Dominion Quick Reference Rules Guide

This basic guide acts as a quick reference, or a basic outline of rules, for people that have read the full instructions for the Dominion deckbuilding card game (sometimes referred to as a board game).

You can find the official game rules from the game's website here. The standard game allows for 2-4 players. An expansion, or another Base set, is required for playing Dominion with 5-6 players.

Contents

1. The Objective
2. Quick Setup
3. How to Play
4. Critical Notes
5. Recommendations

How to Play Dominion

The Objective

• Have the most Victory Points (VP) by the end of the game.
• If tied, the player with the least turns taken wins.
• The game finishes when the specificed number of Supply piles are empty (any Kingdom card piles, Curses, Treasures e.g. Copper):
• 2-4 players: The game ends when 3 Supply piles are empty.
• 5-6 players: The game ends when 4 Supply piles are empty, or the Province pile is empty.
• Each player counts up all the VP symbols (shield symbol as shown on Estates) from all their cards in their individual play area (i.e. hand, deck, discard, cards set aside).

Quick Setup

Player Decks

Every player starts with the following cards:

• 3 Estates (1 VP)
• 7 Copper Treasures

Shared Play area

The shared play area includes: Supply - containing Base cards and Kingdom cards - and Trash.

Supply

Base Cards

Treasures Cards: Copper, Silver, Gold

• 1+ players: Use all copies

Victory Cards: Estate, Duchy, Province

• 2 players: use 8 copies of each
• 3-4 players: use 12 copies of each
• 5 players: use 12 copies of each, except use 15 Provinces
• 6 players: use 12 copies of each, except use 18 Provinces

Curse Cards

• 2 players: use 10
• 3 players: use 20
• 4 players: use 30
• 5 players: use 40
• 6 players: use 50

Kingdom Cards

• Setup 10 different piles of cards into the Kingdom section
• Use only 10 cards per Kingdom card pile, the 11th with the blue border is excluded (it is a randomiser not to be used during the game)

Trash

• While playing the game, card effects may 'trash' (not discard) cards from your deck or hand, forcing them out of play on to this trash board. Any cards here no longer have any function, and DO NOT count towards your final Victory Points.

Players Area

The setup consists of the Deck and Discard pile. Allow for space to play your hand, it may be useful to separate Action Phase and Buy Phase cards when played.

How to Play

Game Start

1. Each player starts with a deck of 10 cards: 3 Estates, 7 Coppers.
2. Shuffle your deck.
3. Draw 5 cards.

Each Turn

Each turn is made up of 3 phases: Action, Buy, and Clean-up.

1. Action Phase
• Start with 1 Action.
• Play Action cards
• +Card: Draw the specified number of cards from your deck.
• +Action: Increase the number of Actions available to you in the current turn.
• +Buy: Increase number of cards you may buy in the following Buy Phase.
• +Treasure: Increase the amount of Treasure you can use to buy cards in your Buy phase.
• Gain a card: Take a card from the Supply and put it in your Discard pile, unless specified otherwise.
• Other: Follow any special text instructions on cards if you play them on this turn.
2. Buy Phase

1. Play Treasure cards and calculate their value for you to spend this turn.
• Value of a Treasure is in the centre of the card.
• Unused +Actions, +Buys, or unspent Treasures DO NOT carry over to your next turn.
2. Purchase your cards
• You may no longer play any more Treasures after you start purchasing.
• Cost of a card is in the bottom-left.
• Add purchased cards to your Discard pile.
3. Clean-up Phase
1. Discard your current hand on to the top of your Discard pile face up.
2. Draw 5 cards, turn passes to the next player.
• If your deck has fewer than 5 cards, shuffle your Discard pile then put it at the bottom of your existing Deck.

Critical Notes

• Always read the text of cards in your hand as it may have special effects outside your turn
• e.g. Action-Reaction cards such as "Moat" can defend against an Attack from another player.
• In the Action Phase, if a +1 Action card is used, you can use 1 more Action card after placing it down, the chain can continue with further Action cards.
• There are a lot of fun expansions for Dominion, some change the game up more than others. New cards add new mechanics so please read the rule books for the specific expansion.
• Buying a card is considered Gaining it, hence why it's placed in the Discard pile.
• When a card has two actions that may be played at different times, there'll be a line separating the text e.g. Moat Action-Reaction card

Recommendations

• This is the beginner's Kingdom card set recommendation from the official rulebook:
• Cellar, Market, Merchant, Militia, Mine, Moat, Remodel, Smithy, Village, Workshop.
• If you want to avoid Attack cards, here's my recommended modified starting Kingdom card set:
• Cellar, Festival, Laboratory, Market, Merchant, Mine, Remodel, Smithy, Village, Workshop.
• For games that are fast and fun:
• I'd recommend not playing Kingdom cards that use Curse cards. It reduces effective hand size, and the simplest counter is for other players to use the same Attack cards as well.