the resistance (defensive strength) of every group in the game, making takeovers harder for everyone, though Resources are unaffected.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

NWO: Tax Reform (red)

A New World Order status card that boosts the IRS's taxing power, letting it seize the top Plot card from every player's deck at the start of its own turn.

NWO Red · INWO: Assassins

NWO: The Magic Goes Away

An NWO card scored at the end of the game, rewarding a player whose power structure leans toward Magic-aligned groups losing their potency.

NWO Yellow · INWO: Assassins

NWO: Visualize Whirled Peas

Makes Fanatic Groups treat each other as sharing the same alignment instead of being opposed, similar to the effect the Society of Assassins gives its own Fanatic Groups.

NWO Blue · INWO: Assassins

NWO: Watermelons

An NWO card scored at the end of the game, rewarding a player whose power structure is built around environmental groups that are secretly more radical than they appear.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

NWO: World Hunger (blue)

An NWO card scored at the end of the game, rewarding a player whose power structure leans toward addressing, or exploiting, global hunger and scarcity.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

NWO: World War 3 (yellow)

A New World Order status card that pressures Nations into conflict: while it is in play, Nation groups generally cannot use their action tokens except to defend themselves, and a Nation that fails an attack against another Nation is destroyed as a result.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Office Temps

A Group representing temporary office staffing agencies, valued for the quiet, low-visibility access its workers get to other groups' internal affairs.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

Official, all Inclusive, Divine Excuse

A Plot card that lets a player invoke a blanket, all-purpose religious justification to excuse any action, however questionable.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Offshore Banks

A wealthy Group representing offshore banking havens, valued for letting a player shelter cash from other players' interference.

Disaster · INWO: Assassins

Oil Spill

An automatic Instant Attack to Destroy against any Coastal Place that needs no action to trigger, hitting Huge Places with less force than smaller ones. A strong enough roll destroys the target outright rather than merely devastating it, and a successful attack lets you hand a bonus Action token to every Green Group in play, once per game. Alternatively, it can instead be played simply to boost an attack against OPEC or the Multinational Oil Companies.

Group (Personality) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Ollie North

A Personality card that gets a large bonus toward directly controlling any Conservative-aligned Media group.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

OPEC

Its power is randomly re-rolled (two dice minus two) whenever it comes under new control and again at the start of each of its controller's turns, and that rolled value stands as its official power until it's rolled again.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Opportunity Knocks

A Plot card that lets a player seize a sudden, unexpected advantage, converting good timing into a real boost.

Group (Place) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Orbit One

Immune to most Disaster cards, with specific exceptions such as Nuclear Accident and Meteor Strike.

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Orbital Mind Control Lasers

Temporarily changes a group's alignment; the altered alignment counts toward victory conditions only for as long as the effect lasts.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Orbital Mine Control Lasers

A Group representing a space-based orbital weapons platform, a science-fiction-tinged military asset that gives its controller major destructive leverage from orbit.

Resource · INWO: Assassins

Orgone Grinder

A Resource card representing an orgone-energy device, attaching to a group to channel a pseudo-scientific power boost.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

OverMan

A Plot card that lets a player briefly transcend ordinary limitations, granting a temporary boost to power or ability.

Personality · INWO: SubGenius

OverMan Philo Drummond

A Personality card representing the real co-founder of the Church of the SubGenius, giving its controlling group a bonus tied to organizational authority within the church's mythology.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Pale People in Black

A Weird Group of sinister, pale-suited operatives who show up to silence witnesses of unusual events, a paranormal-cover-up faction useful for suppressing chaos rather than causing it.

Organization · INWO: Assassins

Pale People In Black

An Organization card of sinister, pale-suited operatives who intimidate witnesses of unusual events into silence, useful for suppressing an opponent's Weird-aligned groups.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Paparazzi

A Media Group of aggressive celebrity photographers, valued for generating scandal and chaos around Personality-type targets.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Paranoids

Gives your entire power structure a defensive bonus against any attack or assassination attempt (though not against Disasters), reflecting their conviction that something bad is always coming.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Parent/Teacher Agglomeration

A Straight, grassroots-feeling Group built on the real Parent-Teacher Association model, deceptively ordinary but useful for quietly organizing local influence.

Plot · INWO: Assassins

Partition

Splits a Nation or Place into two new, separately named Places; the new names are cosmetic and don't trigger or block other cards' special abilities that reference a specific name.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Pave the Earth!

A Group of aggressive land developers determined to pave over every open space, useful for a player focused on relentless, environment-be-damned expansion.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Payoff

A Plot card that lets a player pay cash to smooth over a problem or buy an advantage, converting money directly into influence.

Group (Place) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Pentagon

A Place card representing the Pentagon, a heavily fortified home base giving its controller access to the U.S. military establishment's resources.

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Perpetual Motion Machine

Grants its linked group an extra action token every turn, and it can even be linked to your own Illuminati for the same benefit.

Group · INWO: SubGenius

Phlegm Elementals

A Weird Group of grotesque, mucus-based supernatural entities, valued for pure gross-out disruption.

Group · Illuminati 1982 Original + Expansion Sets 1 & 2 (1983, combined list)

Phone Company

This Corporate group can, as a free move on your turn, secretly peek at two random hidden Plot cards from a rival's hand -- and can spend its own action to instead pull two random hidden Plot cards from a rival and reveal them to everyone at the table.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Phone Phreaks

Lets you move a controlled group to a different open control arrow within a power structure.

Group · INWO: SubGenius

Pinks

A large, conformist Group representing the mainstream, non-believing masses, valued as a big but easily manipulated Straight power base.

Plot · INWO: Assassins

Pizza for the Secret Meeting

A Plot card representing catering for a clandestine gathering, giving a small boost to a player's own scheming for the turn.

Plot (Disaster) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Plague of Demons

A summoning-style attack that unleashes demons against a target; its power can still be boosted with +10-style Plot cards even when a Magic or Weird Science group intervenes.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Pledge Drive

One of a family of 'reload' Plot cards; it places an extra action token on a Liberal group (or on several whose combined power is low enough), and requires an Illuminati action to use.

Plot (Assassination) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Poison

An Assassination card that eliminates a target Personality through a quiet, hard-to-trace poisoning.

Special · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Political Correctness

A Special card that lets a player weaponize accusations of offensive or insensitive behavior to pressure and shut down an opposing group.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Pollsters

A Group representing political pollsters, valued for their ability to read -- and subtly shape -- public opinion.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Post Office

Unlike most groups, this one costs its controller money every turn to maintain rather than generating income.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Power Corrupts

Part of a family of alignment-changing Plot cards; it shifts a target group's alignment to Criminal, powered either by an action from an existing Criminal group or by a single Illuminati action.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Power Grab

Lets you make an extra automatic takeover, but doing so ends your turn immediately, skipping the normal end-of-turn phase (so you cannot declare victory that same turn).

Resource · INWO: Assassins

Power Satellite

A Resource card representing an orbital power-beaming satellite, attaching to a group to boost its effective Power in attacks.

Group · Illuminati 1982 Original + Expansion Sets 1 & 2 (1983, combined list)

Preppies

One of the game's classic-edition Group cards, later swapped out; like its counterparts it carried its own Power, Resistance, and niche bonus ability, though the specific ability text isn't reliably documented today.

Group (Personality) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Prince Charles

A Personality card representing the real then-Prince of Wales, giving its controlling group a bonus tied to royal prestige and eccentric personal causes.

Group (Personality) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Princess Di

A Personality card representing the real Diana, Princess of Wales, giving its controlling group a bonus tied to immense public sympathy and Media attention.

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Principia Discordia

A Resource that gives a large boost to a power structure's resistance against attacks to control, though it offers no help against attacks to destroy, making it a natural fit for a Weird-aligned, Discordian-style power structure.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Privatization

Part of a family of alignment-changing Plot cards; it shifts a target group's alignment to Corporate, powered either by an action from an existing Corporate group or by a single Illuminati action.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Privileged Attack

Marks an attack as 'privileged,' meaning rival players cannot directly aid or oppose it, though they may still try to cancel whatever card or special ability granted that privilege in the first place.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Professional Sports

A wealthy Media-adjacent Group representing professional sports leagues, valued for its massive fan base and broadcast revenue.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Psychiatrists

This group grants its controller a bonus when attempting to neutralize (rather than destroy or capture) any other group.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

Psychic Pstench

A Plot card that afflicts a target with an overpowering, supernatural stink, driving away allies and disrupting its influence.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Public Art

A Group representing publicly funded art and monuments, valued more for prestige and cultural influence than for income.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Pulitzer Prize

A flat power-bonus Plot card in the same family as other '+10' cards, usable to boost a group's power for a single attack or defense.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Punk Rockers

A Weird, Violent-leaning Group of punk musicians and scene kids, more disruptive than lucrative but useful for causing chaos among Straight or Government targets.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Purge

A Plot card that lets a player forcibly remove members or elements from within a target group, weakening it from the inside.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Pyramid Marketing Schemes

A Group representing multi-level and pyramid marketing operations, valued for its self-propagating recruitment structure rather than steady income.

Plot (Disaster) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Rain of Frogs

A Disaster card that inflicts a bizarre downpour of frogs, damaging groups broadly regardless of who controls them.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

Rain of Prairie Squid

Can be played even before every player has finished a first turn, though not in a way that strips a rival of his very first automatic takeover; under SubGenius rules, if timed between a rival's Group draw and his automatic-takeover step, it can deny him that automatic takeover entirely.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

Random Jesii

A Plot card that summons an unpredictable, randomly generated messiah figure, granting an unstable, chance-based bonus.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

Rant!

A Plot card that lets a player unleash an unhinged tirade, using pure verbal aggression to fluster and disrupt a target.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Reach Out . . .

A Plot card played at the end of your turn to strip a chosen rival of their unused action tokens.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Read My Lips

A Plot card that lets a player make an emphatic, high-profile promise, granting a bonus that comes back to bite them if later broken.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Recording Industry

A wealthy Media Group representing the music recording industry, valued for its cultural reach and its income from every hit record.

Uncategorized · Illuminati (Base Game, current/canonical edition)

Recyclers

A Group representing the recycling and environmental-compliance industry, angling for the same kind of institutional legitimacy and civic goodwill that lets any group quietly build influence.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Recyclers (Assassins Recycling Centers Group Card)

A Group representing recycling centers, a modest, Peaceful-leaning environmental business valued mostly for quiet, steady income.

Organization · INWO: Assassins

Recycling Centers

Lets its owner reclaim a card that would otherwise simply be discarded, such as a Group that failed a takeover attempt from someone's hand, adding it to their own hand instead; it cannot recover cards that were destroyed rather than discarded.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Red Cross

A trusted, Peaceful-aligned Group representing the humanitarian Red Cross, useful for its unusually broad, unquestioned access to people and places in crisis.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Red Scare

One of a family of 'reload' Plot cards; it places an extra action token on a Conservative group (or on several whose combined power is low enough), and requires an Illuminati action to use.

Group · Illuminati 1982 Original + Expansion Sets 1 & 2 (1983, combined list)

Reformed Church of Satan

While you control this Weird, Fanatic group, no Straight-aligned group can attack or assist an attack against any other part of your power structure -- only this group itself is a legal target -- and even then it gets a hefty defensive bonus against Straight attackers.

Plot · INWO: Assassins

Regi$tered Trademark

A joke Plot that requires players to refer to the linked card only by its full, exact printed name -- including any embellishments added by effects like Partition or Media Sensation -- whenever it comes up in play.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Religious Reich

A Group representing an authoritarian religious-right political movement, valued for its disciplined, moralistic base of support.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Reload!

One of a family of 'reload' Plot cards; it places an extra action token on a Violent group (or on several whose combined power is low enough), and requires an Illuminati action to use.

Special · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Reorganization

A Special card that lets a player restructure part of their own power structure, rearranging groups into a better strategic position.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

Repent!

A Plot card that forces a target group into public repentance, weakening it through humiliation rather than direct force.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Republicans

This group grants a bonus when its controller tries to take control of any Conservative-aligned group.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Resistance Is Useless!

A Plot card that overwhelms a target group's defenses, making any attempt to resist the attack largely futile.

Personality · INWO: SubGenius

Reverend Ivan Stang

A Personality card representing the real co-founder of the Church of the SubGenius, giving its controlling group a bonus tied to charismatic cult leadership.

Plot · INWO: Assassins

Reverse Whammy

Reverses the effect of a targeted 'whammy'-style card, and can even be used to flip another Reverse Whammy.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Revolution!

A Plot card that triggers a sweeping uprising, letting a player overturn the established order within a target group.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Rewriting History

A Plot card requiring a substantial amount of Media-related power to use, where contributions from Media actions can be combined with generic power sources like March on Washington, representing an alteration of the historical record.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Rifkinites

A Green, Liberal-aligned group that gets a bonus on direct attacks against Corporate, Science, or Computer groups.

Special · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Rioting

A Special card that unleashes street rioting, a burst of Violent, chaotic disruption that can damage groups across the board.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

Robo "Bob"

A Plot card that deploys a mechanical stand-in for the church's central icon, letting a player act in 'Bob's' name without the real thing.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Robot Sea Monsters

A Weird Group of giant mechanical sea monsters, a pure science-fiction joke card valued for its sheer, over-the-top Power rather than any real income.

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Rogue Boomer

Represents a ballistic-missile submarine (a 'boomer') seized during its launching ceremony, handing its new controller a vessel bristling with nuclear missiles.

Group · INWO: SubGenius

Rogue SubGenii

A Group of independent, unaffiliated SubGenius believers, valued for their unpredictable, decentralized chaos.

Group (Personality) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Ronald Reagan

A Personality card representing the real 40th U.S. President, giving its controlling group a bonus tied to charismatic conservative leadership and Cold War-era authority.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Rosicrucians

A Weird Group representing the Rosicrucian esoteric order, valued for its ties to occult and Magic-aligned power.

Group (Personality) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Ross Perot

As a Personality, any group he controls is forced to become Straight and Conservative, shedding any Weird or Liberal alignment it had, though this reverts if the group later gets a new master.

Group (Place) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Russia

A Place card representing Russia, a vast, resource-rich home base tied to Cold War-era intrigue.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

S.C.A.M

A Plot card that lets a player run an open, unapologetic con, extracting resources from a target under a transparently fake pretense.

Group · INWO: SubGenius

S.L.A.K.

A Group representing a stripped-down, bootleg version of the church's core teaching, valued for spreading a diluted form of its central promise.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

S.M.O.F.

Gets an extra +4 bonus under the specific circumstances spelled out on the card, on top of whatever its base special ability already provides.

Group · INWO: SubGenius

S.P.U.T.U.M.

A Group representing a fictional SubGenius-affiliated splinter organization, valued for its obscure, jargon-heavy influence.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Sabotage

Countering an automatic takeover: when a rival plays a group card to automatically take control of something, you can force them to return that card to their hand and lose that turn's automatic takeover, paid for with an Illuminati action or with action(s) from a group sharing an alignment with the target and totaling power 6 or more.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

Sacred Jests

A Plot card that lets a player treat a serious situation as a cosmic joke, deflecting an attack through sheer irreverence.

Resource · INWO: SubGenius

Sacred Stencil

A Resource card representing an official SubGenius church stencil or seal, attaching to a group to lend it official, if dubious, legitimacy.

Group (Personality) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Saddam Hussein

A Personality card representing the real former Iraqi dictator, giving its controlling group a bonus tied to authoritarian military power.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Saturday Morning Cartoons

A Media Group representing Saturday-morning children's cartoons, valued for shaping young audiences and selling tie-in merchandise.

Place · INWO: SubGenius

Saucer Landing Strip

A Place card representing a prepared landing site for alien saucers, giving its controller a home base tied to the church's promised extraterrestrial rescue.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Save the Whales

A flat power-bonus Plot card in the same family as other '+10' cards, usable to boost a group's power for a single attack or defense.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Savings & Loan Scam

A Plot card that lets a player exploit a target group's finances through fraudulent lending or investment schemes, draining resources while appearing legitimate.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Savings and Loans

A Group representing savings-and-loan banks, valued for its income but vulnerable to sudden collapse if mismanaged or overexposed.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Scandal

A Plot card powered by a combination of an alignment-based action and an attribute-based action, used to attack or discredit a target group.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

Schizm

Functions as a special attack-like effect capable of stripping an alignment from a target Group, working on a similar principle to the Drug Companies' ability; it cannot be combined with that identical alignment-stripping effect in the same attack.

Plot (Freeze) · INWO: Assassins

School Prayer

A Freeze plot that forces a target group into a religious-observance requirement, disabling one of its attributes for a turn.

Organization · INWO: Assassins

Science Alarmists

An Organization card representing scientists and pundits who sound the alarm on doomsday scenarios, useful for spreading fear-driven disruption.

Goal · INWO: SubGenius

Science Cannot Remove the Terror of the Gods!

A Goal card offering an alternate path to victory built around embracing primal, irrational fear over rational explanation, rewarding a player for leaning into cosmic dread rather than logic.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Science Fiction Fans

A Weird-aligned Group of science fiction fandom, useful for its enthusiasm and organizing energy more than its financial muscle.

Resource · INWO: Assassins

Screaming Meme

A Resource card representing a viral, self-replicating idea that spreads uncontrollably once released, giving its controller a disruptive boost.

Group · INWO: SubGenius

Secret FisTemple

A Group representing a hidden local SubGenius meeting hall, valued for its secure, secretive gathering space.

Plot · INWO: Assassins

Secret Master

An Ultra-rare Plot card that lets a player briefly seize direct, unseen control over an opponent's power structure, playing on the game's central 'hidden puppet master' premise.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Secret Service

A Government Group representing the Secret Service, valued for its elite protective and investigative reach around the nation's top officials.

Special · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Secrets Man Was Not Meant to Know

This card lets its player cancel another player's Special card that has just been used against them.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Secrets Man Was Not Meant To Know

A canceler-type Plot card, functioning like other cards in that class to negate a rival's Plot card or action.

Special · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Secrets Man Was Not Meant to Know (2)

This card lets its player cancel another player's Special card that has just been used against them.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Secular Humanists

A Liberal, intellectual Group representing secular humanism, valued for its influence among Weird and academic-leaning groups.

Plot (Zap) · INWO: Assassins

Security Leak

A Zap plot that strikes at a target group by exposing sensitive information, damaging it through a sudden breach of confidentiality.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Seize The Time!

Lets you take an extra, out-of-sequence turn in which all your groups except your Illuminati receive action tokens, though you may not draw any cards or play any Plot cards during it; using it costs your Illuminati's action, can only be done once per game, and cannot be used until every player has completed a first turn.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Self-Esteem

A Plot card that boosts a target group's confidence and morale, granting a defensive bonus for a turn.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Semiconscious Liberation Army

A small, Violent revolutionary Group prone to dramatic, half-baked terrorism, useful for chaos and destruction rather than sustained income.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Senate Investigating Committee

While in effect, lets you draw cards and place action tokens as normal but do nothing else that turn, though you may still spend those tokens to buy Plot cards.

Illuminati · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Servants of Cthulhu

This Illuminati's unique victory condition centers on destroying groups; notably, if destroying their own last remaining group is what completes that condition, they win the game instead of being eliminated.

Illuminati · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Shangri-La

Gets a defensive bonus that applies even against Instant Attacks, and can lend its power to help destroy even groups it could not target on its own.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Shock Jocks

A Media Group of provocative radio shock jocks, valued for stirring up controversy and grabbing attention rather than for quiet influence.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

Shordurpersav

Lets its player force a re-roll of an unwanted die result, such as the roll that could otherwise cost the owner of a Janor Device that Resource on an 11 or 12.

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Shroud of Turin

Lets you look at the top card of your Plot deck and choose whether to keep it or take the bottom card of the deck instead.

Group (Place) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Silicon Valley

Recognized as being 'part of the United States' for the purposes of cards like Bill Clinton's bonus toward American government groups, even though it is not formally designated a Place.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

Slackfusion

A Plot card that unleashes an overwhelming surge of effortless power, letting a player win big with minimal effort.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Slush Fund

A flat power-bonus Plot card in the same family as other '+10' cards, usable to boost a group's power for a single attack or defense.

Group · Illuminati 1982 Original + Expansion Sets 1 & 2 (1983, combined list)

SMERSH

One of the game's classic-edition Group cards, later renamed; like its counterparts it carried its own Power, Resistance, and niche ability, though the specific ability text isn't reliably documented today. Steve Jackson Games renamed the card "K.G.B." in the 1987 Deluxe edition.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

Smite Them All!

In standard INWO, playing this Plot requires its owner to bury two Group cards from hand to the bottom of their Group deck, while every other player must do the same with one Group card each -- a built-in check against abusive group-hoarding strategies.

Plot (Assassination) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Sniper

An Assassination card that eliminates a target Personality through a long-range, precision shot.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Soap Operas

A Media Group representing daytime soap operas, valued for their devoted daily audience and outsized cultural staying power.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Society for Creative Anarchism

A Weird, hobbyist Group of medieval-reenactment enthusiasts, mostly harmless and easy for any player to fold into their power structure.

Illuminati · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Society of Assassins

This Illuminati is especially skilled at neutralizing (temporarily knocking loose) other players' groups, gaining a large bonus on any such attempt.

Illuminati · INWO: Assassins

SOCIETY OF ASSASSINS

Its Fanatic Groups always have Global Power equal to their base printed Power, ignoring temporary boosts. Its special Goal lets each Secret Group you control count double toward your total, but only for Groups more powerful than (or tied with) the strongest Secret Group any single rival controls. When two of its Fanatic Groups fight each other, either owner may choose to treat their alignments as matching instead of opposed.

Group · Illuminati 1982 Original + Expansion Sets 1 & 2 (1983, combined list)

Society of Creative Anarchism

This Violent, Weird group gets a strong bonus toward destroying any Straight-aligned group, and can spend its action to force a rival to discard the top card of their Groups deck.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Soft Drinks

A wealthy Group representing the soft-drink industry, valued for its massive, brand-driven income and cultural reach.

Plot (Zap) · INWO: Assassins

Sorry, Wrong Number

A Zap plot that misdirects a target group's communications, striking it through confusion and crossed wires rather than direct force.

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Soulburner

Its destructive effect triggers at the moment its owning group (typically Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow) is attacked, taken over, or destroyed, since the ability is evaluated based on ownership at the time of the attack.

Group · Illuminati 1982 Original + Expansion Sets 1 & 2 (1983, combined list)

South American Nazies

This Conservative, Violent group gets a strong bonus toward directly controlling any Weird Science group, and boosts the Power of any Weird Science group it already controls by 3.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

South American Nazis

A Violent Group of unrepentant Nazi fugitives holed up in South America, a small but dangerous faction built on real postwar history.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Space Station

A Group representing an orbital space station, a prestigious high-tech asset useful as a secure, hard-to-reach home base.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Spammers

A low-cost, high-volume Group representing email spammers, useful for its cheap, irritating reach into every other group's inbox.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Spasm of Violence

A Plot card that unleashes a sudden, uncontrolled burst of violent unrest against a target group.

Group · INWO: SubGenius

Speakers in Tongues

A Group of ecstatic, incomprehensible preachers, valued for stirring up fervor even when nobody understands what they're saying.

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Spear of Longinus

Can be used once per attack to grant a substantial bonus, but only for your own attacks; it cannot be used to trigger your own Stonehenge-style immunity against an attack made with it, since immunity cannot be triggered by your own cards.

Special · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Special Perseutor

A Special card that lets a player launch a formal investigation into an opponent, digging up damaging findings the way a real special prosecutor would.

Assassination · INWO: Assassins

Spontaneous Combustion

An Ultra-rare Assassination card that eliminates a target Personality through a sudden, unexplained fiery death.

Resource · INWO: Assassins

Spy Satellite

A Resource card representing an orbital reconnaissance satellite, attaching to a group to give it improved surveillance capability against rivals.

Personality · INWO: SubGenius

St. Janor Hypercleats

A Personality card representing a real Church of the SubGenius figure, giving its controlling group a bonus tied to eccentric performance-art evangelism.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

Stark Fist of Removal

A Plot noted by playtesters as having no specified timing restriction, meaning it can legally be held back and played at the very last moment -- for instance, immediately before a rival rolls the dice on an Attack to Destroy -- to catch an opponent off guard.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

State Lotteries

A Government-adjacent Group representing state-run lotteries, valued for reliably skimming a little revenue from a lot of hopeful players.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Stealing the Plans

A Plot card that can be played in response to certain other cards being used, letting you seize a hidden or in-progress plot for yourself.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Stock Split

A Plot card that lets a player divide a group's stock, generating extra apparent value without actually increasing real underlying power.

Group (Place) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Stonehenge

Grants immunity to all Magic-aligned groups, Magic Plot cards, and Magic Resources, though this immunity cannot protect against the owner's own Magic cards.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Straighten Up

Part of a family of alignment-changing Plot cards; it shifts a target group's alignment to Straight, powered either by an action from an existing Straight group or by a single Illuminati action.

Uncategorized · INWO: Assassins

Strange Bedfellows

A Plot card that lets two normally opposed groups temporarily cooperate, forming an unlikely alliance for mutual benefit.

Group · INWO: SubGenius

SubGenius FisTemples

A Group representing a network of local SubGenius meeting halls, valued for its grassroots, decentralized organizing power.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Subliminals

A Group representing subliminal-advertising specialists, valued for quietly nudging behavior across other groups without their awareness.

Special · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Subliminals (2)

A Special card that plants a subliminal message in an opponent's media, nudging behavior or perception without their awareness.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Sucked Dry and Cast Aside!

Multiplies a target group's power and then destroys it outright, counting as a legitimate destruction for goals like the Servants of Cthulhu's.

Plot · INWO: Assassins

Sudden European Vacation

Shields a Personality from Plot cards played directly against them, such as Assassination attempts, though it gives no protection against being targeted as part of a normal group attack.

Plot · INWO: Assassins

Sufficiently Advanced Technology

Lets you change one of your own Groups to have the Science or Magic attribute; it cannot target a rival's Group, and the change cannot be undone with Backlash.

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Suicide Squad

Its effect is resolved with a die roll that is not itself an Attack to Destroy, so cards or abilities that specifically modify Attacks to Destroy cannot be used on it, though generic die-roll modifiers still can.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

Sultan of Slack

A Plot card that lets a player claim supreme authority over 'Slack' itself, granting an outsized bonus tied to the church's central promise.

Plot · INWO: Assassins

Supernova

A Plot card that unleashes a massive, one-time burst of destructive force against a target, trading a spectacular payoff for a resource that then burns out.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Supreme Court

A Government-aligned Group representing the U.S. Supreme Court, valued for its authority to hand down binding, hard-to-overturn rulings.

Plot · INWO: Assassins

Supreme Court Nomination

A Plot card that lets a player push a favorable nominee onto a target group's governing body, shifting its future decisions in their favor.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Survivalists

Gives its controlling group a recovery benefit on the turn after that group suffers a Devastation, and this still applies even if the Survivalists are moved onto a group that was already devastated.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Sweeping Reforms

A Plot card that lets a player overhaul a target group's structure or rules wholesale, forcing sudden, disruptive change.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Sweepstakes Prize

A Plot card that hands a player a surprise cash windfall, styled as a sweepstakes win.

Organization · INWO: Assassins

Swingers

Gains +1 Power for every other Liberal Group present in the same Power Structure.

Special · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Swiss Bank Account

A Special card representing a numbered Swiss bank account, letting a player stash cash somewhere safer than their visible treasury.

Group (Place) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Switzerland

An undestroyable Place group; rival groups may still lend their power to help destroy it even though they could not accomplish that destruction on their own.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Tabloids

This group gets a bonus specifically when its controller attempts to take control of the Convenience Stores group.

Plot (Zap) · INWO: Assassins

Take The Money And Run

A Zap plot that strikes at a target group's finances, letting a player grab a payout and disappear before retaliation lands.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Talisman of Ahrimanes

A Plot card representing an ancient cursed talisman, granting dark magical power to whichever player wields it -- at a cost.

Plot (Zap) · INWO: Assassins

TANSTAAFL

A Zap plot that strikes at a target group by forcing it to pay a hidden cost it thought it could avoid.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

Tape Runs Out...

A Plot card that cuts a target's scheme off abruptly, ending its effect early as though the recording ran out mid-sentence.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Tax Breaks

One of a family of 'reload' Plot cards; it places an extra action token on a Corporate group (or on several whose combined power is low enough), and requires an Illuminati action to use.

Personality · INWO: Assassins

Teddy Kennedy

A Personality card representing the real longtime U.S. Senator, giving its controlling group a bonus tied to entrenched liberal legislative power and political survival.

Plot · INWO: Assassins

Teflon Coating

A Plot card that shields a target group from blame or damage for a turn, letting scandal and accusation simply slide off.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Telephone Psychics

A Group representing pay-per-minute telephone psychic hotlines, valued for turning gullibility into a steady stream of income.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Templars

A Weird Group representing the Knights Templar, valued for its ties to hidden wealth and occult secrecy.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Terrorist Nuke

A flat power-bonus Plot card in the same family as other '+10' cards, usable to boost the power of an attack to destroy.

Group (Place) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Texas

Its own special ability, along with any Resource or Personality linked to or benefiting it, counts as 'involving Texas' for cards that key off that phrase; a Plot card kept hidden under Texas still counts as part of your hand even though it cannot be exposed.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

The 13th Apostle

A Plot card that lets a player introduce a secretive, previously unknown follower into a target's ranks, gaining hidden influence over it.

Goal · INWO: SubGenius

The Anti"Bob"

A Goal card offering an alternate path to victory built around opposing the SubGenius church's central icon, rewarding a player for undermining 'Bob' Dobbs and his followers.

Illuminati (buildable from blank card, per rules; not a printed card) · Illuminati Expansion Set 3 (1985) / Illuminati: Brainwash (2001 reprint)

The Atlanteans

Rather than a printed card, this Illuminati is defined by rules introduced in the 1985 Expansion Set 3: a player writes its name and stats onto one of the spare blank Illuminati cards already included in the base deck, turning it into a playable custom Illuminati for that game.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

The Auditor from Hell

A Plot card that sics a merciless tax auditor on a target group, draining its resources through relentless financial scrutiny.

Uncategorized · Illuminati (Base Game, current/canonical edition)

The Bavarian Illuminati

As the game's default/premier Illuminati, this card can spend 5 Megabucks once per turn to make one of its attacks “privileged,” shielding that attack from other players' interference.

Uncategorized · Illuminati (Base Game, current/canonical edition)

The Bermuda Triangle

On their turn, the player controlling this Illuminati may rearrange the internal layout of their own power structure.

Resource · INWO: Assassins

The Big Prawn

Changes the alignment of the Place it's linked to, an effect that remains permanent even after the Big Prawn itself leaves play.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

The Big Score

A flat power-bonus Plot card in the same family as other '+10' cards, usable to boost a group's power for a single attack or defense.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

The Big Sellout

A Plot card that lets you hand out an extra action token, though no single group may receive more than one token total from any combination of Big Sellout cards played in the same turn.

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

The Bronze Head

Lets you reroll a single failed Attack to Control once per turn, with the second roll standing, though this does not work when trying to bring a group into play as an 'agent' card.

Uncategorized · Illuminati (Base Game, current/canonical edition)

The Discordian Society

This Illuminati gets a strong bonus when trying to bring Weird-aligned groups under its control, and cannot be attacked by groups that are Conservative- or Straight-aligned.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

The First Thing We Do, Let's Kill All The Lawyers

A Plot card that lets a player strike specifically at a target's legal representation, stripping away their ability to fight back through the courts.

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

The Frog God

A Resource card representing a bizarre amphibian deity, attaching to a group to grant a strange, Weird-aligned power boost.

Uncategorized · Illuminati (Base Game, current/canonical edition)

The Gnomes of Zurich

On their turn, the player controlling this Illuminati may freely shift money between the treasuries within their own power structure.

Group (Place) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

The Great Pyramid

A Place card representing the Great Pyramid of Giza, an ancient, mysterious home base tied to Magic-aligned and occult power.

Organization · INWO: Assassins

The Green Party

Gets a +4 bonus whenever it attempts to take control of another Green Group.

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

The Holy Grail

A Resource whose owner secretly writes down the name of a Place as its hidden location; if that Place is ever attacked to destroy or Devastated, the owner reveals the note and the attack automatically fails, with the Grail continuing to protect that Place afterward, though if the Place is instead captured, the Grail vanishes and is discarded.

Group · INWO: SubGenius

The Hour of Slack

A Group representing a broadcast devoted to spreading the church's core message, valued for reaching a wide, receptive audience.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

The Internet Worm

A self-propagating attack whose discarded remnants are hidden face-down; unlike most discards (which normally go face-up for anyone to see), no one may look through what it leaves behind.

Plot · INWO: Assassins

The Irish Flu

An Ultra-rare Plot card representing a sudden, incapacitating bout of overindulgence, disabling a target group for a turn.

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

The Library at Alexandria

A Resource representing a hidden repository of ancient knowledge; it gives a bonus toward attempts to control Science, Magic, or Computer groups.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

The Mafia

A powerful Criminal-aligned group with an unusually large number of control arrows, though its own special ability is comparatively modest: a small bonus toward controlling or destroying other Criminal groups.

Illuminati (buildable from blank card, per rules; not a printed card) · Illuminati Expansion Set 3 (1985) / Illuminati: Brainwash (2001 reprint)

The Masters of Voodoo

Plot (Zap) · INWO: Assassins

The Meek Shall Inherit

A Zap plot that lets an underdog group strike above its weight, punishing a stronger target for underestimating it.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

The Men in Black

Can permanently destroy a target even if that target has some special protection against permanent destruction; like similar cards, its bonus does not apply to Instant Attacks unless specifically stated.

Uncategorized · Illuminati (Base Game, current/canonical edition)

The Network

At the start of each turn this Illuminati draws and reveals two cards from the deck instead of the usual one, giving its controller extra information and options.

Plot (Disaster) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

The Oregon Crud

A Disaster card with a power of 24 that destroys its target if the die roll succeeds by more than 10.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

The Phone Company

A Government-friendly Group representing the telephone monopoly, prized for the sheer reach of a wired-in eavesdropping network across every other group's business.

Resource · INWO: SubGenius

The Prescriptures

A Resource card representing the SubGenius church's foundational holy text, attaching to a group to lend it scriptural authority.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

The Saint of Sales

A Plot card that channels a legendary salesman's pitch, letting a player close an unlikely deal through pure persuasive charisma.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

The Second Bullet

A Plot card that lets a player follow up a failed attack with a decisive finishing shot, salvaging an otherwise unsuccessful assassination attempt.

Uncategorized · Illuminati (Base Game, current/canonical edition)

The Servants of Cthulhu

Uncategorized · Illuminati (Base Game, current/canonical edition)

The Society of Assassins

This Illuminati is especially skilled at neutralizing (temporarily knocking loose) other players' groups, gaining a large bonus on any such attempt.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

The Stars Are Right

A Plot card that lets a player exploit a moment of cosmic alignment, granting a bonus to Magic or Weird-aligned schemes.

Illuminati (buildable from blank card, per rules; not a printed card) · Illuminati Expansion Set 3 (1985) / Illuminati: Brainwash (2001 reprint)

The Telepathists

Organization · INWO: Assassins

The Thule Group

Lets you sacrifice Group cards straight from your hand for a benefit tied to their combined printed Power, though you must commit to how many cards you're discarding before the action is resolved.

Resource · INWO: SubGenius

The True Pipe

A Resource card representing the authentic version of the church's iconic pipe, attaching to a group to lend it genuine, rather than knockoff, SubGenius authority.

Uncategorized · Illuminati (Base Game, current/canonical edition)

The UFOs

Unlike every other card in the game, the UFOs group can take part in two attacks in a single turn instead of just one.

Uncategorized · Illuminati (Base Game, current/canonical edition)

The United Nations

This Liberal-aligned group gets a strong bonus toward controlling any Nation group, and its Power counts five times over when it's used to provide Relief.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

The Weak Link

A Plot card that lets a player identify and exploit the most vulnerable point in a target group's structure, striking where it's weakest.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

The Weird Turn Pro

A Plot card that lets a Weird-aligned group suddenly operate with unusual professionalism and effectiveness, catching straighter opponents off guard.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!

Powers an Attack to Destroy; in games using a shared uncontrolled Group area it instead triggers an automatic destruction, though it cannot be used to destroy a Group still sitting in a player's hand.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Theme Parks

A Group representing large theme parks, valued for drawing huge crowds and generating steady entertainment-driven income.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

They May Be Pink. . .

A Plot card that lets a player exploit a target's hidden conformity, revealing that even a seemingly Weird group is secretly ordinary underneath.

Plot · INWO: Assassins

This Was Only A Test

A Plot card that lets a player disguise a real attack as a harmless drill, catching a target group off guard when they don't take it seriously.

Resource · INWO: SubGenius

Three-Fisted Tales of "Bob"

A Resource card representing a collection of exaggerated legends about the church's central icon, attaching to a group to boost its mythic prestige.

Plot (Disaster) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Tidal Wave

A Disaster card that inflicts a sweeping tsunami, hitting groups broadly regardless of who controls them.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

Time Control

A Plot card that lets a player manipulate the game's turn order, warping the normal flow of time to their advantage.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Time Warp

Lets you redo a die roll, but only after that roll has clearly and unambiguously succeeded; it cannot be used on rolls whose success is inherently debatable, such as OPEC's power roll or Bill Clinton's alignment check.

Special · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Time Warp (3)

A Special card that lets a player manipulate the game's turn order or timing, warping the normal sequence of play to their advantage.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Tobacco & Liquor Companies

A wealthy Group combining the tobacco and liquor industries, valued heavily for its steady, vice-driven income.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Tobacco Companies

Gets a +8 bonus (rather than the usual -4 penalty) toward directly controlling a Government group, effectively brushing aside the standard Corporate-versus-Government alignment friction.

Plot (Disaster) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Tornado

A Disaster card that inflicts sweeping wind damage, hitting groups broadly regardless of who controls them.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Trading Card Games

A very common Limited-Edition-only Group card (also included in the Factory Set) that, once traded in and discarded, can return to play via a duplicate copy or a card like Recycling Centers; if it is ever replaced by another group, its legally-linked cards and any puppets that still fit carry over to the replacement.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Trekkies

A devoted, Weird-leaning Group of Star Trek fans, valuable for their organizing zeal rather than any real financial clout.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Triliberal Commission

Counts double for any Illuminated goal that involves counting Liberal groups, mirroring how the Fred Birch Society counts double for goals involving Conservative groups.

Plot · INWO: Assassins

Truck Bomb

Converts an ongoing Attack to Destroy against an Organization into an Instant attack; it can only be used during your own Main Phase unless another effect grants an out-of-turn attack, and normal alignment bonuses and penalties still apply.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

TV Preachers

Gets a special bonus for directly controlling a Straight, Fanatic-aligned group, replacing the normal Straight-matching bonus with a larger one while the usual Fanatic-alignment bonus still applies on top, netting an unusually large combined total.

Illuminati · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

UFOs

Unlike every other card in the game, the UFOs group can take part in two attacks in a single turn instead of just one.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Underground Newspapers

A Weird, Liberal Group representing underground and alternative press, valued for spreading unfiltered information the mainstream Media won't touch.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

United Nations

A major Government-aligned Group representing international governance itself, a powerful home base for any player pursuing a one-world-order strategy.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Universities

A Group representing universities, valued for their prestige, research output, and influence over Intellectual and Media-aligned groups.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Unlucky 13

Played against a rival at the very start of their turn, powered by an action from a Magic group, to prevent them from drawing any Plot cards for the rest of that turn.

Special · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Unmasked

A Special card that forces a hidden or disguised element of an opponent's plan into the open, stripping away some form of concealment.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Unmasked!

Lets a player publicly reveal and play an Illuminati card as their true secret leader; if the Unmasked! is later canceled, the Illuminati card simply returns to its owner's hand rather than being destroyed or otherwise affected.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Upheaval!

Forces a rival to discard one of their controlled groups; groups discarded this way do not count as 'destroyed' for any goal or effect, and even normally undestroyable groups are vulnerable to it since it works by discarding rather than destroying; it cannot be used until every player has completed a first turn.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Urban Gangs

A Violent, Criminal Group representing organized street gangs, useful for cheap, disposable muscle in a city environment.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Vampires

As a Group, the Vampires can turn a Personality they successfully attack and take control of into a permanent vampire; separately, any vampire Personality (unlike the Vampires group itself) cannot be killed or assassinated by ordinary means, only through Magic, though a plain Attack to Destroy still works against them.

Group (Place) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Vatican City

Its immunity covers its owner's entire power structure, hand, decks, and discards against Peaceful-aligned groups, not merely the Vatican card itself.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Video Games

Boosts the power of every other Computer group in its controller's power structure by 1, though it does not boost itself.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Video Stores

A Group representing video-rental stores, valued as a once-ubiquitous, now nostalgic retail fixture with steady if unglamorous income.

Plot (Paralysis) · INWO: Assassins

Vile Secretions

A Paralysis plot that afflicts a target group with a disgusting biological ailment, tying it up until its owner pays to clean things up.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Virtual Pets

A novelty Group representing digital virtual pets, valued for its cheap, faddish appeal among younger, tech-savvy groups.

Personality · INWO: Assassins

Vladimir Zhirinovsky

A Personality card representing the real Russian ultranationalist politician, giving its controlling group a bonus tied to bombastic, unpredictable nationalist rhetoric.

Plot (Disaster) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Volcano

A Disaster card with a power of 18 that destroys its target if the die roll succeeds by more than 2.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Volunteer Aid

A Plot card that lets a player call in a wave of goodwill-driven volunteer support, providing a boost without the usual cost.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Voodoo Economics

Played on your own turn right after placing action tokens, at the cost of your Illuminati's action; lets you permanently discard up to ten cards from the top of your Plot deck, granting one extra action token (spread across your other groups, one per group) for each card discarded this way, and can only be used once per game.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Voudonistas

A Magic-aligned group commonly used in destroy- and assassination-focused strategies, filling a role similar to groups like Ninjas.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Vultures

Lets you claim a Group card that a rival tried and failed to take over from their own hand and had to discard; separately, it gives a bonus toward directly destroying a Personality, or a smaller bonus specifically toward an Assassination.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

W.I.T.C.H.

Can alter the outcome of a die roll, even one that would otherwise be an automatic failure, and with two action tokens on it can adjust a roll twice in the same instance; it cannot be used to affect the rolls of a rival protected by Stonehenge.

Plot (Paralysis) · INWO: Assassins

Waiting Period

A Paralysis plot that imposes a mandatory delay on a target group's actions, tying it up until the wait -- or a payment to skip it -- is over.

Group · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Wall Street

Always has the option, when it makes or aids an attack, to treat any Corporate group as Government or vice versa; this flexibility applies only to Wall Street itself and does not extend to other groups taking part in the attack.

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Warehouse 23

When first played, lets you make a free automatic takeover of an Artifact or Gadget Resource; afterward, any Resource you take over can be hidden inside it, kept unusable until you choose to expose it, and is protected from rivals unless they capture or destroy the Warehouse itself, which discards its hidden contents along with it.

Group · Illuminati 1982 Original + Expansion Sets 1 & 2 (1983, combined list)

Wargamers

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Weather Satellite

Can increase the power of a Hurricane, Rain of Frogs, or Tornado Disaster by 10, or decrease it by 4.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Weathermen

A Group representing television weather forecasters, valued for their oddly trusted, camera-ready access to shaping public perception of the world outside.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

Web Designers

A Group representing early web designers, valued for shaping how every other group presents itself in the fast-growing online world.

Special · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Whispering Campaign

This is the sole way to destroy a group that has no Power of its own, which would otherwise be completely immune to destruction attempts.

Plot (Paralysis) · INWO: Assassins

Whistle Blowers

A Paralysis plot that exposes wrongdoing inside a target group, tying it up in scrutiny until its owner pays to make the problem go away.

Special · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

White Collar Crime

A Special card representing embezzlement, fraud, or other quiet financial crime, letting a player skim extra cash without the mess of a violent attack.

Plot · INWO: Assassins

Witch Hunt

A Plot card that lets a player whip up public hysteria against a target group, punishing it on the basis of accusation rather than proof.

Plot (Assassination) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Withering Curse

A Magic-type attack, meaning it interacts with cards and abilities that specifically key off Magic actions or attacks.

Plot · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

World Cup Victory

A flat power-bonus Plot card in the same family as other '+10' cards, usable to boost a group's power for a single attack or defense.

Group · Illuminati: Y2K (Expansion, 1999)

WWW

A Group representing the World Wide Web itself, a sprawling, hard-to-pin-down asset valued for its unmatched reach into every other group's communications.

Group · INWO: SubGenius

www.subgenius.com

A Group representing the church's official website, valued for extending its reach into the growing online world.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

X-Day

An NWO-type card discussed by playtesters as having an alternate condition for coming into play tied to whether the real-world calendar date happens to be marked with an X, in a nod to the real Church of the SubGenius's prophesied apocalypse date; while it remains in effect, Australia was noted to gain quadrupled Resistance.

Resource · INWO: Assassins

X-Ray Specs

Grants its owner the special ability to peek at the top three undrawn cards of any deck currently in the game.

Group (Resource) · INWO Base Set (Limited/Unlimited)

Xanadu

A Resource card representing a fabulously opulent private estate, attaching to a group to grant a boost in prestige and hidden wealth.

Group · INWO: SubGenius

Xists

A Weird Group of alien saviors, valued for their otherworldly power and their role in the church's promised apocalyptic rescue.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

Yacatisma

A Plot card invoking an obscure, invented deity's power, granting a strange bonus tied to the church's ever-expanding pantheon of fictional gods.

Group · INWO: SubGenius

Yetis

A puppet Group with the unusual ability to attach to any side of its master's card, even one without an outgoing control arrow, though this is treated as a one-time placement perk rather than a standing exception to normal linking rules.

Plot · INWO: Assassins

You Are What You Eat

A Plot card that lets a player exploit a target group's diet or consumption habits against it, turning a mundane vulnerability into an attack.

Plot · INWO: SubGenius

You'd Pay to Know What You Really Think!

Forces a target to discard a Group and immediately draw a replacement from their own Group deck; in standard INWO, if that replacement would duplicate a Group already in play and so can't be controlled by its intended master, it is discarded and a Plot card is drawn instead.

Group · Illuminati Deluxe Edition (1999)

Yuppies

A wealthy, Straight, status-obsessed Group of young urban professionals, useful mainly for its disposable income and social climbing.

Card Database

. . . Or Kill Me!

'Frop Farm

"Bobbies"

13013

18 1/2-Minute Gap

A Brief Attack of Conscience

A.M.A.

Adepts of Hermes

Advanced Supersonic Aluminum Nazi Hell Creatures from Beneath the Hollow Earth

Agent in Place

Air Magic

Airlines

Al Amarja

Al Gore

Albino Alligators

Alien Abduction

Alien Abductors

Alternate Goals

American Autoduel Association

An Offer You Can't Refuse

Anarchists Unite!

And STAY Dead!

Angel's Feather

Angst

Animal Testing Labs

Annual Convention

Anti-Nuclear Activists

Anti-Slack

Antiwar Activists

Anything Worth Doing Is Worth Overdoing

Apathy

Are We Having Fun Yet?

Arise!

Ark of the Covenant

Arms Dealers

Arms Smugglers

Assassination

Assertiveness Training

Atomic Monster

Attitude Mutation

Australia

B.A.T.F.

Back to the Drawing Board

Back to the Salt Mines

Backfire

Backlash

Backmasquerade

Bailout

Bait and Switch

Bank Merger

Bank of England

Bar Codes

Bavarian Illuminati

Beach Party

Benefit Concert

Bermuda Triangle

Big Media

Big Medicine

Bigfoot

Bill Clinton

Bimbo at Eleven

Bite the Wax Tadpole

Bjorne

Black Activists

Black Helicopters

Blank cards (3)

Blank cards (4)

Blank Group Cards (3)

Blank Illuminati card

Blank Illuminati Card

Blitzkrieg

Blivit

Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat

Bodyguard

Book of Kells

Botched Contact

Boy Sprouts

Brag of the SubGenius

Brazil