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Rio Grande Games - Dominion: First Edition
Age Range (Description) | Adult |
Number of Players | 2-4 |
Brand | Rio Grande Games |
Theme | History |
Color | Multicolor |
About this item
- Tactical card game for 2-4 Players
- Takes about 30 minutes to play
- Lots of expansions available to add depth and complexity
- Quick to learn, many ways to win
- High Quality with Proprietary design
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- Rio Grande Games: Dominion: Nocturne, an Expansion, Strategy Board Game, 2 to 4 Players, 30 Minute Play Time, For Ages 14 and upFREE Shipping by AmazonGet it as soon as Sunday, Mar 31
Product information
Product Dimensions | 11.81 x 2.76 x 11.81 inches |
---|---|
Item Weight | 3.09 pounds |
ASIN | B001JQY6K4 |
Item model number | RGG370 |
Manufacturer recommended age | 10 years and up |
Best Sellers Rank | #402,657 in Toys & Games (See Top 100 in Toys & Games) #16,584 in Collectible Card Games |
Customer Reviews |
4.6 out of 5 stars |
Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
Release date | January 1, 2009 |
Manufacturer | Rio Grande Games |
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Product Description
Product Description
You are a monarch, like your parents before you, a ruler of a small pleasant kingdom of rivers and evergreens. Unlike your parents, however, you have hopes and dreams. You want a bigger and more pleasant kingdom, with more rivers and a wider variety of trees. You want a Dominion. In all directions lie fiefs, freeholds, and feodums. All are small bits of land, controlled by petty lords and verging on anarchy. You will bring civilization to these people, uniting them under your banner. But wait. It must be something in the air, several other monarchs have had the exact same idea. You must race to get as much of the unclaimed land as possible, fending them off along the way. To do this you will hire minions, construct buildings, spruce up your castle, and fill the coffers of your treasury. Your parents wouldn't be proud, but your grandparents, would be delighted.
From the Manufacturer
You are a monarch, like your parents before you, a ruler of a small pleasant kingdom of rivers and evergreens. Unlike your parents, however, you have hopes and dreams. You want a bigger and more pleasant kingdom, with more rivers and a wider variety of trees. You want a Dominion. In all directions lie fiefs, freeholds, and feodums. All are small bits of land, controlled by petty lords and verging on anarchy. You will bring civilization to these people, uniting them under your banner. But wait. It must be something in the air, several other monarchs have had the exact same idea. You must race to get as much of the unclaimed land as possible, fending them off along the way. To do this you will hire minions, construct buildings, spruce up your castle, and fill the coffers of your treasury. Your parents wouldn’t be proud, but your grandparents, would be delighted.
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Found in the garage. Never opened it, selling as is.
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Customer Review: Fun for the family too
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Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers say the game has excellent replay value and is well worth the 10 minutes it takes to learn the basics. They find the game fun, addictive, and engaging. They also appreciate the tremendous variety of action cards and the endless possibilities. Customers describe the game as full of strategy and a good balance of strategy with luck. They mention that the game mechanics are fairly simple to learn.
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Customers find the game fun and addictive. They say it's an engaging and good game to play. They also say the game is extremely addictive and doesn't lose its fun factor after several plays. Customers also say it keeps the game from getting boring. They mention that the game pieces are simple to understand and fun to look at. Overall, customers find the experience satisfying and super fun.
"...those cards, but the improvisational-deck-building-mechanic was incredibly addictive. My wife watched, but did not bite...." Read more
"...at encouraging children to develop these thought patterns, as it is fun and full of attractive-looking cards...." Read more
"...Dominion is completely addictive and doesn't loose its fun factor after the player has played multiple scenarios in one sitting...." Read more
"...Despite its flaws, Dominion is an engaging and fun game to play, one that allows you to be subject to the whims of fate while manipulating luck via..." Read more
Customers find the game mechanics fairly simple to learn and understand. They also say the actions are easy to follow and understand, making the game easy to play in 30 minutes or less. Customers also mention that the instructions are very helpful and the game is a decent easy strategy game for young teenagers.
"...Dominion should be very easy to pick up...." Read more
"...Dominion can bridge the non-gamer gap - the basics are simple enough that nearly anyone can play...." Read more
"...This takes well to sharpening--as well as instilling--a keen sense of the kind of thinking one needs to make software or understand..." Read more
"Dominion is a fairly straightforward card game in which the goal is to accumulate more victory points than your opponents by the game's end...." Read more
Customers find the game variety in the tabletop game to be infinite, with a large variety of action cards. They also say the possibilities are endless with this game, with so many combos available. Customers also say that the game appeals to a wide range of gamers, and is unique every time.
"...types action cards are used for a game, but the box comes with 25 types of action cards...." Read more
"...It's quick and full of strategy. There is a randomization element for the cards used that ensures that you get a different game almost every time,..." Read more
"...category having at least 10 cards in its pile, there is plenty of room for strategy as the game progresses and certain resources are bought up to..." Read more
"...There are many viable strategies and many possible combinations of action cards, and the quick setup and portability of the game make it a worthy..." Read more
Customers find the tabletop game has excellent replay value. They say it's well worth the 10 minutes it takes to learn the basics. They also say it makes a worthy addition to any collection, with a nice business model. Customers also mention that the card costs are well thought out.
"...creators of the game extensively play-tested it, so the card costs are very well thought out...." Read more
"...they've recently offered a base set + a couple expansions for a great price, with a bonus of a card mat to help the layout of the game - it seems..." Read more
"...the quick setup and portability of the game make it a worthy addition to any collection." Read more
"...The box and the stand are both decent and feel sturdy...." Read more
Customers find the game full of strategy, with a good balance of mostly strategy and a bit of luck. They say there are many viable strategies and many possible combinations of action cards. They also say the game involves both strategy and luck, and that a well thought out strategy will do well. Customers also mention that the game is attractive, easy, and fun, with lots of depth and strategy.
"...You'll find that your strategy in Dominion is constantly evolving...." Read more
"...It's quick and full of strategy...." Read more
"...There are many viable strategies and many possible combinations of action cards, and the quick setup and portability of the game make it a worthy..." Read more
"...but ultimately it's a simple and accessible game with a lot of depth and strategy. Once you get the hang of it, it's a lot of fun." Read more
Customers like the interactivity of the tabletop game. They say it works great as a two player game, and is perfect for a couple. They also mention that it's playable by 4 players or more, and that it works equally well with 2 players.
"...Negative interaction is usually pretty low in this base game, although how much (if any) interaction that occurs between players depends on the..." Read more
"...It has a rule book that is quite reasonable in size while being very precise about the rules...." Read more
"...all quantities, I can honestly say that this game is best suited to precisely three players, with two or four being acceptable but not..." Read more
"...In short, Dominion is an excellent game that plays well and is deserving of the 2009 European Game of the Year ("Spiel des Jahres") Award...." Read more
Customers like the variety of the game. They mention that the randomizer cards offer interesting combinations of cards, and the pack comes with enough variety of cards to play this version 10-20 times. They also say that the game comes with 25 types of action cards, as well as money and victory cards. Some cards allow more actions and others allow more buys, allowing for multiple variations. Customers also say the game is all done with cards, no boards or dice, and is a great introduction to the genre of card games.
"...a group of cards, you may find that one or two of the cards seem to be extremely powerful...." Read more
"...lots of variations: This game comes with 24 action cards and this is where the variation and fun comes from...." Read more
"...Replayability: 4/5. Because the layout is modular, you can choose a new set of Kingdom cards every time...." Read more
"...Otherwise, the randomizer cards certainly offer some interesting combinations of cards when you want to mix things up...." Read more
Customers are mixed about the quality of the game. Some mention that it's well made, with unique card graphics and illustrations. However, others say that the game has poor quality control, with blank cards and poor rulebooks.
"...- good quality: Overall the cards have a good quality and don't feel clumsy. The box and the stand are both decent and feel sturdy...." Read more
"...A solid game, could be for gamers or maybe even folks who aren't sure they are gamers." Read more
"...As a result, wear and tear on the cards is inevitable unless they're placed into protective sleeves, and some cards will become marked...." Read more
"...Dominion is a great start, but if you've been playing other games it may be too thin to offer something for you." Read more
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Since all players start with the same hand and have access to the same cards, there are many different approaches that can be used to play the game. Dominion also has some aspects that tend to self-balance the game. Purchased victory point cards become part of the deck, but they only have value at the end of the game -- during the game, they take the spot of what could have been a useful action card or a treasure card.
Dominion also has a great deal of depth. 10 different types action cards are used for a game, but the box comes with 25 types of action cards. The instructions give suggestions for set of 10 action card that work well to learn about the different cards, but the game can also be played with a random selection of cards. This means there are over 3 million ways to choose the cards!
You'll find that your strategy in Dominion is constantly evolving. When first playing with a group of cards, you may find that one or two of the cards seem to be extremely powerful. However, after playing a few more times, you may start to find those cards to be overrated and shift to a different approach and cards. Cards that seemed useless when you first started to play will all of a sudden seem to be very powerful. The creators of the game extensively play-tested it, so the card costs are very well thought out.
If you're used to CCGs (collectible card games, ie Magic the Gathering), Dominion should be very easy to pick up. If you don't like CCGs because they seem very poorly balanced (where one powerful card is a game winner), give Dominion a chance. It is very well balanced and has a lot of depth. If you don't know what a CCG is or have never played one, you may find Dominion to be a fun addition to your game night.
Enter a wife and two wonderful children (actually second wife, MtG may have been a contributing factor in the disappearance of the first /grin). Gaming time drops to near zero... My wife is an adamant non-player. We played poker a lot back before the kiddos, and some low-strat board games. After the kids, we no longer had time to play decent strategy games - most of which required a lot of preparation or extensive attention for several hours to really feel like you'd done it justice. Two items that were simply out of stock for newly-parents. I still checked up on the world of board games, salivating over Settlers of Catan and Agricola and Carcassone... Then I saw Dominion popping up with incredible reviews - so I took a flyer and bought it to play on holiday with my venerable opponent - my brother, a single dad who had a very similar history. We played it to death once the kids went down for the night, while my wife chit chatted with us and paid a little attention to the game. Endlessly we played, shuffling cards over and over, and we found the strategic intricacies to be incredibly deep. Thanks to the shifting of the available cards each game, no two games were the same - basic strategies emerged for every card and for combinations of those cards, but the improvisational-deck-building-mechanic was incredibly addictive. My wife watched, but did not bite. The holiday ended, and I moped that I would no longer have the time or the opponents to play the game to which I was now deeply addicted. Then DW surprised me and said she would play it with me as a Christmas gift. Her revelation to me was that games that required strategy seemed too "brainy" for her - that it would require so much thinking as to ruin the fun nature of playing - whereas in Hold 'em, it was less what you had than knowing what your opponent had and a little clevage could throw him off his game. I nursed game one along so that she got a feel for the mechanics, and she won. I certainly did not give 100%, because a win for her meant the potential of a game two for me. She won game two - this time a little less passivity on my part. Then game three...and the night was over, but my addiction had been satiated for a day. Today, she ASKED to play again. She ASKED to play a high-strategy game. I'm setting the hook to pull in a lunker.
Dominion can bridge the non-gamer gap - the basics are simple enough that nearly anyone can play. The depth of the game is deep enough to whet the appetites of all but the most intense miniatures players or historical war gamers. The Magic playing friends will absolutely love the draft-style construction, and the casual gamers will appreciate that a game takes only 30 minutes in most circumstances after a couple learning games. Dominion is really fun with two players, but adding up to two more increases the fun-quotient. Rio Grande has released several expansions which seem to add even more depth and breadth to the mix - Intrigue can be merged with the base set to allow for games of up to EIGHT players; which would seem to get very hairy, but no less fun. I very heartily suggest Dominion for those who are looking for a strategy game with the convenience of a card game without forgetting that card drawing will diminish strategy - since you are building your deck on the fly, refining it leads to the odds and probability factor that you see in games like MtG. The prices here at Amazon are amazing - if you feel like a spending spree, they've recently offered a base set + a couple expansions for a great price, with a bonus of a card mat to help the layout of the game - it seems well worth it if you are fairly confident you want to give this game a go.
I don't think I could be happier with this purchase.
Top reviews from other countries
Easy to learn, looks slightly complicated, but actually takes about 10 minutes to understand the basics.
Great for the whole family: even wives like it.
Very fast paced, and games are over in 30 minutes.
Have played with mixed language (French-English) groups with no problem, as long as everyone can read a little English.
Exists in VF.