Looking at the box for
Dominion (link goes to BoardGameGeek), you might expect that it's a board game with a ton of fiddly bits
a la Arkham Horror or
Wealth of Nations, but it's actually a card game. The reason for the big box? A special, slotted insert that allows you to stand the cards up on their sides inthe box to keep them separated and allow easy access when setting up the game.
The basic idea of the game: acquire as many Victory Points as possible before the game ends. Victory Points are purchased with Treasure cards (Copper, Silver and Gold, with Treasure values of 1, 2 and 3, respectively), which can be acquired through the use of various Action cards (many of which provide Treasure bonuses). Three different Territory cards grant Victory Points: Estate (1 point), Duchy (3 points) and Province (6 points). Each player begins the game with a Deck of 10 cards: 3 Estates and 7 Copper. The Decks are shuffled, each player draws five cards, and play begins.
Each turn consists of four phases: Action, Buy, Discard and Draw.
- Action: Play a single Action card. Action cards may grant additional Actions, allow you to draw additional cards from your Deck, allow you to Attack other players, trade in a Treasure card for one of the next highest value (e.g., Copper for Silver). Most Action cards played during this phase are placed in your Discard pile, but some are placed in the common Trash pile and will not be used again (unless a later Action card allows them to be retrieved).
- Buy: Purchase a single card using the Treasure in your hand plus any Treasure bonuses granted by your Action card(s). You may purchase Territory cards, Treasure cards or Action cards. It is possible to purchase more than one card if the Action card(s) you played granted one or more additional Buys. Treasure cards used during this phase are placed in your Discard pile.
- Discard: After the Action and Buy phases are complete, your entire hand is discarded. This is an interesting mechanic, as each turn is played with a fresh hand, so you can't hold back cards to use on your next turn; likewise, if you draw a poor hand, you're not stuck with it for multiple turns.
- Draw: Each turn ends when you draw a new hand of five cards.
The mechanics are clean and straightforward, which makes them pretty easy to pick up from the start, but when you begin the game with your hand of five cards, the first thing you'll realize is that you really can't
do anything right out of the gate (you will not have an Action card in your hand until at least the third turn). Some time will be spent examining the various Action cards available for purchase and figuring out just how they'll affect future turns. Sometimes, the usefulness of a particular Action card isn't clear until you've got it in your hand with one or more other Action cards and the synergy all falls into place.
Dominion isn't a collectible card game, but the cards used from one game to another can vary. Typically, the Treasure and Territory cards remain the same, but the Action cards available for purchase will vary depending upon the particular scenario chosen. There are no "Action - Attack" or "Action - Reaction" cards in the "Big Money" scenario, for example, so only the "Bureaucrat" card (all other players reveal a Victory card from their hand and place it on top of their Deck) affected other players during your turn. On the other hand, the "Interaction" scenario introduces the "Spy", "Militia" and "Thief" cards, all of which are "Action - Attack" cards, affecting players in various ways. For example, the "Militia" card forces all other players to discard down to three cards in their hand. The "Moat" card is an "Action - Reaction" card, and having one in your hand is an effective defense against Attacks.
These two scenarios play out very, very differently, and while the end goal is always to acquire as many Victory Points as possible, doing so effectively requires a different strategy for each scenario. This, along with the hand/deck recycling mechanic combine to make a fun, engaging and very replayable game.
The big drawback: the basic game is designed for 2-4 players and we typically have six people at our Game Nights. However, an upcoming expansion/standalone game will allow for up to six players, something we're very much looking forward to.
