by A.J. Coltrane
Title: Dominion
Game Type: Hand management, deck building, card game.
Number of Players: 2-4 (2-6 with expansions.)
Complexity of Rules: Medium/Low
Time to Play: 20-30 minutes with two people who have played a few times. Up to about 30-50 minutes with more people.
The Concept: From the Amazon.com product page-
In Dominion, each player starts with an identical, very small deck of cards. In the center of the table is a selection of other cards the players can “buy” as they can afford them. Through their selection of cards to buy, and how they play their hands as they draw them, the players construct their deck on the fly, striving for the most efficient path to the precious victory points by game end.
That’s it in shorthand. Longhand, there are basically three types of cards in the game:
1. Victory cards (“Lands”). There are three values of Land cards that can be purchased. The higher value cards are relatively more expensive, but also more desirable because they are more “space efficient” than the cheaper lands.
2. Kingdom (Action) Cards. These cards allow the player to do things like draw more cards, buy more stuff, and/or mess with the other players. (Example of an action card to the right. Village allows the player to draw one more card and play two additional actions.) Each game uses a cross-section of the available Kingdom cards, and the cards all behave differently. This means that no two games will play quite the same way.
3. Money Cards. Much like the lands, the more desirable cards (Gold) are relatively more expensive and more efficient than the junk the players start with (Copper.)
Ultimately the point of the game is to buy more Victory Points than everyone else. The “twist” is that everything that a player buys becomes a part of his deck for the rest of the game — the Victory point cards just get in the way of the “productive” stuff (Money and Actions.) Play requires a balancing act between accumulating points and getting things accomplished down the road.
Why I Like It: Dominion is fast paced, and strategic without allowing so many choices that players get “analysis paralysis.” It’s basically a CCG (Collectible Card Game) without the ongoing expense that the CCG genre entails. (Read: Magic The Gathering can be an expensive game to play.) As stated above, replayability is high because no two games are the same. (Even if you play exactly the same set of Kingdom cards the games will still evolve differently each time.) It’s a good “gateway” game for casual gamers, and it’s compatible with beverage consumption.
It’s the #8 rated boardgame at BoardgameGeek. (The Intrigue expansion is #6.) BoardgameGeek page here.
Available at Gary’s Games in Seattle and Amazon.com. Note that there are *many* expansions. Start with the base set, and if you love it then buy the Intrigue expansion. (The expansion also allows for 6 players.)
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