Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea. Blog, Internet resources, online reading groups, articles and interviews, Illuminatus! info.

Saturday, May 2, 2026

The card game that 'predicted' 9/11


An article in Gadget Review, "The 90s Card Game That ‘Predicted’ 9/11, Trump, and COVID-19," discusses the Illuminati: New World Order game from Steve Jackson Games. Here is an interesting bit from the piece written by Rex Freiberger:

"In the 90s you may have seen a card showing skyscrapers exploding in flames, drawn in 1994—seven years before 9/11. That’s the “Terrorist Nuke” card from Illuminati: New World Order, a satirical game that’s become conspiracy theory catnip. Unsealed decks now fetch over $2,000 on eBay, driven by collectors convinced this tabletop game somehow predicted the future."

The game apparently was inspired by Illuminatus! and it quotes a piece by Robert Shea, written for the game. The entire piece is reprinted in my Robert Shea book, by kind permission of Steve Jackson. 

Robert Anton Wilson talked about the game in this interview. 

No comments: