Dominion is the king of deck builders, but i am a not a monarchist. It's a classic example of a game i respect, i get its influence on the hobby overall, and i don't think its a bad game by any means. But i also just don't really enjoy playing it at all. To me, the most important part of the game is looking at the market and deciding the order i will acquire things. That's done in the first few minutes and from that point, its just going through the motions to see if i can execute that plan and if that plan was effective or not. I don't really do much thinking after that point as the game plays itself once i've set that path. Other folks might play differently, but that's how dominion feels to me and why I personally prefer a bit more chaos or something to do with the deck instead of just hoovering up VP cards.
Dominion was my introduction to the hobby and through the power of expansions it's held on as my favorite game. I've gotten over 200 digital plays this year through the Android app which rotates free expansions. I would say a big part of the enjoyment, beyond the obvious combo crafting from the market, is deciding when to pivot to buying VPs. The timing is unique in each random market and pivoting too early or too late can give other players the chance to win even if you've built the better deck up to that point. It creates a race like feel which I really enjoy. And I suppose I'm easily pleased by deck building, combos and card variety. Dominion just packs the most combos and variety in the least rules overhead of any game I've played so far.
I played it once online with two co-workers that had a lot more experience, which is from what I hear a really bad way to experience the game. And, sure enough, I hated it. But only part of that was due to the fact that the other guys knew what they were doing. For me, the bigger part was that the game was very bland and lacking in theme and as a result I ended up just wanting to spend time messing around building decks for the various constructed deck games I have on my shelves (ANR, DTR, L5R) rather than playing the game I was in XD More recently I've had more fun with games the include deck building but do other stuff besides (Witcher Old World, etc)
I agree completely. Its a foundational game, but it's also been superceded a dozen times over by what's been built on it. It's in no way a bad game, but it definitely feels basic and the fixed market doesn't help.
I didn't play Dominion until I was well into the hobby, it sat in my cupboard unplayed for about 4 years. At that point I was into medium weight and slightly heavier games like Brass Lancashire, Twilight Struggle, Space Empires 4x, Mage Knight etc. So I was surprised when I finally cracked it out how much I actually enjoyed it. Even after multiple plays I was still hooked - it felt like I got a dopamine hit each time I turned over my 5 cards due to the tension/excitement of what I was going to get. And when hitting the jackpot with a huge hand it was very satisfying putting together a massive turn. I can see why it's so highly regarded with its simple, addictive, streamlined gameplay & variability. Maybe it could get stale if I played it to death but with the few opportunities I get to play games that'd be impossible.
Played this for the first time last year when I'd already been in the hobby for a while and had played other deck builders. Its a game I really enjoy the purity and pacing of. Its become one of my go to 2 player games for teaching people newish to the hobby. It gives me 50% of the ballpark feel of Race for the Galaxy with 10% the teaching effort if that makes sense.
This is one of the only games i can explain to anyone in 5 minutes and start playing and everyone ive played with it instantly becomes a favourite of theirs
This game was several friends' intro to modern board gaming, independently of one another, giving it the same Starter Game crown as Catan, Sushi Go and Cards Against Humanity. It's a good game, but much like a lot of other early introductory games, it's since been surpassed in both design and fun by later titles iterating on its main mechanic. It might just be the folks I know, but its status as the king of deckbuilders seems to have been supplanted by Clank, because of the five(!) people I know who got into board games via Dominion, three of them ended up replacing it in their collection with a version of the dungeon crawler.
I think you nailed it when pointing this game's major strenghts: fixed market, huge setup variety and a complex and player controlled tempo regarding when to shift from engine building to point scoring. I Personally love this game, I find it so pleasing to scan the market for combos at the beginning of the game, and then adjust my deck's composition as the game progresses.
Dominion is probably my Catan, a game that really hooked me into the hobby with it's mechanical simplicity and variety of engine building card combos. Yes, other games have taken the deckbuilding mechanic and run with it, and while many of those games have a lot more theme, or integrate deckbuilding into a wider context, I wouldn't necessarily say they are better games. Some *are* better games for sure, but no other deckbuilder has the sheer variety of expansions available to it that Dominion has, and few if any play in a quicker play time. The "lack of theme" complaint seems completely beside the point to me. Dominion is all about the satisfaction of building an engine out of a random assortment of parts and racing to generate points and end the game before the other players. If you like engine building and puzzle solving that's easy to teach and plays quickly, there's not a lot else much like it. It's utterly brilliant. That said, it does have a number of issues that knock it's rating down a bit. If you do have a few expansions to keep the game fresh, setup and teardown can take almost as long as playing the game. Most of the engine building is done by analysing the cards before you even start adding them to your deck. Attack cards really bog the game down with more than 3 players. Certain card drawing combinations are satisfying to one person at the table and tedious to others. It's easy to make mistakes tallying actions when playing long card combos and you often just have to take it on faith that the player executing their long turn is doing it correctly. Ultimately there are other games that I go to first these days, but I'm always up for a game of it. It frequently comes out at cons and it's usually a blast. One I should get to the table more often.
Dominion is one of my personal favourites. I don't have as much space, time, or other players to try out as many board games as I'd like so it's quick accessibility and flexibility are very beneficial for those few times I do get to play deckbuilding. It's a shame that I can't try out more deck builders, but it's still very enjoyable and its held the test of time for a reason.
Great game that got me into hobby boardgaming, but we don't play it that much anymore just because you sort of figure it out a little bit after a while. Still, it has that special place in my heart and it's an excellent game to show someone who's interested but hasn't really experienced something other than risk or one of the other more "standard" games.
To anyone who has never played Dominion but is interested to try, don’t be bothered by the comments about how there’s so much shuffling of cards, that is a frequent (soft) criticism of the game but in my opinion it’s not something that detract from the game at all. It might be worthwhile to learn and use a “pile shuffle” technique, however.
During the Cleanup phase, you discard all of the cards in you hand (& in play), so you don't "draw up to five cards". Instead, after you discard all cards, you draw five new cards from your draw pile (reshuffling your discard deck, if needed).
I'm never sad to play it and deck building is one of my favorite mechanics, but i prefer the things that have built upon dominion these days. I originally grabbed mage knight because I was too intrigued about how deck building could even be part of such a sprawling game.
Ha, yes. What's held that back over the years is that the version we have is the out of print one. And i think there are changes in the player cards in the newer version. But i've not played the newer one and we don't own it. And putting a review out of an OOP version of a game is something i avoid.
Is it the most accessible game since Catan? I've played this with so many people who aren't gamers or who enjoy light games. It's always a hit. Great, easy to understand mechanics. I don't play it often like I did years ago, but I still play it now and again, which is more than a lot of games I own.
One of my favorites and imho still the best DB. Complete random markets usually rub me the wrong way. F.e. Dune Imperium. I really liked it at first but after each play i liked it less and less. My only exception here was Rune Stones because your deck changes all the time.
I used to play Dominion to death. It may be the mother of all deck builders but it feels stale in 2023. My two personal favorites are "Ascension" and "Shards of Infinity".
@@3MBG if it's not then we're both grumpy haha. Kidding. But we've played dominion a million times and anytime there's a card that lets you remove cards from your hand - we've found that it's always the most successful strategy to do that.
I hate it. I will happily never play Dominion again. It is too clearly just turn numbers into different numbers. It's the same problem I have with the Legendary series. For me, a deckbuilder needs to give me more to do than just play a deckbuilder. I like them when they are integrated into different types of game, not so much when that is all they are.
Dominion is the king of deck builders, but i am a not a monarchist. It's a classic example of a game i respect, i get its influence on the hobby overall, and i don't think its a bad game by any means. But i also just don't really enjoy playing it at all. To me, the most important part of the game is looking at the market and deciding the order i will acquire things. That's done in the first few minutes and from that point, its just going through the motions to see if i can execute that plan and if that plan was effective or not. I don't really do much thinking after that point as the game plays itself once i've set that path.
Other folks might play differently, but that's how dominion feels to me and why I personally prefer a bit more chaos or something to do with the deck instead of just hoovering up VP cards.
I played it once and thought, "meh", but I understand why it's such a classic, as i have friends who have literally worn the cards out.
I was surprised it didn't get a 🏅 but that makes perfect sense, not a fan really myself
Dominion was my introduction to the hobby and through the power of expansions it's held on as my favorite game. I've gotten over 200 digital plays this year through the Android app which rotates free expansions.
I would say a big part of the enjoyment, beyond the obvious combo crafting from the market, is deciding when to pivot to buying VPs. The timing is unique in each random market and pivoting too early or too late can give other players the chance to win even if you've built the better deck up to that point. It creates a race like feel which I really enjoy.
And I suppose I'm easily pleased by deck building, combos and card variety. Dominion just packs the most combos and variety in the least rules overhead of any game I've played so far.
I played it once online with two co-workers that had a lot more experience, which is from what I hear a really bad way to experience the game.
And, sure enough, I hated it.
But only part of that was due to the fact that the other guys knew what they were doing.
For me, the bigger part was that the game was very bland and lacking in theme and as a result I ended up just wanting to spend time messing around building decks for the various constructed deck games I have on my shelves (ANR, DTR, L5R) rather than playing the game I was in XD
More recently I've had more fun with games the include deck building but do other stuff besides (Witcher Old World, etc)
I agree completely. Its a foundational game, but it's also been superceded a dozen times over by what's been built on it.
It's in no way a bad game, but it definitely feels basic and the fixed market doesn't help.
One of the staples of the deck building genre and one of my all time favorites!
I didn't play Dominion until I was well into the hobby, it sat in my cupboard unplayed for about 4 years. At that point I was into medium weight and slightly heavier games like Brass Lancashire, Twilight Struggle, Space Empires 4x, Mage Knight etc.
So I was surprised when I finally cracked it out how much I actually enjoyed it. Even after multiple plays I was still hooked - it felt like I got a dopamine hit each time I turned over my 5 cards due to the tension/excitement of what I was going to get. And when hitting the jackpot with a huge hand it was very satisfying putting together a massive turn.
I can see why it's so highly regarded with its simple, addictive, streamlined gameplay & variability. Maybe it could get stale if I played it to death but with the few opportunities I get to play games that'd be impossible.
Played this for the first time last year when I'd already been in the hobby for a while and had played other deck builders. Its a game I really enjoy the purity and pacing of. Its become one of my go to 2 player games for teaching people newish to the hobby. It gives me 50% of the ballpark feel of Race for the Galaxy with 10% the teaching effort if that makes sense.
This is one of the only games i can explain to anyone in 5 minutes and start playing and everyone ive played with it instantly becomes a favourite of theirs
This game was several friends' intro to modern board gaming, independently of one another, giving it the same Starter Game crown as Catan, Sushi Go and Cards Against Humanity. It's a good game, but much like a lot of other early introductory games, it's since been surpassed in both design and fun by later titles iterating on its main mechanic.
It might just be the folks I know, but its status as the king of deckbuilders seems to have been supplanted by Clank, because of the five(!) people I know who got into board games via Dominion, three of them ended up replacing it in their collection with a version of the dungeon crawler.
I think you nailed it when pointing this game's major strenghts: fixed market, huge setup variety and a complex and player controlled tempo regarding when to shift from engine building to point scoring. I Personally love this game, I find it so pleasing to scan the market for combos at the beginning of the game, and then adjust my deck's composition as the game progresses.
Dominion is probably my Catan, a game that really hooked me into the hobby with it's mechanical simplicity and variety of engine building card combos.
Yes, other games have taken the deckbuilding mechanic and run with it, and while many of those games have a lot more theme, or integrate deckbuilding into a wider context, I wouldn't necessarily say they are better games. Some *are* better games for sure, but no other deckbuilder has the sheer variety of expansions available to it that Dominion has, and few if any play in a quicker play time. The "lack of theme" complaint seems completely beside the point to me. Dominion is all about the satisfaction of building an engine out of a random assortment of parts and racing to generate points and end the game before the other players. If you like engine building and puzzle solving that's easy to teach and plays quickly, there's not a lot else much like it. It's utterly brilliant.
That said, it does have a number of issues that knock it's rating down a bit. If you do have a few expansions to keep the game fresh, setup and teardown can take almost as long as playing the game. Most of the engine building is done by analysing the cards before you even start adding them to your deck. Attack cards really bog the game down with more than 3 players. Certain card drawing combinations are satisfying to one person at the table and tedious to others. It's easy to make mistakes tallying actions when playing long card combos and you often just have to take it on faith that the player executing their long turn is doing it correctly.
Ultimately there are other games that I go to first these days, but I'm always up for a game of it. It frequently comes out at cons and it's usually a blast. One I should get to the table more often.
Dominion is one of my personal favourites. I don't have as much space, time, or other players to try out as many board games as I'd like so it's quick accessibility and flexibility are very beneficial for those few times I do get to play deckbuilding. It's a shame that I can't try out more deck builders, but it's still very enjoyable and its held the test of time for a reason.
Great game that got me into hobby boardgaming, but we don't play it that much anymore just because you sort of figure it out a little bit after a while. Still, it has that special place in my heart and it's an excellent game to show someone who's interested but hasn't really experienced something other than risk or one of the other more "standard" games.
To anyone who has never played Dominion but is interested to try, don’t be bothered by the comments about how there’s so much shuffling of cards, that is a frequent (soft) criticism of the game but in my opinion it’s not something that detract from the game at all. It might be worthwhile to learn and use a “pile shuffle” technique, however.
My favourite game. Surprised you didn't at least mention that there are 15 expansions of additional "market cards" that expand on the basic game play.
Yeah, i thought about it, but time code is limited. I've only played with one of them i think, intrigue.
Also should have said, if you DONT like shuffling then try Aeons end, because it has no shuffling!
True that
I still love this game. Simple, fast, fun
During the Cleanup phase, you discard all of the cards in you hand (& in play), so you don't "draw up to five cards". Instead, after you discard all cards, you draw five new cards from your draw pile (reshuffling your discard deck, if needed).
This is not a rules video, just a summary. You are splitting hairs with this comment.
I'm never sad to play it and deck building is one of my favorite mechanics, but i prefer the things that have built upon dominion these days.
I originally grabbed mage knight because I was too intrigued about how deck building could even be part of such a sprawling game.
You are powering through the reviews! Didn’t even realise you hadn’t done Dominion.
Loving the retro reviews!
Cheers. I feel like videos for games like Dominion and Catan are just useful relics for the gaming community to have.
@@3MBGI know you're not a huge fan, but ........any chance of an agricola review?
Me too!
Ha, yes. What's held that back over the years is that the version we have is the out of print one. And i think there are changes in the player cards in the newer version. But i've not played the newer one and we don't own it. And putting a review out of an OOP version of a game is something i avoid.
On 2x speed it becomes "Dominion in about 1 1/2 minutes"
Blud can do math
I'm thankful that they've released 2nd editions and with the option to by replacement card packs with just those updated cards.
Is it the most accessible game since Catan? I've played this with so many people who aren't gamers or who enjoy light games. It's always a hit. Great, easy to understand mechanics. I don't play it often like I did years ago, but I still play it now and again, which is more than a lot of games I own.
One of my favorites and imho still the best DB. Complete random markets usually rub me the wrong way. F.e. Dune Imperium. I really liked it at first but after each play i liked it less and less. My only exception here was Rune Stones because your deck changes all the time.
Download in your phone or pc to try free . It’s good game, that have many variety how to play .
I used to play Dominion to death. It may be the mother of all deck builders but it feels stale in 2023. My two personal favorites are "Ascension" and "Shards of Infinity".
I mean, it sounds like you answered yourself here. Few games can really survive being played to death
We cracked the game with my friend by just dumping all cards quickly with the cellar and keeping a tiny hand of good cards only heh.
Which works if the cellar is in the game...... what if its not?
@@3MBG if it's not then we're both grumpy haha. Kidding. But we've played dominion a million times and anytime there's a card that lets you remove cards from your hand - we've found that it's always the most successful strategy to do that.
I hate it. I will happily never play Dominion again. It is too clearly just turn numbers into different numbers. It's the same problem I have with the Legendary series. For me, a deckbuilder needs to give me more to do than just play a deckbuilder. I like them when they are integrated into different types of game, not so much when that is all they are.
great game but incredibly ugly