Geekshow

Game Night with “Dominion”

Thursday, April 30th, 2009

Not all board games are played on an actual board. In the case of this week’s game, it’s actually a card game for up to 4 players. But the game has been the hottest game out for a while now. Dominion is a game that plays similar to collectible card game, except without the need to constantly buy new cards. Keep reading to check it out.

Dominion has a light fantasy theme to it. The idea is that you are the heir to a small portion of land. You feel the need to expand it, and you do that by vying for the surrounding land. However, this theme is only loosely attached. Mostly it’s there for the purpose of attractive card art, and the ability to name cards something that makes sense thematically. In this case, your victory points carry the names of “Duchy”, “Estate”, and “Province”.

One of the reasons I wanted to cover this particular game is because it’s defined as a “gateway game”. If you are looking for a game that takes very little time to learn and to teach to others, look no further than Dominion. But the ease of play does not come at the expense of depth. Quite the contrary, each game can be a very different experience. That’s the reason I recommend this game for those of you that have 2-4 players wanting to get into something simple, yet fun.

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Gameplay

Dominion is an incredibly simple game to play. I like to say that if you can count, then you can play Dominion. But while the game is simple to play, it takes a certain grasp of the game in order to get the details of the “strategy”. I use the word strategy lightly, because in reality, the only real strategy comes from finding a deck build that works for you, and then doing any adjustments based on what the other players in the game may be throwing at you. However, that deck building mechanic is enough to ensure that new players will find it tough to beat veteran players. So, I suggest that people playing the game for the first time, find players of a similar skill level to start the game with. The other option is to play with someone that knows the game, but is willing to explain some of the ideas behind his/her deck as they go along.

The idea behind the game is to “draft” a deck for yourself by buying cards with whatever money you have available by the end of your turn. In each turn, you will have five cards. You start with one action, and one buy. By purchasing (and then playing) new kingdom cards, you will be able to increase the number of actions you can play in a turn, increase the number of buys you can make, and increase the number of coins you may use during the buy phase. In addition, you can purchase new coin cards, which only serve the purpose of making your deck more valuable for the purpose of future purchases. All of this leads to the ultimate goal of being able to afford enough victory points that by the end of each game, you have more victory points in your deck than all of your opponents.

That’s the basic idea of the game anyway. It’s the details of the equation that make everything turn out so well, and become so addictive. Each game with have 10 kingdom cards in addition to the cards the effect your victory points, and the coin cards. Those kingdom cards make the heart of the game. In my opinion, the game is best played when you use a random assortment of the 25 possible choices of kingdom cards in order to choose the 10 that will wind up in play. It’s difficult to put into writing how much of an impact this can have on the level of fun that players can have.

With the random factor, each game will have a completely different feel to it. Some games will have a lot of interaction between the different players. It may become a game of balancing defenses with the attack cards that other players pick up. Or, you may be missing attacks and/or defences altogether. In some games, players will be able to flip through their entire deck each turn, making the most of what they have. Still, in other games, you will find it hard to play more than 2 or 3 cards on your turn. Fate steps in and decides how your game will play. But ultimately, you decide what is fun for your particular group. You can make the choice to play with what your dealt, or pluck certain choices from the pile.

The game seems rather counter-intuitive in certain areas. The best deck will sometimes be the smallest deck, not the one with the coolest action cards in it. In this regard, a few people may have problems with the way things go. It may not be as fun to play that way for certain players, but they will do it anyway, as it’s their best chance for victory. Another common problem is that people may find that the interaction between players will have highs and lows as you play through different kingdom combinations. Certainly, the game is not perfect.

However, in almost every situation I’ve seen, people find the game to be very addictive and fun. So much so, in fact, that they not only want to play several times in a row, but they also often want to purchase their own copy afterward. Possibly the best thing about the game is that it works just as well with a group of two as it does with four players. And presumably when the expansion comes out, you will have the same experience with even more players. Games that scale that well are hard to find, and Dominion stands out as a gem in that regard.

Not everyone is going to love the game, but I’d wager that a good number of people probably will. You owe it to yourself to try this game out.

Rules

Once you know the basics of the game, you will rarely ever have to look at the rule book again. That’s a good thing in my opinion, because it is without a doubt one of the ugliest rule books you will ever see. Apparently someone had Easter colors on the mind when they set to designing the book, because it uses almost entirely pastel colors. But, with that said, the rule book is more like a rule pamphlet. It only contains a few pages, and some of those pages are a description of the theme and/or specific cards.

This really is a simple game. The only problems you may have involve working out exactly how each card works in the game, especially with cards that can be combined with other cards. However, the design of the game lends itself to simple concepts that just about anyone should be able to learn.

Components

This is a card game. Make no mistake about that fact. If you go into the purchase realizing that, then you shouldn’t have any problems when you see what the rather large box contains. 500 cards are all waiting for you when you open the box. They are meant to be opened, and then sorted into the included sorting compartment. Many people with large game collections will have a problem with the amount of shelf space such a simple game takes up. However, I found the box to be a godsend for organization. The OCD in me loves the fact that I can make a diagram of my box to find everything I need with very little extra work. It really makes the setup and break down time a snap.

The other potential issue that people may have with the game comes from the risk of wear and tear on the cards. Because the game will have you almost constantly shuffling for 30+ minutes, the cards will begin showing that after a few plays. People that love keeping their games in absolute pristine condition will have a major issue with this. The solutions are to purchase sleeves for each card (WARNING: Cards are not standard playing card size), to come up with an alternative to the card method, or to just deal with it.

Overall

I think that ultimately this game will fall in line somewhere after  my favorite games that contain a lot more strategy. However, the play time, easy difficulty level, and variety will keep me interested in this game for quite sometime. It already looks like there is going to be a lot of support for the game in the form of further expansions. A few new interesting card ideas could really mix things up a bit. In addition, with a larger card variety to choose from, you won’t see the same strategies used time and time again.

I believe that this is a game everyone should at least give a try if they have the opportunity. This is a game that I wouldn’t even have to play frequently in order to see the value in. It makes a great pull out and play game for guests. Teach them how to play, and then they will quickly catch on and develop their own methods. Gateway games have a tendency of being a little more shallow in some areas than the deeper games. But in this case, I don’t find myself getting bored with the game, or wishing I was playing something else.

Pros and Cons

+ Easy to learn
+ Quick to play
+ Lots of Variety
- Strategy becomes obvious
+/- Game box is large, only contains cards
+ Box is made to sort cards in
- Cards get beat up unless you protect them

You can purchase this game at Thoughthammer:

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Credits:

Randy – Editor, Show host, & Written Review
Russell – Show Host
Ray – Recoding Studio, Lights, Sound, & Camera

Also, thanks to Thoughthammer for making this possible, and to Beatnik Turtle for the intro music “Beat People Up (Remix)“!