In this article, you can read about the basic rules of the card game Dominion and learn how to play.
Using the selector cards shuffle and deal ten cards. Find the corresponding Kingdom card decks from the box and replace the 10 selector cards with these 10 decks. Each deck has ten cards unless it is a victory card then it will have 12. Place these 10 decks on the table. You can place them in ascending order indicated by the cost to help make the gameplay easier. Next, place the victory treasure trash and cursed decks on the table. You can place them above the kingdom cards again in ascending order.
The amount of curse cards is dependent on how many people are playing. Ten cards for two players 20 cards for three players and 30 cards for 4 players. Deal 7 coppers and 3 estates to each player. This is each player’s starting deck.
Card’s layout
Shuffle, place facedown and draw 5 cards. If you are playing with two players you need to limit the deck size of each victory deck from 12 to 8 cards each. Here’s the layout of the cards.
Name. This is how you identify each card.
Type. What type the card is.
Cost. How much it costs to buy this card.
Treasure cards have this in the top corners telling you how much money they produce when played. It’s easy at first to mix this up with their cost. The main image also supports how much they produce.
Text box or ability area. This is the effect of the card it has when played. You always must complete each card’s ability to its fullest before you can move on. Abilities are activated from top-down, left to right.
Victory cards cannot be played during the game, they are only useful once the game ends. Their point value is seen here. The little symbol in the bottom-right corner tells you what expansion the card is from.
The object of the game
The object of the game is to build your kingdom and be the player with the most victory points at the end of the game. The game ends at the end of the player’s turn when the last province card leaves the kingdom pile or when any other three piles run out whichever happens first.
Three phases
On your turn, you have three different phases action, buy, cleanup. During your action phase, you are allowed to play 1 action card from your hand. An action card is any card whose type says action. You don’t have to play an action card if you don’t want to.
When you play cards you place them on the table overlapping from left to right. This helps you stay organized when you play this. Each time you play an action card it uses up one of your actions. Once you have used up all your actions for the turn you may not play any additional action cards that turn. Each turn, you start with one free action.
The buy phase is when you place down as many treasure cards as you wish. These also are played from left to right overlapping each other. Each one you play adds to your total pool of money for the turn. Each turn you are allowed to buy one card from the kingdom piles. Whenever you buy a card it goes to your discard pile. You don’t have to buy anything if you don’t want to or can’t afford it.
After your buy phase, you clean it all up. You discard all the cards in play, action, and treasure, as well as all the cards in your hand. All unused money is wasted. After this, you draw five new cards from your deck. Whenever you try to draw cards and your draw deck is empty or runs out you shuffle your discard pile and it becomes your new draw deck. If you have no cards in your draw deck or discard pile and you still need to draw a card then you ignore your need to draw and move forward. After your turn play proceeds clockwise.
Action cards
Action cards have numerous abilities which are as follows.
Plus cards. Draw as many cards from your deck as indicated by the number.
Plus actions. This allows you to play more action cards as indicated by the number.
Plus buy. This allows you to buy additional cards during your buy phase.
Plus coin. This adds money to your money pool. There is an invisible pool of money you obtain through each turn that you can use.
Gain a card. This means that you acquire a card without having to pay for it or use up a buy. Whenever you gain a card, the gain card always goes to your discard pile unless otherwise specified. You can gain cards when it isn’t your turn if another player plays a card telling you to do so. If you gain a card based on a certain cost, you cannot increase that cost.
Discard. Place a card from your hand to your discard pile.
Trash. This is the only way to permanently remove cards from your deck. You may only trash a card if an action card you play tells you to. You cannot trash cards in play only cards in your hand or a specified card.
If you do. This is a conditional effect. If you fulfill the previous text requirement completely, only then do you receive the following effect.
May. If a card says you may do something that means it’s optional and it’s your choice.
Reveal. This means you must show not discard specified cards to other players. These cards are kept separate from your draw deck and discard pile until its effect is fulfilled.
Game end
When the game-ending conditions are met sort all the cards you have in your hand, draw deck, and discard pile, and add up all your victory points. The player with the most points wins. If there’s a tie then the player who had the fewer turns wins.