Dominion is a card game where the object of the game is to be the first player to get rid of all your cards. In order to do this, you must add them up in sets and take turns buying out other players’ hands. To make it more interesting, there are special victory points that can be accumulated by holding certain cards at different times during play.
We will go over some basic Dominion rules and strategies for winning this fun card game!
How to Play Dominion?
Dominion is a game played over several rounds. The player with the most victory points at the end of all these rounds wins! There are two key ways to get more victory points: by forming sets and taking special cards.
When you form your initial hand, look for different types of Victory Cards that will give you extra VPs (victory point). You can tell what they do by their color combinations; green means steady income in coins while purple means money when bought or sold respectively. Look out for “+X Actions” since this gives you an additional action on top of your regular turn total – very important especially towards the later stages where it’s much harder to win due to having fewer options available during each turn. Finally, “+X Cards” means you get to draw more cards during your turn so keep an eye out for these too.
As games go longer though, there will be less chance for players to catch someone off guard with such reactive buys since everyone would want all possible options available when choosing what card(s) or coin(s) should be purchased. So make use of the “+Buy” action (which gives you an additional buy) and “+Coin” (which gives you more coins to use during your turn).
Only take a special card if it will benefit you in some way. The only time when buying other players’ hands is profitable is when they have cards that give them points at the end of the game or simply let them draw extra cards! If this isn’t the case, then think logically about whether or not there’s any chance for another player to catch up with your lead – don’t hesitate in passing on such opportunities if need be since getting rid of all your own cards means winning immediately!
Characters Overview
There are a total of eight different characters that can be chosen from in the base set. The four noblemen, namely: Baron, Countess, Duke, and King will give you an additional buy every turn while their associated action cards (e.g.: Throne Room) allow for a second use after playing it! This is very strong since they provide extra money to keep buying more cards or victory points to end the game faster.
In general, though, there isn’t much difference between them except maybe some slight variation in coin output since their special abilities are usually not that great.
The Five Game Phases
The game is split into five phases: Action, Buy, Cleanup (discard), Draw, and End. Each round follows the pattern below with every player taking turns in clockwise order on each step until everyone has passed consecutively!
Action Phase – Beginning of the Turn
Players get to play one Action card from their hand by following specific instructions on it for this particular phase only. Players can’t do anything else during this time except wait patiently before moving onto the next phase which will start once all players have chosen what action(s) they want to do for this turn.
Buy Phase (Optional)
If a player chose to buy any cards at the end of the action phase then he/she may now do so starting with either buying treasures or victory cards. Each card will be available for purchase in numerical order (if there are any +X Coin cards, they should be bought first) so the next player gets to buy after each other until everyone has passed consecutively!
Cleanup Phase
Once all players have finished buying and before drawing a new hand of five starting cards, every played card needs to go through a cleanup phase where they’re moved back into their respective discard piles unless stated otherwise by some action(s). The only exception is the Throne Room which can give an extra use if it’s still active during this time.
Draw Phase
Begin with purchasing threshold from the left-most pile on top of the supply board followed by drawing up to five total starting cards from your respective deck. Once that’s done, passing is no longer allowed and players may now take turns in clockwise order using their cards to either buy more victory points or action(s) for this turn only!
End Phase
Once every player has passed consecutively during the draw phase (or if there are any left-over treasures remaining), the game ends immediately afterward since each treasure card is worth $0 at this point so they don’t count as anything anymore except victory points which will determine who wins!
In conclusion, this blog post covers what Dominion is all about and provides a good insight for understanding how to play it! In general, though, look out for anything that says “+X Action” as those are going to be very powerful cards in your hand since they allow you to perform an extra action during certain phases of the turn! Remember that using these action(s) won’t necessarily mean winning immediately but can give you a huge advantage over other players who haven’t been able to grab any yet throughout the course of the match so think wisely before executing them or else everyone will catch up with you eventually which means defeat if no one has passed consecutively by then…
Dominion Rules
Step One: Setting Up the Game
Place supply board in the middle of the play area with piles of victory points, treasures & action cards placed on it. Shuffle kingdom cards before placing them face down onto their respective decks afterward.
Step Two: Separate Starting Deck from Supply Board
There are five different types of card decks for each player to choose from including copper(s) through gold(es). Each one is separated into its own pile so take whichever you prefer depending on what kind of strategy you plan to start off with! However, don’t forget to separate starting deck which consists mainly out of Copper/Silver/Gold cards respectively since these are very important for purchasing things during the buy phase when they’re needed! Once that’s done, you’re all good to go and ready to start the game!
Step Three: Decide Who Goes First by Rolling Dice or Flipping a Coin
The player with the highest roll/coin gets a choice of going either left-most (clockwise) or right-most (counter-clockwise). After that, you’ll be taking turns in order from turn number one for each player starting off every round which will continue until someone has won three consecutive games just like any other standard board game would follow when playing against your friends or family members face-to-face!
Step Four: Shuffle Kingdom Cards and Draw Starting Hand
After completing the first three steps, begin with dealing out five cards to each player face down. These will form their starting hand afterward which you can look at throughout this go around but remember that they’re not allowed to be shared or traded between anyone so keep them close for now until everyone has received the same amount of cards in their hands!
Once done, follow-through by shuffling kingdom card deck(s) before drawing two random ones since there should always be a total of ten played during every single game without exception unless someone decides to end it early on purpose instead…which is absolutely an option whenever you feel like your chances are slim against players online who’ve been playing longer than you have or just simply don’t want to waste your time by continuing the match!
Step Five: Reveal First Three Kingdom Cards and Begin Turn
After drawing cards, reveal the first three kingdom cards which will be laid out in order from left-most (clockwise) to right-most (counter-clockwise).
However, that is extremely rare but happens very rarely as a result of gaining certain card abilities like “village”/”town” etc…which allows players to buy more than one card during their turn if its ability is activated beforehand so it doesn’t matter what type of cards they are so long as you have enough money to afford them afterward.
Step Six: Buying and Turn’s End
Once all players have revealed their respective starting hands, it is now time for everyone to make a single purchase from any supply piles in front of them which contains either treasure or action cards but not both since each pile can only contain one kind at a time! If there aren’t enough leftovers available during this step, simply buy none at all until someone else takes theirs instead by purchasing the last remaining card(s) on top unless everyone opts out entirely which isn’t very likely though possible if no one wants anything anyways…but that would be pretty boring especially when playing against multiple opponents online who all want something different instead!
Step Seven: Cleanup & Next Turn/Round Begins
Once everyone is done with purchasing the previous turn, it’s time to clean up all used cards by placing them back into their respective deck(s) before redealing out three new ones which will be placed in order from left-most (clockwise) to right-most (counter-clockwise). This way every single round starts off fresh without anything being carried over so don’t forget about resetting everything appropriately since you’ll need a completely empty hand for your second go-around this same process. Once that’s completed, begin the next player’s turn starting on number two and repeating steps four through seven until someone has won after completing three consecutive rounds successfully just like any other standard board game.
Step Eight: Wrap Up Game and Keep Score Afterwards!
Once someone has completed three consecutive rounds, this means that they’ve just won the entire match so congratulations to all players involved especially you for being able to accomplish something big in your life! However, before calling it a day or night, why not keep score instead since everyone on their own can determine how well they did by adding up points based on cards bought/kept which are then added onto the total amount of coins leftover at end-game (if there happens to be more than 200). Whoever has the highest point value wins while others lose but don’t worry about losing too much if anything at all because losses leads towards experience gained during future matches against new opponents online or even friends and family members sitting right beside you.
Best Dominion Strategies
Don’t Waste Your Time by Continuing the Match!
After drawing cards, reveal the first three kingdom cards which will be laid out in order from left-most (clockwise) to right-most (counter-clockwise). This way, everyone can see what’s coming up for purchase during this round since there are only ten available at all times unless they’re replaced with new ones before final scoring occurs.
However, that is extremely rare but happens very rarely as a result of gaining certain card abilities like “village”/”town” etc…which allows players to buy more than one card during their turn if its ability is activated beforehand so it doesn’t matter what type of cards they are so long as you have enough money to afford them afterward.
In Order to Win, Make Sure You Have the Best Cards
Remember that after playing a card from your hand during the Cleanup Phase of any turn, it is immediately placed into its respective discard pile(s) before dealing out three new ones which will be laid out in order (from left-most clockwise) to right-most (counter-clockwise).
Once that’s completed, begin the next player’s turn starting on number two and repeating steps four through seven until someone has won after completing three consecutive rounds successfully just like any other standard board game.
Plan Ahead, but Be Flexible
Don’t get stuck on one plan when the game changes so quickly. If you can stick to your overall strategy and adjust as necessary, it’ll help tremendously in the long run!
Use Your Deck to Its Full Potential
Don’t only use the cards that you think are good–use everything in your hand! You never know when you’ll come across something better than what you’re using, so don’t waste it if there’s a possibility of getting more out of it later on down the road.
Enjoy Yourself!!
Dominion should be treated as its own mini-break from life–not something stressful or frustrating. If you’re not having fun, then you should take a break and try again later. It’s all about learning from your mistakes and knowing how to approach the game in different situations – so keep that positive mindset and don’t get discouraged!
Don’t Lose Hope
Don’t lose hope if things aren’t going well early on; even the best players will make stupid misplays now and then (myself included). Just remember: these are supposed to be casual games!! Don’t let one lost cause ruin an otherwise perfect day of dominion with your friends or family members.
Always Have a Backup Plan
Having a solid strategy is crucial for winning Dominion, but it’s important to always be flexible and adaptable in case things go wrong. If your initial plan fails, don’t try to salvage the situation – instead think on your feet and have a backup ready just in case! That way you’ll still be able to come out victorious even when all hope seems lost.
Don’t Buy Cards That Just Add Money
Don’t play cards that add money only at the end of turn when buying unless its part of an overall strategy or combo since they’re fairly useless when compared against other types which can give instant benefits by being played onto empty piles (like mine/attack). So save yourself some time and make sure every card you buy during this phase is going to be helpful in some way.
Otherwise, you can also end up wasting time and resources that could have been better spent on something else more beneficial since it’ll only count towards the final score at the game’s end if bought during the Cleanup Phase which occurs after a full round of turns has concluded successfully. Just make sure not to forget about resetting everything appropriately before starting the next player’s turn or else nothing will get taken care of accordingly once cards are dealt out from left-most clockwise with newly drawn ones being placed face down onto respective discard piles when finished just like with buying any other new card(s) from central supply pile normally costing between one – three coins each unless stated otherwise with an ability/costing text along with either no type/suit or variable (wild) symbol as a reminder to remember what’s still available for purchase.