Over the years I have purchased a number of different games that my wife and I have enjoyed playing together. These include games such as Torres (my first euro game), Ticket To Ride, Puerto Rico, Finca, Thurn and Taxis, Agricola, Aquaretto, Zooloretto, and others. Though I also play these games with others whenever I can, and certainly prefer to play some of them as multiplayer games, they most often get played as two-player games by my wife and me. Therefore, when I consider purchasing a new game, a big concern I have is whether it works as a two-player game or not. With the majority of these games, we generally only get one game out of an evening’s play. This has stopped us more than once from playing a game when we could have done so.
The biggest difference with this game compared to others I own has been how often we play it. Before Dominion, if we played 1 or 2 games a week, we were doing good. With Dominion, we easily play 5 to 10 games per week IRL. It is extremely rare for us to play just one game and stop there. We especially like to play the same set of cards at least 2 or 3 times (sometimes more) before we pick a new set. That gives us a chance to try different strategies with each new kingdom set, or just try to improve on the original strategy we attempted. We also like to play with Colonies and Platinums whenever we can since it adds more options to the game. Probably because of this fact along with some other factors, some of our games go over 30 minutes, but we don’t mind at all. It is still much quicker than many other games that we play.
So what is that makes this game so different for us? I would say it boils down to 6 things:
1) Replayability: I imagine that if I only had base Dominion, it might eventually grow old for me, but having five expansions means this game is always changing whenever we pull a new kingdom set. Each new random set has its own personality that you have to recognize and work to your advantage. So after several hundred rounds of Dominion, this game is not feeling old at all. (I cannot think of any other game that I have played that many times.) We still eagerly look forward to each new card set. And with more expansions to buy, I don’t see how it will ever lose that shine.
2) Equal Opportunity: No offense to our opponents, but there are some games we just really grasp better than others do. So if 2 people play a game a number of times, and the other person wins 90% of the time, we are likely not going to want to play that game as often as one that we can win more. We might still play it at times because we like certain aspects of the game, or we like the challenge of trying to beat our opponent, or we want to experience the exhilaration that comes when we do get that elusive win. Dominion, though, is a game where any reasonably experienced player can win on a regular basis. Even someone new to the game can win over a more experienced player from time to time. The good thing is that it only takes a few games to become a reasonably experienced player. My wife and I are very evenly matched in this game, and it shows in that we are just about dead even in the number of wins between us. There are certain kingdom sets where one or the other of us does better, but because we usually play the same set more than once, we get to try different strategies and if we didn’t win it the first time, we usually do so on the second or third try.
3) It’s Not Rocket Science: From posts that I have read on BGG, it appears that some people feel that it’s not a real game if it doesn’t require the Rosetta Stone to decipher how to play it, or that it has so much depth, it takes you many hours of play to even begin to master its nuances. I do like those kinds of games also. However, I did not buy Dominion with that idea in mind. So I am not disappointed by what others might conceive to be a depth issue. Though it has depth to it, especially as you add expansions to the mix, the learning curve tor Dominion is not that large. It is easy to teach and easy to learn the basics. You do continue to learn and adapt as you go along. That helps keep it enjoyable and interesting, but it is easily understood by those who are more casual gamers. Everyone to whom we have taught the game has had no difficulty grasping the game concepts.
4) The WOW Factor: I love how various cards in combination can create surprising results. I have to admit that I have found out about many of these combinations through BGG forums and DominionStrategy.com, but it is so cool when you get to try them in a game. No matter how I discovered these combos, there has been so many times where I said to myself: “I can’t believe how well that card works in this game!” Certain cards, when they are in play, are always game changers. However, because a certain card may work great with the cards in one deck, but be of marginal use in a totally different deck, you get the chance to discover new ways to play and use these cards again and again.
5) 2-Player Heaven: This game is the perfect mix of all the things that make a great 2-player game. (I am not in any way inferring that this is a bad game for more than 2 players. I merely have come to appreciate its excellence for 2 players.)
• It has plenty of strategy, and no one strategy works for all kingdom sets. With some games, the options in strategy are much more limited when just 2 people play. Not so with Dominion.
• Due to the number of cards available through expansions, along with the added features of various expansions such as victory points, embargo or trade route tokens, duration cards, potions, etc., there is a lot of variety in the game. So it doesn’t get old as some 2-player games can where the number of options are limited due to the number of players.
• It doesn’t rely as heavily on chance as some other 2-player games do that I have played. It does play a role, but that factor allows for some miraculous last-minute comebacks.
• It plays fast, allowing for multiple plays in a session, which I personally prefer if there are just 2 people playing.
6) Interaction: I know that there are some people who feel that this game is just multiplayer solitaire, some vehemently so, but I don’t agree. For my wife and I, there is plenty of interaction in the game. Obviously, any time there are attack cards in the kingdom set, you are going to be affected by what the other players play. And there are a great number of other cards that result in interaction with your opponent, such as Tribute, Bishop, Masquerade, and many others. On the other hand, if you think that all you have to worry about is attack cards, you are going to quickly find yourself in trouble. Though it is possible to devise a plan and play it, sometimes even with little interference, if you ignore your competitors and concentrate too much just on what you are doing, you will get surprised more often than you may think. You have to be alert to what the other person is doing and react accordingly. If not, you may pay for it later. On the other hand, if your idea of interaction is a game where every move someone makes affects another player and you have to constantly reevaluate your strategy, then this is not that kind of game. For me, though, the interaction that exists is just right for the type of game that it is.
