The Dominion board game master page. A complete guide. Review, how to play, editorial, useful links, similar games, FAQ, interesting facts and so much more. Dominion is the classic medieval deck building game that invented the genre and has some of the most options ever given it has released 12 expansions over the last decade.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Game Info
- Photo Gallery
- Overview
- Review
- How To Play
- Similar Games
- Interesting Facts
- Useful Links
- FAQ
- Editorial Articles
- Videos
- People Also Enjoyed
- Submit Something
DOMINION GAME INFO
RELEASE: | 2008 |
PLAYERS: | 2 – 4 Players |
DURATION: | 30 Minutes |
AGE: | 13+ |
GENRE: | Deck Building |
DESIGNER: | Donald X. Vaccarino |
ARTIST: | Matthias Catrein, Julien Delval, Tomasz Jedruszek, Ryan Laukat, Harald Lieske, Michael Menzel, Marcel-André Casasola Merkle, Claus Stephan, Christof Tisch |
PUBLISHER: | Rio Grande Games |
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DOMINION PHOTO GALLERY
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DOMINION OVERVIEW
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… dreams! You want a bigger kingdom, more pleasant, 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, on your mother’s side, would be delighted.
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DOMINION REVIEW
7.4 out of 10
When you think deck building you probably think of games like Magic the Gathering but this is not that. This game box has everything you need to play a game. You start with nothing and have to build, that is the magic of the game. The balance is incredible and so smartly put together. This game was a cultural beacon and though there have been many greats to come along in its space, none have matched what it has been able to achieve. If you like this one, a good next game is Clank!.
Read Our Dominion Review
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DOMINION HOW TO PLAY
In Dominion, a new set of 10 action cards each game and the standard treasure/victory cards are available for purchase. Everyone starts with the same basically nothing and has to buy cards and build up a deck to draw more and more powerful cards to get to big victory points. The game ends once any three piles are gone and whoever has the most points in their deck wins.
How to Play Dominion Step-By-Step
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DOMINION SIMILAR GAMES
We thought about everything from gameplay to theme, intensity level to overall motivations, the quality and more to determine what are the five most similar board games to Dominion. The quick recap of the list is below with the link to the descriptions and full article below it.
- Rune Age
- Century: Spice Road
- Star Realms
- Heroes of Graxia
- Magnum Opus
Full Games Like Dominion Article
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DOMINION INTERESTING FACTS
**Send in your interesting facts
Dominion was designed by Donald X. Vaccarino who won the 2009 Spiel des Jahres for his efforts. He also designed hit games such as Kingdom Builder, Android: Infiltration, Greed and Nefarious.
Dominion has stayed on top of the game by producing numerous expansions that can be played in combination with one another, eleven in total. They include (1) Seaside, (2) Alchemy, (3) Prosperity, (4) Cornucopia, (5) Hinterlands, (6) Dark Ages, (7) Guilds, (8) Adventurers, (9) Empires, (10) Nocturns (11) Renaissance and (12) Intrigue.
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DOMINION USEFUL LINKS
If it is a topic that has not yet been covered, you can most likely find more information here on your topic of choice. From official Dominion useful links to very unofficial ones.
- List of the Best Dominion Expansions
- The Dominion Official Webpage
- Publisher Rio Grande Games’ Page
- Buy Dominion on Amazon
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DOMINION FAQ
Who plays first in Dominion?
There is no set method, use your randomization tool of choice.
What are the blank Dominion cards for?
Those are surplus cards included simply because they were printed out anyways, so the Dominion publisher chose to include them as opposed to not. People most commonly use them as empty-pile indicators. Combining blanks from the base game and Intrigue can be used to create a custom Kingdom stack.
Why do some of the cards have a blue back in Dominion?
These are not to be used in games, these are marker cards to be able to randomize your ten active cards easily if you choose to go that route.
If I just buy money instead of action cards, can’t I just win that way in Dominion?
Yes but you probably won’t. Setting up strategic actions and combos is going to lead to bigger and better things every time, beating a no-frills strategy every time.
Why would I ever want to trash a card in Dominion?
It will make your overall deck stronger in the long run by getting weaker cards like estates or coppers out so you will no longer draw them. Yes, those are good things, but if you are consistently getting to something better, that is a good thing.
Is there an app that randomizes the 10 game cards for me for Dominion?
Yes, its call Dominizer.
Was Dominion the game that invented the Deck Building genre?
Yes it was.
Why do people hate on Dominion?
People tend to attack that it really doesn’t have a theme. It is set in medieval times but there are no characters and nothing happens. People also hate on how there is pretty much no player interaction, which we disagree with. Finally, it is just older and people will say better games have come out, but Dominion has continued to release excellent expansions to stay relevant.
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DOMINION EDITORIAL
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