Dominion

The Dominion logo, as it appears on the side of the Base Set box.

Dominion is a deck building card game created by Donald X. Vaccarino originally published in October of 2008 by Rio Grande Games. It consists of the original Base set Dominion and more than a dozen expansions.

Gameplay

Main article: Gameplay

In Dominion, all players starts with an identical deck and have access to the same set of cards, called the Supply. Each card has a unique ability which can either help the player, hurt their opponents, or count towards the game ending condition. The goal is to have the most Victory points by the end of the game. Usually the Supply consists of three piles of basic Victory cards, three piles of basic Treasure cards, a pile of Curses and 10 piles of Kingdom cards. Some Kingdom cards add other piles to the setup as well. The 10 Kingdom cards can be selected by players or chosen randomly for a unique experience.

Each turn, play proceeds in three phases for each player sequentially.

• Action phase - The player is able to play one Action card from their hand. Some Action cards provide additional actions allowing for more Action cards to be played this turn. They may also produce or buys which can be used in the Buy phase. The Action phase ends when the player is unable or chooses not to play any additional Action cards.
• Buy phase - The player may play as many Treasure cards as they wish in any order. Most Treasures generate , though some have other abilities. The player is given the ability to purchase one card from the Supply costing up to the total amount of they have accumulated this turn. Action and Treasure cards which grant +Buy allow the player to purchase multiple cards per turn. When a player buys a card, the bought card is taken from the Supply and placed in the player's discard pile. Spent Treasure cards are not lost.
• Clean-up phase - All cards in play and in the player's hand are discarded and a new hand of 5 cards is drawn from their deck. If at any time a player needs to draw a card when their deck is empty, they immediately shuffle their discard pile to make a new deck.

The game ends at the end of the turn whenever one of three conditions is met:

• The Province pile is empty.
• Any three Supply piles are empty (four Supply piles in a game with 5 or 6 players).
• If playing with Colonies from Prosperity, the Colony pile is empty.

When the game ends, each player counts the total number of   Victory points in their entire decks. Whoever has the most is declared the winner. If two players tie for the most  , whichever player had the fewer number of turns is the winner. If they are still tied they rejoice in their shared victory.

Releases

• Dominion (October 2008) -- Base set
• Dominion (Second Edition) (Fall 2016) -- updated Base set

Main article: Expansions

• Big Box (since 2010)
• Base Cards (June 2012) -- a set of Basic cards only, updated in 2018
• Update Packs for certain sets (since 2016)

In addition there are several Promo cards (released individually, approximately one a year since 2008).

List of all cards

Main article: List of cards
Related article: List of cards in other languages

Awards

• 2008 Meeples Choice Awards
• 2009 Spiel des Jahres
• 2009 Deutscher Spiele Preis
• 2009 Mensa Select
• 2009 Golden Geek Award (Game of the Year & Card Game of the Year)
• 2009 Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming
• 2009 Origins Award, best card game of the year
• 2009 BoardGamer.ru (Russia), Best Card Game of the Year
• 2009 Boughtalot.ru, best game of the year

Extra (unofficial?) overview

2012 MinD-Spielepreis Nominee

2011 MinD-Spielepreis Nominee

2010 MinD-Spielepreis Nominee

2010 Ludoteca Ideale Official Selection Winner

2010 Juego del Año Tico Nominee

2010 Gra Roku Game of the Year Nominee

2010 Games Magazine Best New Family Strategy Game Winner

2010 Årets Spill Best Family Game Winner

2010 Årets Spill Best Family Game Nominee

2009 Vuoden Peli Adult Game of the Year Winner

2009 Vuoden Peli Adult Game of the Year Nominee

2009 Tric Trac Nominee

2009 Spiel des Jahres Winner

2009 Spiel des Jahres Nominee

2009 Spiel der Spiele Hit mit Freunden Recommended

2009 Nederlandse Spellenprijs Nominee

2009 Mensa Select Winner

2009 Ludoteca Ideale Official Selection Winner

2009 Lucca Games Best Card Game Winner

2009 JUG Game of the Year Winner

2009 Juego del Año Finalist

2009 JoTa Best Card Game Nominee

2009 JoTa Best Card Game Critic Award

2009 JoTa Best Card Game Audience Award

2009 Japan Boardgame Prize Voters' Selection Winner

2009 Japan Boardgame Prize Voters' Selection Nominee

2009 International Gamers Awards - General Strategy; Multi-player Nominee

2009 Hra roku Winner

2009 Hra roku Nominee

2009 Guldbrikken Special Jury Prize

2009 Gouden Ludo Nominee

2009 Golden Geek Most Innovative Board Game Nominee

2009 Golden Geek Board Game of the Year Winner

2009 Golden Geek Best Gamers' Board Game Nominee

2009 Golden Geek Best Family Board Game Nominee

2009 Golden Geek Best Card Game Winner

2009 Golden Geek Best Card Game Nominee

2009 Golden Geek Best 2-Player Board Game Nominee

2009 Fairplay À la carte Winner

2009 Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming Winner

2009 Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming Nominee

2009 Deutscher Spiele Preis Best Family/Adult Game Winner

2009 As d'Or - Jeu de l'Année Nominee

2008 Origins Awards Best Traditional Card Game Winner

2008 Meeples' Choice Award

Reviews

Voice of Experience Review - Dominion: 4000 Plays Later

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