The Weekend Wanderer: Illuminati and other games

We happened to play a lot of games while in North Carolina, mostly because there's not a whole lot else to do except for go to the mall or Wal-Mart or to Wake Forest. This is fine by me because I've never been the clubbing type and because I just really enjoy being at home.

So the first of these majestic games is my favorite - Nerts!

We played this game pretty much every night I was in North Carolina and it became my all-time fave. Screw Egyptian Rat Screw. Who needs gin? A thousand times better than Bridge, this game is the be-all end-all of all card games. Enough said.

Then there was Illuminati. Have any of you (with the exception of Psych Girl), ever played this game?

Illuminati is a standalone card game made by Steve Jackson Games (SJG), inspired by The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea. The game has ominous secret societies competing with each other to control the world through sinister means, including legal, illegal, and even mystical. It was designed as a "tongue-in-cheek rather than serious"^[1] take on conspiracy theories. It contains groups named similarly to real world organizations, such as the Society for Creative Anachronism.^[2] It can be played by two to eight players. Depending on the number of players, a game can take between one and six hours.

It was a pretty geeky game, but then again, I consider myself a true geek. I didn't win, but then again, I didn't try very hard, so I'm okay with that.

Have you played any new games recently? I'm always on the lookout for something that will beat Nerts.