Product Description
From the Manufacturer
You are a monarch, like your parents before you, a ruler of a small pleasant kingdom of rivers and evergreens. Unlike your parents, however, you have hopes and dreams! You want a bigger and more pleasant kingdom, with more rivers and a wider variety of trees. You want a Dominion! In all directions lie fiefs, freeholds, and feodums. All are small bits of land, controlled by petty lords and verging on anarchy. You will bring civilization to these people, uniting them under your banner. But wait! It must be something in the air; several other monarchs have had the exact same idea. You must race to get as much of the unclaimed land as possible, fending them off along the way. To do this you will hire minions, construct buildings, spruce up your castle, and fill the coffers of your treasury. Your parents wouldn’t be proud, but your grandparents, would be delighted.
Product Description
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. You are a monarch, like your parents before you, a ruler of a small pleasant kingdom of rivers and evergreens. Unlike your parents, however, you have hopes and dreams! You want a bigger and more pleasant kingdom, with more rivers and a wider variety of trees. You want a Dominion! In all directions lie fiefs, freeholds, and feodums. All are small bits of land, controlled by petty lords and verging on anarchy. You will bring civilization to these people, uniting them under your banner. But wait! It must be something in the air; several other monarchs have had the exact same idea. You must race to get as much of the unclaimed land as possible, fending them off along the way. To do this you will hire minions, construct buildings, spruce up your castle, and fill the coffers of your treasury. Your parents wouldnCustomer Reviews
82 of 82 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Best uncollectible collectable card game I've ever played, January 7, 2009
| By | M. Nixon (Baltimore Maryland) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME) |
Durability:3.0 out of 5 stars Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars
This review is from: Dominion (Toy)
Dominion is a deceptively simple appearing game which encompasses endless variation and fun. The basic game contains the following major components:1. 25 groups of cards with additional money cards to supplement the game play (in total over 250 cards.)
2. Card storage and organizer designed specifically for organizing the components of the game.
3. The Rules.
Game Play:
A game starts with each player holding an identical small (10 cards) deck which contains the basic resources for starting play. As the game begins a group of 10 cards are selected from the 25 categories of cards in the box (the rules outline specific card selections for scenario play or people can design their own through customization. There is no banker or moderator; all players start entirely equal with the exact same cards.
During each player's turn they have the chance to take actions by playing cards from their hand and purchase new cards from the central decks (which are accessible to all players.) Each player has to balance the need to buy new cards and money, with the purchase of victory points (which remain in the player's deck but don't help them during the game itself until they are tallied up to determine the winner.)
I have to be honest, when I first heard about the game and had it described to me I didn't understand why my wife and several of our friends were so worked up over the thing. It sounded terribly dry and repetitive, particularly to a person like myself who has played collectable card games like magic the gathering for many years now
Nothing could have been farther from the truth.
Dominion has something for everyone, from the collectable card game nut, to the poker player, to the family looking for an alternative to trivial pursuit on Sunday nights. Since everyone starts out with access to the same selection of cards and the same resources for advancement, everyone has an equal chance of victory (which isn't the case in many games where the players construct their decks in advance of play.) Because there are 10 different categories of action cards (each category having at least 10 cards in its pile) to choose from there is plenty of room for strategy (particularly as the game progresses and certain resources are bought up to the point of extinction.)
The game is set up in such a way so that you can play cut throat games with lots of player-vs-player actions or less interactive games where the victory is determined who fields the most effective resource acquisition strategy. Those familiar with CCG drafting from sealed packs will feel right at home in this environment, while those with no card based gaming experience won't be at a disadvantage compared to those who have played card games extensively.
My only criticism of dominion (as has been said on several other forums) is that while the game is entirely self contained and doesn't require purchase of booster boxes and the like, I can easily see the cards (which are essential in exactly the numbers provided) wearing out or being lost. Because there are so many of them I recommend using card sleeves (available at most hobby stores from companies like rook and ultra pro.)
I started out one night thoroughly expecting to dislike this game and found myself 3 hours later having played several games and wondering where the evening had gone. This game is completely addictive and doesn't loose its fun factor after the player has played multiple scenarios in one sitting.
Simply put, this is the best interactive casual game I've played in 32 years.
27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Unbelieveably Addicting Game, March 3, 2009
| By | T. Gilbert (Lehi, UT, USA) - See all my reviews |
Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars
This review is from: Dominion (Toy)
Ok, I have to start this review off by saying I had my reservations about this game. I absolutely love Euro strategy games like Puerto Rico, Agricola, Power Grid, Caylus, etc, but I'm not into card games. In fact, I pretty much hate card games.This game was getting a lot of publicity on BoardGameGeek and everyone was raving about it so I decided that I should buy it to give it a shot. I'm glad I did.
The whole point of the game is to build your deck of cards and build up a collection of victory points. The reason this game shines is because it is a quick game that only takes about 30-40 minutes to play. It is also very fun because as you are building your deck of cards you aren't usually getting rid of the cards. If you spend some gold to buy a card that gold goes back into your discard pile and will eventually be shuffled for you to use again in another turn.
There are over 500 cards in this game with around 25 different action cards available so you can vary the game a lot depending on what cards are currently on the table. The only downside is that someone that has played the game a lot and knows a base strategy can usually beat a new player easily.
Overall this game is very addicting and short, which is a good thing. You can play multiple rounds of this game in an evening as opposed to one game of another typical Euro.
48 of 60 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Lots of variety for a non-collectible card game, October 16, 2009
| By | Christopher K. Halbower "Christopher Halbower" (Muskegon, MI) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME) |
Durability:2.0 out of 5 stars Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars Educational:2.0 out of 5 stars
This review is from: Dominion (Toy)
Dominion is a non-collectible card game published by the good people at Rio Grande Games. Players accumulate wealth, spend their wealth to make improvements to their town and then use those improvements to acquire more land. Land equals victory points for the most part. Whoever has the most victory points wins.Dominion, like its evil cousins (collectible card games), is a game where players must manage their decks. If you can count cards, you will have a distinct advantage in Dominion. Counting cards is not necessary to be successful (or even to have fun with Dominion)--but serious, tournament gamers will be of the card counting variety. Because you must count your cards, you must manage which cards you put into your deck. You put cards into your deck through purchases.
Players start with 10 cards: 3 estates and 7 copper. Players draw an initial hand of 5 cards. At the end of your turn, you muck your hand (if you have a hand left) and then draw 5 more cards. Any cards you purchased go in your discard pile. Once your draw pile is empty, shuffle your discard pile and form a new draw pile.
You start the game with a complement of estates and copper. Estates score you 1 VP but otherwise clutter you hands. Copper is the least valuable coin. Using this starting complement you must purchase more valuable coins (silver and gold) and buildings.
Players will want more valuable coins because they only get 5 cards in their hands at one time. So if you happen to draw 5 copper coins, you only have $5 to spend. Each silver card is worth 2 copper and each gold is worth 3.
Players also will need to buy buildings. Buildings allow players to take extra actions (normally players only get 1). Some buildings allow players to make extra purchases (normally players only get 1). And some buildings give players special options like drawing extra cards, causing opponents to discard cards, etc. Deciding which buildings to buy is important. These buildings will be cluttering your hand. Will they give you the necessary economic engine to buy the more valuable land cards?
Acquiring land cards is a double edged sword. On the one hand, they are the primary way to get victory points. On the other hand, they clutter your hand without giving you an "in-game" bonus.
Dominion comes with a huge complement of cards. There are enough cards in the base game to satisfy all but the most diehard CCG fans. Since Dominion has two expansions, this should assuage Dominion's detractors.
I have two main gripes about Dominion.
1. Tedious amounts of shuffling. Players are constantly shuffling their decks. This is both tedious and it causes wear and tear on your cards.
2. There is virtually no player interaction. Dominion is a 4 player solitaire game. There are a few "attack cards". But there is no real interaction. Players can play "Militia" which forces their opponents to discard 2 cards. But that's not player interaction. There is no auction system, no vying for control of the center of the board, no driving up the cost of resources...just 4 player solitaire.
Dominion is a good, quick game. Because of the amount of cards in the base game, there's quite a bit of replayability. With the expansions, there should be replayability for years to come. If you don't mind the lack of player interaction and the excessive shuffling, then Dominion will probably scratch your gaming itch.
