DOMINION

Welcome to Dominion! Here, you’ll create your very own Dominion – a deck that represents your resources, victory points, and the actions you can take. At first, your deck will be humble, filled with just properties and copper coins. But don’t worry! With your ambition, by the end of the game, your deck will be overflowing with gold coins, provinces, citizens, and buildings that make your castle and kingdom truly magnificent.

SETUP

Let’s get started! The first player is chosen randomly. Each player receives 7 Copper cards and 3 Domain cards. Shuffle these 10 cards together and place them face down in front of you. This will be your starting deck. Now, draw 5 cards from your deck to form your starting hand.

When you play Dominion, you don’t use all the cards. Besides the cards in your starting deck, there’s another set called the Supply, which is placed in the center of the table.

In every game of Dominion, you’ll always find Copper, Silver, and Gold cards available. Each player starts with 7 Copper cards, and any remaining Copper cards are put in the center of the table.

The Estate, Duchy, and Province cards are also available in every game. Each player starts with 3 Estate cards, and a pile of 12 Estate cards, 12 Duchy cards, and 12 Province cards is formed (or only 8 of each in a 2-player game). The Curse cards are also part of every game. In a 2-player game, 10 Curse cards are placed in the Supply (20 for 3 players, 30 for 4 players).

In each game, we have 7 piles of cards. But that’s not all! To add some excitement, we also pick 10 Kingdom cards randomly from the box. These cards are special and bring unique abilities to the game.

We take those 10 Kingdom cards and create face-up piles in the Supply. If there are only 2 players, we use 8 of each Kingdom card instead.

Oh, and don’t forget about the Trash card! It also takes its place in the Supply, ready to collect all the cards that are no longer useful. It’s like a keeper of things you don’t need anymore.

GAMEPLAY

Alright, let me break it down for you. Each round has three phases:

• Action: You can play an Action card.
• Buy: You can buy a card.
• Clean-up: You have to get rid of the cards you played and any cards left in your hand. Then, you draw 5 new cards.

Once you’ve finished these three steps, it’s the next player’s turn, going clockwise.

Now, let’s dig into Phase 1 – Action.

During the Action phase, you can play an Action card. These cards are called Kingdom cards and have the word “Action” on their bottom. Here’s the important thing: in your starting deck of 10 cards, you don’t have any Action cards. So, during your first two turns, you won’t be able to play any Action cards. Usually, you can only play one Action card, but remember, some Action cards can increase this number.

I’m going to tell you how to play an Action card. Take a card from your hand and put it down in front of you. Then, do everything the card tells you to do. You can still play an Action card even if you can’t do everything it says, but you have to do as much as you can. It’s important to finish one Action card before you start another one. Keep all the Action cards you play in front of you until it’s time to clean up, unless the card says otherwise.

Here are some words you might see on Action cards a lot:

• +X Actions: This means you get to play X more Actions this turn. You have to finish all your Actions before you can move on to the Buy phase. If a card gives you more than one extra Action, it’s a good idea to count how many Actions you have left out loud.

During my turn, I can use action cards to gain advantages. These cards have different effects that can help me draw more cards, get more coins, or buy more cards. Let me explain each of them:

+X Cards: This means I can draw X cards from my deck right away. If I don’t have enough cards left in my deck, I’ll draw as many as I can and then shuffle my discard pile to create a new deck. After that, I’ll draw the remaining cards.

+X Coins: With this, I’ll have X extra coins during the Buy phase. This means I can use these coins to buy additional cards without needing more treasure cards.

+X Buys: This allows me to purchase an extra card during the Buy phase of my turn. So I can buy more cards in a single turn than usual.

The Action phase comes to an end when I can no longer play or choose not to play any more Action cards. Normally, I can only play Action cards during this phase. However, there are exceptions called Reaction cards that can be used at other times.

When it’s time to buy new cards, you have the opportunity to choose one card from the available options in the Supply. You just need to pay its cost. You can buy any type of card, whether it’s a Treasure, Victory, Kingdom, or even a Curse card. However, you can’t purchase cards from the Trash. Keep in mind that you can only buy one card, unless you’ve played Action cards during the Action phase that give you the ability to buy more.

During this phase, you also have the chance to play your Treasure cards. These cards can be placed in front of you and their value will be added to the coins you’ve obtained from the Action cards played earlier in the turn. Once you have enough coins, you can choose a card from the Supply to purchase. The cost of each card is displayed in the bottom-left corner. Remember, the Treasure cards you’ve played will stay in front of you until the Clean-up phase.

In the Clean-up phase, the third and final phase of the turn, various housekeeping tasks are performed to prepare for the next turn.

Let’s start by taking all the cards in front of you and any cards you still have in your hand and put them in your discard pile. Then, draw 5 cards from your deck to create a new hand. If there aren’t enough cards in your deck, draw as many as you can and reshuffle your discard pile into a new deck. Finally, draw enough cards to complete your hand.

Now that you have your fresh 5-card hand, it’s the next player’s turn to play.

Here are some additional terms you may come across when playing Action cards:

• Discard: Get rid of cards from your hand by moving them into your discard pile.
• Trash: When you trash a card, you place it face up in the Trash pile instead of your discard pile. Cards in the Trash pile are removed from the game and cannot be bought.
• Receive: Take the card you receive, usually from the Supply, and add it to your discard pile. You can’t use the card’s effects immediately after receiving it.
• Reveal: When you reveal a card, you show it to all players and then return it to its original location. If you need to reveal a card from your deck but don’t have enough cards, shuffle your discard pile to make a new deck.

When you play the game, you might encounter certain actions that instruct you to set a card aside. This means you place the card face up on the table without following its instructions. It’s always important to pay attention to what the action specifically says needs to be done with the set aside cards.

Now let’s talk about how the game ends. The game comes to a close at the end of a player’s turn, regardless of how many players are still in the game. There are two situations that can trigger the end of the game:

1. The pile of Province cards becomes empty.

2. Three piles of Kingdom cards become empty.

Once one of these situations occurs, players need to count up their victory points. This includes all the cards in their deck, including the ones in their hand and discard pile.

Different Ways to Play Dominion

Have you ever played Dominion? It’s a really fun game that you can enjoy with friends and family. The best part is that you have many options to choose from when it comes to playing the game.

One way to play is by using the two starter boxes. These boxes allow you to play with up to 6 players, which means you can include a big group of people in your game night. It’s a great way to spend time together and have some friendly competition.

If you want to add more excitement to the game, you can also get expansion boxes. These boxes come with additional cards and rules that bring new elements to the game. With these expansion boxes, you can have hundreds of hours of deckbuilding fun. It’s like discovering a whole new world of possibilities.

The great thing about Dominion is that you can customize your game to your liking. You can mix and match cards from different expansions to create your own unique game experience. It’s all about finding the right combination that works best for you.

So, whether you’re playing with the starter boxes or exploring the expansions, Dominion offers a world of entertainment for everyone. Grab a deck of cards and get ready to embark on an adventure like no other.