By SAMUEL ELLINGSON
STAFF WRITER
What makes a game good? Its price? Its mechanics? Components? Replayability? The vast majority of board game critics can agree: all of these factors and more! In order to make a stellar board game, you have to nail every aspect the players encounter. One board game that ticks all those boxes is Dominion. Dominion rates #113 in the world out of hundreds of thousands of board games, according to the largest database of board games, BoardGameGeek.com.
Dominion is a deck building game where each player starts with the same deck and employs strategies to make money, buy powerful action cards, and eventually invest in castles and provinces to gain victory points and win. Players race to collect cards from different piles before they are all sold out and are able to attack each other to pull ahead.
The peculiar thing is that a Dominion game consists of ten random piles of cards that you can purchase in the game. The box comes with 500 cards in total, including 25 sets of kingdom cards which make up the 10 random piles. While this seems somewhat complicated, the essence is that each game has a random combination of cards, allowing Dominion to be replayed in many different ways. Replayability, check!
All of the cards in Dominion do different things. Since you have five cards per turn, you have to construct a deck that allows you to get enough money to buy expensive cards that supply victory points. Some cards give you money, some cards make you draw more cards into your hand, and some cards allow you to play multiple powerful actions in a single turn. Controlling your deck while keeping an eye on your opponents’ activity makes this game truly entertaining. Plus, some of the cards can create intriguing synergies that boost your deck. I have played a game with my friend where every single turn, my cards were good enough that I was drawing my entire deck! The mechanics of the game allow you to create really fun strategies. Mechanics, check!
The components and price are actually quite affordable. The box contains 500 cards, including an alphabetical card organizer inside the box and bonus blank cards for you to draw on to replace lost cards. At the time of this article, Dominion costs about $40. For some people, spending $40 on a game they will likely play once or twice doesn’t sound worth it, but in my experience, you can’t just play one or two games! Price and components, check!
Dominion also has expansions, which I can go into detail about if people find this article interesting. Each expansion comes with more kingdom cards to randomize the game and mix up strategies. There is also a theme that comes with every expansion. In Dominion: Intrigue and Dominion: Dark Ages, the main themes are trashing cards to receive better benefits, and gaining things back from the trash. Dominion: Alchemy adds potions and very powerful magical cards. Dominion: Nocturne, my personal favorite, adds night cards that can be played after you buy something, increasing the complexity.
On top of that, it is also possible to design your own cards and try them out in a game! I have quite a few sketches of cool cards that I think would enhance the experience and mix up strategies, and I’m currently working on designing my own fan expansion to the game.
Overall, there is a lot to explore in the wonderful world of Dominion. I’ve been having a blast playing this game with my friends. If you’re itching for a new thing to occupy your time for a bit, I would absolutely recommend this game.