At my internship, the coworkers I played Dominion with always played three separate 3-4 player games, created from all of the expansions. As I played, I couldn't help but wonder if there was a good way to link all of these games together in a sort of interactive tournament. After some research and thought, here is my solution:
Overview
Play a tournament of multiple, simultaneous "games". Each game must start at the same time, and the winner of the tournament is the player who gained the most VP per turn. Tournament players can interact with one another by playing "Multigame" cards, which are available in every individual game.
Cycling Order
When playing such a tournament, you must define a "cycling order", or a circular loop that passes through all available seats in all games. Each seat in your tournament has a "next seat", and this chain of "next seats" should lead you all the way through all the seats in the tournament and back to your starting point (i.e. no branches, closed loops, or unreachable seats).
- In this post, "next seat" refers to the next seat in the cycling order, whether or not it is occupied.
- "Next player" refers to the next player you encounter as you move from your seat through the cycling order.
- "Previous seat" and "previous player" move in the opposite direction in the cycling order, but are otherwise the same.
For example, the most straightforward cycling order for multiple games at a banquet table is clockwise around the banquet table. But you can have fun with this - perhaps go counterclockwise, or zigzag in a weird way, anything that your players can remember. This is especially important if you choose to use the tournament rules in a single game.
On a related note, all games should have the maximum number of seats available that you wish to support in each game, even if the seats aren't filled up at the start of the tournament.
Game ending and victory
Throughout the game, all players keep exact track of the number of turns they took (most likely through a piece of paper with tally marks).
When a game ends (Provinces out, Colonies out, three-pile), all players in that game may either choose to stop playing or attempt to continue in a different game.
- When you stop playing, you vacate your seat and sit off to the side until all tournament games end. You keep your deck and VP chips.
- If you want to keep playing, you may select any empty seat in the cycling order, at which point you will enter the game there in your appropriate spot in their turn order. If no such seat is available, you must stop playing.
- When you choose to keep playing, any effects that trigger "at the end of the game" do not trigger - any Islanded cards stay Islanded, any Native Village cards stay on your Native Village mat, etc.
When all players have vacated their seats, the cycling order is modified to skip those seats. That game still exists for tournament reasons, but the seats cannot be visited.
When all players have chosen to stop playing, all players count their Victory points and divide them by the number of turns they have played. Whoever has the highest point/turn ratio wins the tournament!
(OFF NOTE: This is the part I'm still trying to work out. This solution allows for faster Province strategies to remain valid even in the face of slower Colony games happening elsewhere, or for even faster Gardens rushes to beat standard Province games happening elsewhere. I still have to find out, though, if VP/turn ratios tend to be the same with different strategies given equally skilled players).
Multigame Cards
The real heart of these tournament rules is the new set of cards - Multigame cards. While most of the cards only interact with your immediate game, these cards can interact with the rest of the tournament, affecting other players or moving between games and the like.
- All games in a Tournament must have the same Multigame cards in their Kingdoms - non-Multigame cards can (and should) differ, but Multigame cards cannot. For instance, if one game has the Foreign Currency card (listed below), the rest must too.
- When you play a Multigame card that affects other players (such as a Multigame Attack), you must announce that you are doing so to the entire tournament, and all players must comply at once.
- Note that this will even affect other players taking their turns *while* they are taking their turns. In this case, all other players must wait until these players finish resolving any Action card they were playing at the moment the announcement *began*, then all players run the appropriate effect. (Of course, that means that if this was during a TR/KC/Pr run, we could be waiting a long time). If they play a Multigame card that affects other players while resolving this card, they will also wait, then that card's effect will resolve after the first card's.
- Some Multigame cards allow players to move around in the cycling order. When you do, keep these rules in mind:
- All cards remain in the same state they were in when you move - in deck, in discard, in hand, in play, set aside.
- Turn orders are modified appropriately when a player changes seats.
- A game with only one player at it is solitaire Dominion until someone else shows up. A game with no players is dormant, but can still be moved to and played.
- Still other cards allow you to interact with other Supplies. Each Supply is independent, and you can only interact with other Supplies if a Multigame card allows or directs you to do so.
- If you play Ambassador (or a similar card) that tells you to return a card to the Supply and that Supply pile does not exist at your game, generate a new one at your game. This pile does not count towards the endgame condition if emptied, but does count as being part of the Supply.
- If you play Madman or Spoils (or similar cards) that return themselves to special piles and those piles do not exist at your game, generate new ones.
- Similar rules apply to interacting with other Trashes.
Several Multigame Cards
Here are a few of the available Multigame cards:
---
Globalize - Cost $6 - Action / Multigame
Text: You may play an Attack card from your hand. Play it as if the entire tournament was one large game, with all players in the cycling order affected by the Attack.
---
Comment: This allows you to play any Attack card against all other players in the tournament. For instance, if you Globalize a Militia, everyone else who's taking a turn resolves their current Action, then discards down to 3 cards in hand. All players may still reveal Reaction cards in response to these Attacks.
---
Egress - Cost $5 - Action / Multigame
Text: At the end of your turn, move to any empty seat in the cycling order.
---
Comment: A very useful card in both single- and multi-game tournaments, simply because you can change the turn order and get access to other Supplies. This also allows you to escape effects from the players on your right and left (Masquerade or Possession, anyone?).
--
Change of Hands - Cost $4 - Action / Multigame
Text: +2 Cards. Each player in all games passes a card to the next player in the cycling order all at once. You may then trash a card from your hand.
---
Comment: A Globalized Masquerade (Masquerade is not an Attack and thus needs its own card). In addition, if your cycling order isn't synonymous with your turn order, this can be different from Masquerade.
---
Global Ambassador - Cost $4 - Action / Multigame
Text: Reveal a card from your hand. Return up to 3 copies of it to any Supply in any game. Then each other player in that game gains a copy of it.
---
Comment: Don't like putting cards in your Supply? Put them elsewhere!
---
Royal Ball - Cost $6 - Action / Multigame
Text: Trash this. All players move to the next seat in the cycling order all at once. If multiple players are in the middle of their turns in the new game, each player finishes their turn simultaneously, then the next player is decided by consensus in that game.
---
Comment: Can easily shake up the entire game - probably would beat Possession as the most hated card in Dominion. Note also that since everyone has to move and you move during your turn, it is entirely possible that multiple players who are in the middle of their turns are stuck together - hence the explanatory text. This will not, however, interrupt an Attack or other Action that depends on the old game.
---
Foreign Currency - Cost $4 - Treasure / Multigame
Text: (1 Coin) While this is in play, all cards in other games' Supply piles are available for you to buy or gain.
---
Comment: The simplest possible Multigame card - access other games' Supply piles. This not only allows you to buy cards that are only found in other piles (think Black Market's diversity, but slightly nerfed), but also allows you to buy cards from games that have already ended or aren't close to ending. For instance, if you don't want to buy the penultimate Province, use this card to reach over and buy Provinces from other games!
---
Escape Ship - Cost $5 - Action / Duration / Multigame
Text: When continuing in a tournament after an individual game ends, players with more Escape Ships in play get first choice for choosing a seat over players with fewer. After choosing a new seat in such a situation, trash all Escape Ships you have in play.
---
Comment: Essentially, players with more Escape Ships get to choose where to go before players with fewer do. Escape Ships stay in play when you change seats for any other reason - they are only trashed when you are escaping a finished game. You may also choose to stop playing even if you have Escape Ships in play - they only help you continue a game. If two players have the same number of Escape Ships, the first player to pick the seat gets it.
--- (Alternate to the above)
Escape Ship - Cost $5 - Action / Duration / Multigame
Text: When choosing a new seat to move to in a tournament, you may choose to move to a seat occupied by a player with fewer Escape Ships in play. That player must vacate their seat and move to a different seat, or stop playing if no seat is available.
---
Comment: This version of Escape Ship also applies to moving for other reasons, such as with Egress. This makes the card much more versatile and a little less confusing in wording, but I realize that it is also somewhat political (choose the seat of someone you don't like).
