How to Play Dominion

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Dominion is one of my all time favorite games out there to play. Games generally do not take a very long time and once played, are very easy to understand, and with all the expansions available can be refreshing to play for years. Today I will be sharing how to play Dominion.

Before we get started, this will be a how to play the base game of Dominion. There are many expansions out there for the game as well and if you are interested in seeing how those stack up against each other you can check out our Ranking Dominion Expansions list.

What is Dominion?

Dominion is a deck building card game where the player acts as a builder to their own kingdom. Players will build their kingdoms by gathering up land in the form of properties as well as refine their deck which acts as the machine to grow.

Players buy cards each turn to add to their decks, slowly growing more powerful as the game progresses. The gameplay is designed for two to four players. The goal is to have the most victory points when the game ends.

What are the Components in Dominion?

Now that we know what Dominion is, what comes in the base game that players can expect? Here are all the things that you will find inside your box of Dominion.

Dominion Components

  • 500 cards including

    • Gold, Silver and Copper called Treasure Cards

    • Providence, Duchies, and Estates called Victory Cards

    • 250 kingdom cards

      • These are divided into 25 types with 10 of each type

    • 30 Curse Cards

    • Trash Pile Card (This is just a designated location to take cards out of your deck)

How to Setup Dominion?

Great, we know know the components, now how do you set up a game of Dominion? Follow these easy steps below and you should be all set up to start playing.

  1. Place the Treasure cards into 3 piles in 1 row in the middle of the playing table, these 3 piles are Gold, Silver and Copper

  2. Place Victory Cards in the center as in row in the center of the table as well. The amount of cards to use in each of these piles is based on the amount of players that will be playing.

    1. For Two Players - Use 8 of each of the Victory cards

    2. For Three or Four Players - Use 12 of each of the victory cards

  3. Place the Curse cards in the victory card row in their own pile.

    1. Start with 10 and add 10 cards for each player beyond the first player playing (If you have 4 players, there should be 30 curse cards)

  4. Finally Choose 10 of the 25 Kingdom decks from the box. These can be chosen at random, or picked out. It’s a good idea to vary the cost of the cards so the game can flow more smoothly.

    1. Place these piles in the center of the play area

  5. Give each of the players seven copper from the copper pile and 3 estates. The estates received are not to be taken from the decks already placed in the center of the play area, but from the box of leftover estate cards.

  6. Each player will shuffle their small deck and draw 5 cards.

How to Set Up Dominion

How Do Turns Work In Dominion?

Now that we are all set up for a game of Dominion, let’s go over the simple turn structure. Turns in Dominion are very simple and only consist of 4 steps, Action, Buy, Cleanup, and Draw (ABCD). These steps are:

Turns in Dominion

  1. Action - You may play one action card from your hand. Follow the directions on the card, which may instruct you to draw additional cards, gain spending power for your upcoming buy phase, or give you extra actions to play additional action cards

  2. Buy - You may purchase any one card in a pile on the table. To do so, play treasure cards from your hand until the value is at least as high as the purchase price of the card you want to buy.

  3. Cleanup - The card you purchased, all cards that you played, and any cards remaining in your hand, are all placed in your discard pile. (Not to be confused with the trash location)

  4. Draw - Draw five cards from your deck to replenish your hand. If there are not enough cards in your deck, shuffle your discard pile, and it becomes the base of your draw pile.

How to End a Game of Dominion?

Every great game of Dominion must come to an end at some point. A game of Dominion ends once the last Providence Victory card is obtained, or when 3 of the kingdom card piles are gone from the center of the play area (4 piles for a four player game).

Players will count up their victory points. The player with the most victory points wins the game.

Now you have the basic understanding of how to play a game of Dominion. Pretty simple right? The fun really comes in as players build their decks and use the cards in their decks to create combos that increase the efficiency to gaining more valuable treasure cards or victory cards.

How to Set Up Dominion

Dominion can be studied endlessly to find new ways to improve your own play. This along with all the expansions make this game a fantastic game that never seems to run out of steam at my game table.

If you were on the fence about picking this game up, you can pick it up for yourself over on Amazon.

Comment below if this helped you understand how to play Dominion or let us know what you might still be confused about so we can better explain it for anyone else looking into how to play this fantastic game.