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What’s Cool:
- The game box separates the cards well.
- 500 cards! + Blank ones.
- Very easy to learn, great rule book.
- Fast paced, short player turns.
- Feels like you’re really building up a dominion.
- Great concept – buying cards for your deck with your gold.
What’s Not:
- Can become very random, lots of shuffling.
- Not all cards are used in a game and some cards players never need.
Neutral Information:
- The box makes it look like a board game, but all you’re really getting are cards.
User Ratings:
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User Videos:
Overall rating by users:
13 comments
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I don’t really care for this game at all. I don’t really feel like I’m doing anything, or accomplishing an actual task. “Buy cards to be able to buy points until you win” is not an appealing game to me, but again this is just personal preference.
I would much prefer to play Thunderstone TBH, or just about any BOARD game. I bought Dominion Intrigue and deeply regret it. Now I just hope I can trade it or sell it to someone to regain the space this game is taking up in my otherwise pretty great collection.
An online version of the game:
http://www.slightlymagic.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=61&t=2366&hilit=dominion
Worth checking out!
A very nice game. Setup takes a little time, since the game is all cards. Game play is fairly straight forward but also random, but game experience does help. I was almost able to win on my first game against more experienced players. Thank goodness for the moat!
Best game of the year! Buy it, play it, love it!
Played this today for the first time. Great game. Good review of it. the game was easy to learn. The games we played were close with only a few victory points seperating us each time. Keep the reviews coming!
Great game, fast paced, easy to learn. Anyone in the household can learn this game in 5 minutes. One of the best games of the year and the expansions add a lot of new combinations to the game. Only gripe i have is the should have hired Jason Engle the artist from Thunderstone. Some of the cards in this game are nice others are really poor, takes away from the theme some. Regardless a landmark game and very recommended!
It should be noted that the expansions in part fix some of the qualms brought up in the video, especially the stand alone ones. They can either be played as entirely different games or intermixed freely. While that seems like it can further reward more experienced players, it also levels the playing field slightly by offering more paths to victory.
Also, the veto rule Kandax mentioned is highly recommended!
Great review guys.
I agree with your assessment that some players may notice and focus on a particular card combo. Exploiting it ’til games end.
But I’m with you; I really enjoy this game.
My background in card games goes from Spellfire, to Star Trek the Next Generation, and then most famously Magic the Gathering (MtG).
I loved MtG. It was really fun.. I love the customization of decks and how it played.. it was just really fun.
Then comes Dominion. Some people rave about this game and recommend it wholeheartedly.. but this just wasn’t for me. I didn’t really like the different cards. To me, it felt limiting. I guess because i’m used to many different cards from MtG.
Dominion is about card drafting, you start out with a few cards and you use those cards to buy more cards on the table.. you basically play with 10 “action type” cards over and over. What cards you get depends on what you buy.. you can make combos with those 10 cards.
I also agree with BoardtoDeath that sometimes you know what is worth buying so you don’t buy any other cards..
I don’t speak for all MtG fans, there are those who love it. But this wasn’t for me.
I give it a 6/10 for uniqueness
I don’t think I’ve really heard anyone not liking this game! It’s gonna be one of my next purchases for sure!
Trust me its a great buy. I have to admit Im an addict, the main reason is because the game can get so random every time you play. Each game you shuffle up 25 cards and draw out the 10 that you play with each time so when you figure it out there are many new games to be played and many strategies to play. the main problem is that like stated in the review there may be some of the 10 cards in play that are not actually bought often because of “non player favorites”. However playing with the same people becomes a great way to have a nice “rocks paper scissor” where your always trying to find a better way to either beat your opponent to the high card or make him suffer from the attack cards. Trust me its a must buy for those fans of CCGs because everyone is on the same playing field instead of the person who got the better luck in his booster packs. Great game because using the right variation of the rules can make the game take as short as 30 minutes or as long as 2 hours. TRUST ME use a veto style rule where every game each player can rule out a card or put one in that a previous player vetoed so that no one gets upset with a bad draw of the 10 original cards
I would agree that Dominion is an easy game to learn. I have never played Magic (more’s the pity) but got the rules pretty easily. I have taught my 7-year old son and he can follow the rules unaided. He doesn’t yet get the strategy of which cards are better than others to buy at which point in the game, but then again nor do I really. I have avoided reading the numerous strategy guides around, preferring to work it out myself, and it is this that I find very satisfying.
I rated this game an 8/10 for ‘fun’ as it’s not an exciting game per se as it is just manipulating a deck of cards, but I do think it is an very enjoyable game that can be rewarding as your deck develops throughout the game.
The variety within the game and the huge replayability options will keep Dominion coming to my table for a long time to come.
While Dominion is very popular amongst experienced gamers (especially those who’ve played Magic on which it is said to be based), I’d hesitate to call it “very easy to learn,” as I’ve seen novice gamers struggle mightily with it, especially if they weren’t already familiar with Magic. That said, it is much simpler than Magic and many similar card-based games out there, can be played relatively quickly, and has tremendous replayability due to various combinations that are possible in each game. I would agree that some cards are considerably more powerful than others, and an experienced player can capitalize on these unbalances, and as someone with poor hand-eye co-ordination, I found the constant shuffling tiresome. At the end day, Dominion isn’t for everyone, but those who like it, like it a lot.