‘Dominion’ presents a unique take on card games

September 28, 2009 02:58 pm

— Rarely has a board game exploded on the scene with quite the force of “Dominion.”
But then the game has really used some hybrid elements to create something unique. It isn’t a board game at all in the sense that there is no board.
“Dominion” is played with 500 cards that represent different abilities and goals. In that way it is a bit like a card game.
“Dominion” turns the collectible card game (CCG) idea on its head. In most CCGs, players use their collection of cards to build a deck before play.
Once the game starts you can do nothing to alter that deck to improve the chances of winning. In “Dominion,” each player starts with the same 10 cards. The decks are built as the game moves along so that players can adapt to the game as it unfolds.
“ I thought the idea was pretty cool when I thought of it, but I have tried other exotic things that didn't work out at all,” said Donald X. Vaccarino, the game’s designer. “After we played the game a few nights, I knew it was a big hit with my friends.”
“I played the prototype that Donald had and I thought it was a great game,” said Jay Tummelson, the owner of Rio Grande Games. “It was a different game for us. It was 500 cards. I wondered if it could be done and how it could be done.”
Few would have predicted that the game would come to earn a top-10 spot at the online game mecca BoardGameGeek out of thousands of rated games. But there was an early convention indication.
“Don brought a copy of the game to an invitation-only convention,” said Tummelson. “We hadn’t planned to show it there. But he asked if we could so I figured if it was there, why not? The response was amazing.
“People didn’t want to let the game out of their hands. I had people come up and ask about letting them produce versions in different languages and that never happens to a product that hasn’t even been released.”
Vaccarino had some confidence in his creation.
“I was pretty sure the game would be popular as far as hobby games go, and would have people who thought it was the best game ever,” he said. “This is just entirely because of how well it went over with my friends. I've made a lot of games and any sense of encouragement my friends had died out long ago.
“When my friends (said they) liked the game I was pretty sure they did actually like it. They all wanted to play nothing but it for months. We stopped playing ‘Magic.’ I didn't think anything would ever replace Magic for us.”
The game was released in the spring of 2008 and by the time the fall rolled around for the Essen Game Fair in Germany, Dominion was already available in five languages. Now it is published in 16 languages.
To play the game there are 10 stacks of the same card which players can buy for varying costs from other cards marked with currency, copper, silver and gold. These cards go into the player’s deck and are used to help gain the victory points needed to win. The game has great replay value because “Dominion” comes with 25 of these decks. Which 10 are used each game is determined by random draw, which makes each game a bit different from the one before it.
Earlier this year an expansion was released for the game, “Dominion: Intrigue.” The game can be played alone without the original “Dominion,” or it can be added to the original. There are 25 more decks of cards.
Players with both sets now won’t know which 10 of 50 will be used in any given game.
“At first, there were just a bunch of cards,” said Vaccarino of ‘Intrigue.’ “‘Intrigue’ got the stuff that I felt fit best in a first expansion — the most natural simple extensions of the base game, like cards with two types. The cards in Intrigue are supposed to go together well. They try to introduce new strategies but then you always want to do that.”
In October a third expansion, “Seaside,” will be released. It will contain 26 new decks of cards, running the total to 76 possible decks. It won’t be playable by itself. Gamers will need to either have a copy of ‘Dominion’ or ‘Intrigue’ to use ‘Seaside.’
“It's already been officially spoiled that it has a ‘next turn’ theme,” said Vaccarino. “There are cards that do something this turn and next, for example. The set has playmats and tokens for handling some of the cards.”
There are also two promo decks that have been made available at conventions and at www.boardgamegeek.com. “We did that to support the people who support us,” said Tummelson. There’s a strong chance that there will be more expansions as well as other licensed products such as card sleeves protectors. Many of the action cards get shuffled many times during the play of this game.
The game can be played by two to four players with one set and up to eight with two sets. Each game lists for $44.95. No price has been announced for “Seaside.” Each game box holds the card decks in separate, labeled compartments to make setting the game up each play simple.
“Dominion” has won numerous awards in this country as well as internatioinally.
For more information check out the Rio Grande website at: www.riograndegames.com/games.html?id=278

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