This is a series of posts where I play 100 boardgames.
Game: Dominion
Designer: Donald X. Vaccarino
Year: 2008
Country: U.S.A.
Publisher: Lautapelit.fi
One of the goals of this study project is to play those games “everyone has played”. It’s easier to talk about boardgames and card games when you know all the references! Dominion is definitely one of those games, at least in my social milieu.
Dominion has the distinction of introducing an entirely new type of mechanic into card games which has since been copied a lot. It’s a deckbuilding game where you want to play cards to buy more cards for your deck so you can play them and get even more, better cards. Along the way, you try to get rid of crappy cards so your good cards come into your hand more often.
You can also buy victory point cards, and as long as they’re somewhere in your deck, discard pile or hand, they count. Buying more is how you win the game.
At the start, each player has money and a few victory point cards. On the table, there are money cards, victory point cards and a selection of different types of action cards. You can choose which action cards are in play to create variety in the experience.
Once your turn comes, you can play an action card and buy something. For example, you can have an action card which allows you to take three more cards into your hand. Then, you see how many are coins, calculate the total, and see what it gets you. For example, a better money card, a victory point card or an action card.
At the start, you want to get action cards and better coin cards to build an engine so you can afford more expensive things. However, soon you’ll have to start buying victory point cards to actually win the game. In a neat twist, the victory point cards are completely useless in play, so that if you buy them too early, they’ll gunk up your hand and leave you unable to make much headway.
Dominion was extremely fast paced and because you’re constantly shuffling the deck, there’s a fun feeling of tactility to how you interact with the cards.