Seaside

Seaside
Info
Type	Expansion
Icon
Cards	300
Kingdom	262 (1st) / 272 (2nd) (26/27 sets)
Randomizers	26 (1st) / 27 (2nd)
Blank Card(s)	12 (1st) / 1 (2nd)
Additional Material(s)
Mats	6 Island mats 6 Pirate Ship mats (1st only) 6 Native Village mats
Tokens	25 Coin tokens (1st only) 15 Embargo tokens (1st only)
Theme(s)	The next turn (Duration cards)
Release	October 2009 (1st) / Q2 2022 (2nd)
Cover artist	Franz Vohwinkel (1st) / Julien Delval (2nd)
Official Rulebook	PDF

Seaside is the second expansion to Dominion by Donald X. Vaccarino , released in 2009 by publisher Rio Grande Games. The box originally contained 26 sets of Kingdom cards, 3 types of player mats, a set of Coin tokens, and a set of Embargo tokens. The main gameplay theme of Seaside is cards whose abilities affect future turns—whether by being Duration cards, interacting with the top of the deck, or otherwise.

Seaside (Second Edition) was released in May 2022. 8 first-edition Kingdom card piles (and 11 blank cards) were replaced with 9 new ones. The new cards are also available in an update pack provided to allow existing Seaside sets to be updated to the second-edition form.

Contents

Kingdom cards, second edition

Cards with an asterisk (*) were added in the second edition.

• : Haven, Lighthouse, Native Village
• : Astrolabe*, Fishing Village, Lookout, Monkey*, Sea Chart*, Smugglers, Warehouse
• : Blockade*, Caravan, Cutpurse, Island, Sailor*, Salvager, Tide Pools*, Treasure Map
• : Bazaar, Corsair*, Merchant Ship, Outpost, Pirate*, Sea Witch*, Tactician, Treasury, Wharf

Removed first-edition Kingdom cards

These cards were included in the first edition, and removed from the second edition.

• : Embargo, Pearl Diver
• : Ambassador
• : Navigator, Pirate Ship, Sea Hag
• : Explorer, Ghost Ship

Mats

• 6 Island mats
• 6 Pirate Ship mats (only in first edition)
• 6 Native Village mats

Tokens

Tokens are only in first edition

• 10 Embargo tokens
• 25 Coin tokens

Additional rules

• This expansion introduces Duration cards. These cards are orange, and say "Duration" on the bottom line, i.e. "Action – Duration." A Duration card does something after your turn. Leave the card in front of you until the Clean-up Phase of the last turn in which it does something (discard it before drawing for the following turn). So if the card says "Now and on your next turn," discard it during the Clean-up phase of your next turn.
• If you play or modify a Duration card with another card, that other card also stays in your play area until it is no longer doing anything. For example if you play Throne Room on Merchant Ship, both cards stay in play until the Clean-up phase of your next turn. The Throne Room stays in play to remind you that you are getting the effect of Merchant Ship twice on that next turn.
• If multiple cards resolve at the same time on your turn (for example, Duration cards that do something “at the start of your next turn”), you choose what order to resolve them. A card that affects multiple players during your turn still resolves in player order, affecting you first if it affects all players and then proceeding clockwise.
• In order to keep track of which Duration cards are discarded during the current Clean-up phase and which Duration cards remain in play, place Duration cards in a separate row above the other Actions and Treasures played. When a Duration card has its last effect, move it to the row of cards that will be played and discarded during the current turn.
• Players may look at face-up set-aside cards of any player. Players may count face-down set-aside cards (both their own and those of other players).
• Some cards give a player a choice between two or more options (Pirate Ship, Native Village). You may pick any choice offered, even if you cannot do what it tells you to, but once you make a choice, you must complete as much of it as you can. Specific examples of this rule are given in the descriptions for cards on the info sheet.
• Some cards are both Victory cards and another type as well (e.g. Island). These cards are both types for all purposes. Island can be played like a normal Action and at the end of the game, it contributes to your score. When a card refers to a type of card, it means any card having that type; so, for example, Library can be used to set aside an Island.

Flavor text

All you ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by. And someone who knows how to steer ships using stars. You finally got some of those rivers you'd wanted, and they led to the sea. These are dangerous, pirate-infested waters, and you cautiously send rat-infested ships across them, to establish lucrative trade at far-off merchant-infested ports. First, you will take over some islands, as a foothold. The natives seem friendly enough, crying their peace cries, and giving you spears and poison darts before you are even close enough to accept them properly. When you finally reach those ports you will conquer them, and from there you will look for more rivers. One day, all the rivers will be yours.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Rio Grande Games

Mechanics

This is the 2nd addition to the game of Dominion. It adds 26 new Kingdom cards to Dominion. The central theme is your next turn; there are cards that do something this turn and next, cards that set up your next turn, and other ways to step outside of the bounds of a normal turn.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Rio Grande Games

Cards gallery

Kingdom cards

Removed cards

Impact

Seaside is one of the most universally well-liked Dominion expansions, and a frequent answer to the "What should be the first expansion I buy?" question. This may be because Duration cards provide a noticeably different gameplay experience than anything that's available in the Base set or Intrigue, while still having effects that are relatively straightforward and easy to understand. When Donald X. decided to start reusing mechanics from past expansions in designing Adventures, Duration was the principal mechanic he chose to revisit; since then, each new expansion after Adventures has included at least two Duration cards.

Seaside was often perceived to be a "power creep" expansion; certainly it contains several cards that are very strong for their cost in comparison to the average card in Intrigue or base Dominion. Lighthouse provides some of the best protection from Attacks available in Dominion; and Fishing Village, Caravan, Tactician, and Wharf have very strong next-turn effects that can allow an engine to function with extremely high reliability. Fishing Village and Wharf are often described as the most powerful village card and the most powerful non-Attack card, respectively. The first edition of Seaside contained three strong Attacks—Ambassador, Sea Hag, and Ghost Ship—to the point that Donald X. removed them from the second edition of Seaside on the grounds that they made the game too miserable.

Seaside has no cards costing , and more cards costing than any other expansion. This is a deliberate move on Donald X.'s part to compensate for the range of costs in the Prosperity, which has no cards and many cards costing or more.

Theme

Game designer Donald X. offered some insight into some themes of the set here.

• 8 Duration: Haven, Lighthouse, Fishing Village, Caravan, Merchant Ship, Outpost, Tactician, Wharf
• 9 top of deck: Native Village, Pearl Diver, Lookout, Navigator, Pirate Ship, Sea Hag, Treasure Map, Ghost Ship, Treasury
• 3 other-turn: Embargo, Smugglers, Island
• 6 off-theme: Ambassador, Warehouse, Cutpurse, Salvager, Explorer, Bazaar

Alternative versions

• 

  First Polish version (by GFP)

Trivia

Official box art.

Seaside 1E is unique among Dominion expansions in that every Kingdom card is an Action card; it has no Treasures and its only Victory cards are also Actions. It is also the first expansion to introduce a new card type and card color.

In other languages

• Chinese: 海國圖志 (pron. hǎi guó tú zhì, lit. Illustrated Treatise on the Maritime Kingdoms, a historical Chinese atlas of island nations)
• Czech: Pobřeží (lit. coast)
• Dutch: Hijs de Zeilen (lit. hoist the sails)
• Finnish: Kaukaiset rannat (lit. distant beaches)
• French: Rivages (lit. seashores)
• German: Seaside
• Italian: Seaside
• Japanese: 海辺 (pron. umibe, lit. seashore)
• Korean: 정복자의 바다 (pron. jeongbogjaui bada, lit. sea of the conqueror)
• Polish: Przystań (lit. haven)
• Russian: Побережье (pron. pobyeryezh'ye, lit. coast)
• Spanish: Terramar (lit. earthsea)

Secret History (1E)

At first there were just a bunch of cards. One day I decided, okay, these are the main set, these are the first expansion, these are the second expansion. I divided everything up based on mechanical themes.

Originally the 2nd expansion had two themes. Both themes had so much potential that I broke the set up into two sets, expanding the themes. Seaside got the "next turn" theme. It may be a couple years before you'll get to see the expansion I made out of the other theme.

For much of its pre-development life, the set was 20 cards. It briefly visited 16 cards, when I tried that out for everything, but mostly it was 20. But going into development it was of course 25; I knew that Intrigue had ended up 25, so naturally this set would be 25 too. My expectation was that cards would be used for the playmats and counters, which is how it worked during development. But at the end of development, it turned out we'd be using playmats and counters, and that left some empty space. So the set went up to 26 cards.

Now some of the cards that didn't make it.

- There were the cards for that other theme the set once had. Those cards are still hoping to come out in that set, so so much for them. A few more cards started here but migrated to later sets that they fit better. None of them want to be spoiled here today.

- There was the attack I mentioned for Sea Hag, the card that turned into Smugglers, and the card that Treasury replaced.

- Black Market was originally from this set. Valerie thought it was too wacky, what with having to set up a deck of cards to buy for it, so it left. Then we needed a promo and Dale suggested Black Market for it and of course I jumped on that. Black Market had been very popular in the set, so it was great that it survived. It's true that it's cumbersome having to build the Black Market Deck for it though. Black Market tied in to the next turn theme by actually getting you cards from next game. Those of you who don't know about the promo, it was given away with an issue of Spielbox, and now BGG sells it somewhere. Just madly click on things and eventually it will show up.

- There was a now-and-later Throne Room variant. Play an Action, play it again next turn. It was both confusing and weak. What if you use it on a duration card? How long does it stay on the table? It could have said "non-duration," but that's pretty sad in a set with 8 duration cards. And did I mention it was weak? It left before development started.

- There was a "discard x cards, +$x" card that was in this set for a bit. I had a +1 buy version, then a now-and-later version. I ended up doing that on Secret Chamber in Intrigue, and dropped the versions that were here.

- The victory card that Island replaced was an Action-Victory with "Trash a card from the supply costing $6 or less / Worth 1 vp per 3 vp cards in the trash." I always thought it seemed cool and interesting, but in practice it wasn't much fun. If you went for it, other people would get in on it. It would do nothing some games, then dominate others, but never in a fun way. No-one was sad to see it go. There could still be a card someday that trashes supply cards, but in practice it's mostly a waste of time, with players sitting there trying to work out which card to trash in cases where it really doesn't matter (and so it's hard to decide).

- The one-shot that Lookout replaced was "trash this and your hand, gain a card costing up to $3." It had started stronger but I had to weaken it. That version just looked horrible but was still strong. It was great to finally get rid of it. There could still be a one-shot Chapel someday, but "trash your hand" is not the way to go. It limits the card to the early game, usually just one copy, and then either you draw it with your other early purchase, ugh, or you don't, yeeha.

- There was a now-and-later attack. It was you draw two, they discard one, this turn and next turn. I had still not quite learned that you can't do "each other player discards a card" - it will eventually get played in multiples and just massacre turns. I ended up replacing this with Ghost Ship.

- There was an attack like "look at the top card of each player's deck (including yours), you may trash it or discard it." This dates back to when I was doing "trash the top card of each other player's deck" stuff. Those kinds of attacks proved to have problems, which I've discussed in previous Secret Histories, and modern variants jump through lots of hoops to avoid them. This card just left automatically when I came to my senses there.

And that's the way it happened.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, The Secret History of the Seaside Cards

Retrospective on 1E

The biggest thing here is, the set has two cards that hand out junk that cost less than . Cards like that tend to dominate games, since people buy them turns 1-2 and start playing them fast, so it's bad to have two of them in one set, even though when they're in the same game the one defends against the other. I just don't want heavy-Seaside games to always have one of those cards. So either Ambassador or Sea Hag should be a more powerful card for . Ambassador looks more innocent so probably I would change Sea Hag.

Lookout is the dud of the set. The problem is, some people are terrified of trashing a good card with it. At the same time trashing bad cards looks less exciting to some players. And as a trasher it's not exceptional. So the overall package is a card that a lot of players don't want, but that some experienced players realize is okay but not special. I could instead have some other card more people liked.

Originally the set did not have tokens. Embargo put itself on a pile; Pirate Ship kept one treasure per attack and counted them; Pirate Ship and Native Village did have mats, but they were card-sized (when that changed I got to add Haven back in). If I had known the set would have counters, I would have tried to get more use out of them, just as I made two more   token cards to go with Monument.

Again some people complain about various other cards but I am having none of it.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, What Donald X. Might Do With a Dominion Time Machine

Second Edition comments (2016)

I looked at the other sets a year ago, did any sets want new cards other than Dominion and Intrigue. Seaside came the closest, Prosperity was a very distant 4th. Well there's Alchemy, but the basic way to change Alchemy is to not do it. Anyway I looked at Seaside. The biggest positive things would be to get rid of Embargo tokens and use the coin tokens on say 3 cards. Seaside was made without tokens so I was not trying to make sure they were put to good use (when Prosperity was delayed due to Alchemy, I had time to add two more VP token cards to it). As I said, it was going to be a while before Jay was actually interested in not needing Embargo tokens. Then, two of the biggest duds to replace, I couldn't. In the end it got a tweaked rulebook and fixed wordings/layout (including Pirate Ship being clear about Guilds), but no new cards. And nothing else has new cards on the way either.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Dominion and Intrigue Second Editions

Secret History (2E)

When I did the second editions for the main set and Intrigue, I planned to do Seaside, but didn't. At last I am getting to it, years later.

My interest in the project grew slowly. Finally, while working on Allies, I asked Jay if we could do it, and he said yes. A big problem previously had been, there were real people depicted on two cards I wanted to replace (Navigator and Pearl Diver), and he hadn't even wanted to ask if they could just be depicted on new cards. But years had passed, and Jay didn't even remember having said that, and had no issues this time (they aren't depicted in Seaside 2E; we'll get to them eventually okay).

There was then the task of picking out which cards exactly to replace; I got lots of opinions and looked at data. Then I wanted more cards than before, and asked Jay if that was okay, and he said yes again. So Seaside lost 9 cards and gained 9 new ones.

If you already have the physical set, well it's like a new mini-expansion for Seaside. You can keep the replaced cards if you want; no-one's coming into your house and making you throw them away. Or you can replace them, the choice is yours. Online, the cards remain available on dominion.games (you have to specify that you want them though), and I am not sure if TGG will keep selling them or merely keep supporting them, for their version. They are supported though.

I usually have a section going on about outtakes. Seaside 2E though was worked on at the same time as both Allies and the fall expansion (fall expansion?). Ideas went back and forth (Sentinel at one point was going to replace Lookout). So most of these outtakes aren't really looking to be talked about yet. I guess I can mention that there was "+ per 2 cards in your hand." A couple Reactions tried triggering on players playing Gold or gaining Treasures. And there were those Mariners - the one-card cantrip Ghost Ship, and multiple cards that tried some version of "next turn, +something per Duration you have in play."

And that's my story.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, The Secret History of Seaside 2E

Other Comments

For me, changing Seaside now feels just like changing it when it hadn't come out yet. We didn't just print the first 26 cards I thought of; I got to test them and polish them and replace the bad-to-do ones. It's years later and I'm better at this and I got to polish the set more.

The whole point to Seaside 2E is to make the product better for the people who have not bought Seaside. For the people who have, well we're not making you buy Seaside 2E just to get the 9 new cards, we're selling them separately too. But you know. The whole concept is aimed at people who do not yet have Seaside. I would like my product to be better for those people. This seems extremely reasonable. And friendly even! I don't see how I'm possibly letting down the people who have it already. You can just ignore this and play with Sea Hag all you want. Or you can think of it as a 9-card expansion to Seaside and get that if it appeals to you.

No-one is telling anyone that they enjoyed the wrong thing or any such nonsense. Enjoy what you enjoy.

There have continued to be expansions because there has continued to be a lot of demand for new expansions. Man, I try to delay them, to get work done on other projects. Time spent on Dominion is time not spent on anything else. This time around, the pandemic pushed me into working on Dominion again. It was what I could get playtested with no game nights.

The whole point to rules changes and rewordings is to make the game better for the opposite of a niche; for the broad audience of not-serious-gamers. Serious gamers can just learn exotic rules and weird loopholes. For most players, it's better if I get rid of those things. For people who already have the cards, this is errata, but you can just play by the words on the cards in front of you, no-one is making you look up the current wordings.

Does the game "need" Seaside 2E? Man. I don't want to argue about what "need" means, but to me, it sure didn't "need" it. It's great to have it though. For me, "need" wasn't a factor; it sounded like a fun project and I did it. For sure it would have been more lucrative to have put the 9 new cards into a new expansion and continued selling Sea Hag etc. Would the world "need" that new expansion? No, of course not. But for sure some people would have gotten joy from it. Which is what it's all about in the end.

And, a point I personally should harp on: I have no respect for people who can't let other people have the fun they want to have. I do not stand in the way of people having the fun they want to have with Dominion cards, whether it's playing with Sea Hag or having weird house rules. And no-one should stand in the way of other people getting to not play with Sea Hag, that's fun too. I mean really.

These previews cannot be all "This card is not fun to certain people in certain circumstances, endless words to clarify that no absolute statements can ever be true or acceptable." "This is not fun" is a shorthand, and being members of human societies, we know the endless implicit stuff that's been omitted there. Man. There is super obviously no "no fun" card that someone doesn't adore, and man I even have statistics there, can point at how many people put whatever super-no-fun card on their liked list on dominion.games. Nothing is so bad that no-one likes it, and some of the most hated cards are the most adored. But none of that means that the previews should be unreadable. So there.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Dominion Reddit, 2022

Recommended sets of 10

Seaside only

High Seas [images]
	Bazaar			Caravan			Embargo			Explorer			Haven
	Island			Lookout			Pirate Ship			Smugglers			Wharf

Buried Treasure [images]
	Ambassador			Cutpurse			Fishing Village			Lighthouse			Outpost
	Pearl Diver			Tactician			Treasure Map			Warehouse			Wharf

Shipwrecks [images]
	Ghost Ship			Merchant Ship			Native Village			Navigator			Pearl Diver
	Salvager			Sea Hag			Smugglers			Treasury			Warehouse

Seaside & Dominion

Reach for Tomorrow [images]
	Artisan			Cellar			Council Room			Vassal			Village
	Cutpurse			Ghost Ship			Lookout			Sea Hag			Treasure Map

Repetition [images]
	Festival			Harbinger			Militia			Workshop			Caravan
	Explorer			Outpost			Pearl Diver			Pirate Ship			Treasury

Give and Take [images]
	Library			Market			Moneylender			Witch			Ambassador
	Fishing Village			Haven			Island			Salvager			Smugglers

Seaside & Intrigue

A Star to Steer By [images]
	Secret Passage			Diplomat			Swindler			Wishing Well			Courtier
	Lookout			Treasure Map			Ghost Ship			Haven			Outpost

Shore Patrol [images]
	Patrol			Replace			Shanty Town			Trading Post			Pawn
	Island			Wharf			Cutpurse			Lighthouse			Warehouse

Bridge Crossing [images]
	Lurker			Nobles			Duke			Conspirator			Bridge
	Salvager			Embargo			Smugglers			Native Village			Treasury

Seaside & Alchemy

Forewarned [images]
	Cutpurse			Embargo			Ghost Ship			Native Village			Treasure Map
	Apothecary			Golem			Possession			Scrying Pool			Transmute
Landscapes and Additional Cards
	Potion

Gummed Up [images]
	Ambassador			Haven			Sea Hag			Smugglers			Warehouse
	Apprentice			Familiar			Herbalist			Philosopher's Stone			Vineyard
Landscapes and Additional Cards
	Potion

Seaside & Prosperity

Exploding Kingdom [images]
	Bishop			City			Grand Market			King's Court			Quarry
	Fishing Village			Lookout			Outpost			Tactician			Wharf

Pirate Bay [images]
	Expand			Hoard			Mint			Trade Route			Watchtower
	Bazaar			Lighthouse			Pirate Ship			Smugglers			Warehouse

Seaside & Cornucopia

Collector [images]
	Embargo			Fishing Village			Merchant Ship			Navigator			Smugglers
	Fairgrounds			Farming Village			Fortune Teller			Harvest			Hunting Party

Collider [images]
	Lighthouse			Salvager			Treasure Map			Treasury			Warehouse
	Menagerie			Horn of Plenty			Horse Traders			Jester			Tournament

Seaside & Hinterlands

Travelers [images]
	Cutpurse			Island			Lookout			Merchant Ship			Warehouse
	Cartographer			Crossroads			Farmland			Silk Road			Stables

Diplomacy [images]
	Ambassador			Bazaar			Caravan			Embargo			Smugglers
	Embassy			Farmland			Ill-Gotten Gains			Noble Brigand			Trader

Seaside & Dark Ages

Watery Graves [images]
	Count			Graverobber			Hermit			Scavenger			Urchin
	Native Village			Pirate Ship			Salvager			Treasure Map			Treasury
Landscapes and Additional Cards
	Shelters

Peasants [images]
	Death Cart			Feodum			Poor House			Urchin			Vagrant
	Fishing Village			Haven			Island			Lookout			Warehouse
Landscapes and Additional Cards
	Ruins			Shelters

Seaside & Guilds

Ghosts & Taxes [images]
	Cutpurse			Ghost Ship			Haven			Outpost			Smugglers
	Butcher			Candlestick Maker			Herald			Soothsayer			Taxman

Island Builder [images]
	Island			Native Village			Salvager			Tactician			Treasury
	Baker			Doctor			Merchant Guild			Plaza			Stonemason

Seaside & Adventures

Prince of Orange [images]
	Amulet			Dungeon			Haunted Woods			Page			Swamp Hag
	Caravan			Fishing Village			Merchant Ship			Tactician			Treasure Map
Landscapes and Additional Cards
	Mission

Gifts and Mathoms [images]
	Bridge Troll			Caravan Guard			Hireling			Lost City			Messenger
	Ambassador			Embargo			Haven			Salvager			Smugglers
Landscapes and Additional Cards
	Expedition			Quest

Seaside & Empires

Boxed In [images]
	Castles			Chariot Race			Encampment			Enchantress			Gladiator
	Salvager			Smugglers			Tactician			Warehouse			Wharf
Landscapes and Additional Cards
	Tax			Wall

King of the Sea [images]
	Archive			Farmers' Market			Overlord			Temple			Wild Hunt
	Explorer			Haven			Native Village			Pirate Ship			Sea Hag
Landscapes and Additional Cards
	Delve			Fountain

Seaside & Nocturne

The New Black [images]
	Cobbler			Den of Sin			Ghost Town			Raider			Secret Cave
	Caravan			Haven			Merchant Ship			Outpost			Tactician

Forbidden Isle [images]
	Blessed Village			Cemetery			Idol			Tracker			Tragic Hero
	Fishing Village			Ghost Ship			Lookout			Salvager			Treasure Map
Landscapes and Additional Cards
	Boons

Seaside & Renaissance

Free Shipping [images]
	Acting Troupe			Cargo Ship			Lackeys			Research			Spices
	Embargo			Island			Outpost			Smugglers			Wharf
Landscapes and Additional Cards
	Innovation

Digging for Treasure [images]
	Border Guard			Flag Bearer			Inventor			Sculptor			Swashbuckler
	Caravan			Native Village			Salvager			Tactician			Treasure Map
Landscapes and Additional Cards
	Crop Rotation			Silos			Flag			Horn			Lantern			Treasure Chest

Seaside & Menagerie

Innsmouth [images]
	Animal Fair			Barge			Coven			Fisherman			Sheepdog
	Caravan			Explorer			Fishing Village			Haven			Treasure Map
Landscapes and Additional Cards
	Invest			Way of the Goat

Ruritania [images]
	Bounty Hunter			Cavalry			Falconer			Sleigh			Village Green
	Lookout			Smugglers			Outpost			Tactician			Warehouse
Landscapes and Additional Cards
	Alliance			Way of the Monkey

Seaside & Allies

Forward Thinking [images]
	Guildmaster			Highwayman			Odysseys			Royal Galley			Sentinel
	Cutpurse			Native Village			Smugglers			Tactician			Warehouse
Landscapes and Additional Cards
	Cave Dwellers

Treasure Hunt [images]
	Emissary			Forts			Marquis			Swap			Town
	Haven			Lookout			Outpost			Treasure Map			Treasury
Landscapes and Additional Cards
	Market Towns