Dale Yu and Valerie Putman: Introduction to Dominion

This week, Valerie and I are writing a joint article to (finally) introduce everyone to Dominion.  Prior to today, we had not written much about the details as it was still too early in the development process for that.  Starting today, one or both of us will be at Origins, and we intend to show the game off to the attendees at that convention.  As the game will now be in the public eye, this is the right time to tell everyone else about it here on BGN. 

The game’s designer is Donald X. Vaccarino, and Dominion will be his first published game.  The game will be produced by Rio Grande Games and is currently scheduled for a simultaneous U.S. and Essen 2008 release this October.  The game will also be produced internationally though the details of the international partners have not yet been announced other than Filosofia.  Valerie and I have been very involved with Dominion as we were asked by Rio Grande Games to develop the game over the past year.

We’ve fielded many many questions about the game over the past few months.  It seems easiest to answer the most commonly heard questions in this article as a way to introduce the game to you.

I’ve heard nothing but vague statements about Dominion… What’s the game about?
At its core, Dominion is a deck-building game.  However, unlike most other “deck-building” games, you do not construct your deck prior to playing; instead, you build your deck through the course of the game. All of the players in the game build their decks from the same set of cards.  However, there is enough variety in the cards available in each game that multiple strategies can be pursued by the different players. 

Each player starts the game with an identical starting deck, and the goal of the game is to have the most victory points in your deck when the game ends.  On each turn, players have a hand of five cards.  They have the chance to play Action cards from their hand.  Then they can purchase cards to add to their deck from the cards available in the supply. (Remember, all players buy their cards from the same supply.) Finally, the player discards the remainder of his hand as well as any cards played that turn and deals himself a new hand of five cards from his deck to get ready for the next turn.

The supply is made up of Victory cards and Treasure cards that are available every game.  There are also 10 Kingdom cards that vary from game to game.  Treasure cards are the cards used to purchase new cards for your deck.  Victory Point cards are necessary to win the game, but they don’t do much else in your hand other than take up space.  Most of the Kingdom cards are Action cards which have varied abilities.  Some Action cards allow you to draw more cards to add to your hand, some give you more money to spend that turn when you purchase a card, some increase the number of cards that you’re able to buy, and some cards even give you the ability to take another Action!  Other cards will allow you to try to steal cards from other player’s decks or cause other players to discard cards from their hand. 

The game is very fluid – your deck plays differently in the different phases of the game.  Early on, you have mostly Treasure cards in your deck, and most turns involve purchasing new cards to add to your deck.  Later in the game, as you’ve accumulated Action cards and better valued Treasure cards, you’ll have many more options with your five card hand.  Near the end game, you will hopefully be able to generate enough spending power to buy the Victory Point cards.  However, you need to be mindful of the overall composition of your deck.  Since you get to see only five cards each hand, you will need to try to tweak your deck to try to get a good five card hand each turn.

So it sounds like it’s just another CCG… How is Dominion different?
It’s not a collectable card game!  Everything you need comes in the box.  While the Action cards used in any particular game may change, all of the cards that you can choose from will be included in the box. 

Additionally, unlike most CCGs, you build the deck during the game.  As this is a dynamic process, players have a chance to respond mid-game to how a deck is performing.  You may also have to change your strategy during the course of a game because the supply of Action cards is limited, and you may be forced to change plans if the other players purchase the Action cards that you were hoping to use in your deck.  Additionally, the decks that are created in a game of Dominion can be very different from one another. You can end up with a tiny deck that you draw all of every turn, or a giant deck that’s worth more the bigger it gets; a deck that tries to rush the end of the game, or one that tries to slow the other players down; a deck that just does a few powerful things, or a deck that plays lots of cards at once.

What comes in the box?
The game will consist of about 500 cards.  Again, you will have all the cards that you need in the box.  A full set of the Treasure and Victory Point cards needed for the game are included.  Additionally, there will be 20 to 25 sets of Kingdom cards included.  Of course, you will play with only 10 different Kingdom cards in any particular game, so you can see that there will be a lot of variety available with the game.

What about the replay value?
As I mentioned above, you will play with only 10 different Kingdom cards in any particular game (out of the ~25 in the box).  Every set of 10 Kingdom cards will create a different feel to Dominion.  We’ve found that it’s easy to play multiple games in a row because the game can feel completely different by changing as few as one Kingdom card between games. 

Additionally, even within a single set of 10 Kingdom cards, there are multiple paths to victory.  It is not uncommon to replay the same setup again in order to try out a new strategy with the identical cards in the supply.

Does Dominion scale well?
Yes. The game scales quite well for 2-4 players as the number of Victory Point cards is modified based on the number of players.  There are some cards that have a different effect based on the number of players in the game, but all of the cards work for all numbers of players.

Are there killer combos or broken cards?
Don’t forget that everyone will have access to the same cards to choose from when they build their deck.  Certainly, the winning strategy in any particular game may be being the first player to figure out a particularly good combo amongst the cards available in that game or being the player who discovers a better way to play the cards in a particular combination. 

As far as the cards being broken, there has been a significant amount of playtesting done over the last 12 months.  The strength of any particular card can change depending on what other cards are available.  Though it would be impossible to guarantee that no card is broken, no single game-breaker card has been found through the playtesting. 

How long does it take to play a game of Dominion? How heavy is it?
Games should take somewhere between 15-45 minutes.  As you become more experienced with the game, turns can go very quick – though some sets of Kingdom cards may still lead to longer games, even with veteran Dominion players!

The gameplay is light, but not fluffy light.  Players will need to look at the varied abilities on the Action cards and try to get a handle on how they will interact with each other, but at the same time, Dominion isn’t the kind of game where it will take five minutes to decide which card to add to your deck for best effect.

Where can I see Dominion?
This summer, we’ll be showing off the game at Origins, Gulf Games, The World Boardgaming Championships, and Gen Con.  If you’re at any of these events, please stop by and check it out!  There may be other conventions that one of us will be able to make, but as of now, the above four are the only confirmed locations.  For this coming week, look for us either in the Board Room or in the Rio Grande Games area at Origins!

Where else can I learn about Dominion?
We know that it has been a bit difficult getting concrete information on the game until now.  However, as we’ll be showing the game to the public starting at Origins, anyone who has played or seen the game is free to write about it.  I’d venture to say that BGG will have a number of reviews and session reports in the next few days from people that have played the game in the past year.

It may be a bit more difficult for us to respond to comments this week as both of us will be at Origins, but if you have any other questions, leave them in the comments below and we’ll get back to you!

Until your next appointment… We’d rather be gaming!
Dale and Valerie

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