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[Polk5440]

Last night I played a few IRL 3-player games with cards randomized from this set of 25. The first game we played was with the following kingdom. I think this illustrates what is difficult, yet interesting, about 3 player games.

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Courtyard, Lighthouse, Village, Wishing Well, Gardens, Mining Village, Throne Room, Trader, Festival, Witch
In two player kingdoms where both Provinces and Gardens are viable, you would decide to go for a Gardens strategy or Province strategy. It will be a mirror (Gardens or Provinces) or not. If not, the Province player will have to decide how many Gardens to get, as well, or just rush to end the game before Gardens is worth enough -- or the Gardens player rushes to end the game before the Province player gets going, maybe spiking a Province at some point.

However, in three player, if one player decides to do something different from the other two, he has an additional advantage from a relative lack of competition for cards. If two players go for Provinces building an engine, the third player can get all 12 Gardens himself; maybe even before the other two players split the 12 Provinces -- Gardens only needs to be worth 3 for the Gardens player to be competitive here! It's not as good for a Province player to block by buying a few Gardens here as it is in two player. The OTHER Province player will probably win the Province split and the Gardens/Duchies won't be able to make up the difference. So, either the Gardens player wins, or the other Province player wins. Similarly if two players try to split the Gardens, the lone Province player can keep racking up the points.

In the game we played last night with the above kingdom, I decided to first grab a few Provinces then transition into Gardens. We all started off by grabbing engine components. I got two Traders and tried to pick up as many Festivals as I could. I grabbed two Witches and a Courtyard to help with draw, but I avoided thinning or grabbing Lighthouses. I should have just gone with one Witch at most, though -- my friends were pretty loaded up on Lighthouses and Traders, especially after I bought the first Witch. They both went for a thinner deck and were pretty clearly going for Provinces. After grabbing a couple Provinces and emptying Festivals (well, we all fought over those), I transitioned to Gardens. I passed on an opportunity to Trader a Province, which, in hind sight, I think would have been very reasonable to do. Once I made my transition to Gardens, I was able to rack up the cards and the points (extra buy Coppers became Silvers at a few opportune times, too!), and my friends were stuck with thin decks competing for Provinces. Both knew they needed to block my Gardens, but neither did. I got 11 of them and won by 15 points.

I think if everyone had planned to transition from Provinces to Gardens at some point, the game would have been really close even though we had different ideas about which components on the board were most important. Two players committing to Provinces all the way led to a Prisoner's Dilemma for them -- and a win for me!

[Davio]

I love 3 player, there are a lot of subtle and not so subtle interactions that you just don't find in 2 player.

As grabbing control of the game becomes harder, you have to start thinking a couple of moves ahead, not just 1 turn.

And taking "the road less traveled" is always fun.

[Polk5440]

I love 3 player, there are a lot of subtle and not so subtle interactions that you just don't find in 2 player.

As grabbing control of the game becomes harder, you have to start thinking a couple of moves ahead, not just 1 turn.

And taking "the road less traveled" is always fun.

I agree. Dominion is my go-to three player game.

[TrojH]

As a counterpoint, here's a 3-player game where two went for Gardens and one went for Provinces

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20131109/log.513827e3e4b0cd4b5a40c5c0.1384013684840.txt

When one of my opponents started competing with me hard for Gardens, I knew the Province guy was going to win.

[Hunting Party of One]

IMO 3 player is the best way to enjoy Dominion.  2p is too short, not as much strategy.  4p is cool, but almost too much.  3p is perfect!

[maduka]

when 2 player got .. what can i say.. little little little less fun.. hard to say its dominion.. but.. when it did. adding all cards and colony + platinum made it last longer and was just as fun. still adding all curses. i lasted longer and was just as fun..
3 player 4 player.. dominion is great to play

[Jerk of All trades]

This happens a lot with cursers like sea hag as well. If 2 people get 2 sea hags and 3p skips it for silver, you end up with curses split 5-5-10, but each of the 5s have 2 dead actions. meanwhile each of those sea hag plays could have been a silver.

Also, I love how 3p is 4 provinces per person. 4p can be so frustrating.  It comes down to 1p advantage and draw luck so much of the time, and without attacks most games will end in 10 or 11 turns.

[Davio]

Also in 3p alt-VP piles have 12 copies too, making them much more potent.
I mean, grabbing 12 Gardens, Silk Roads, Dukes or what not is very sweet.
Even if you are contested a bit, it's quite possible to still get at least 6, more than you would in 2p.

You also have a bit more time as other players need to get 6 Provinces each instead of 4 while you gobble up the alt-VP pile, but of course the risk of 3-piling is much bigger.

On the other hand, if every player goes for the alt-VP and you end up on the bad side of a split, there are still 12 Provinces to gain.

[Ichimaru Gin]

One thing I love about 3 player Dominion, is that it is virtually impossible (with rare exceptions) for 2 players to gang up on the third. I experience this problem a lot in other games--mainly Catan.
I have read quite a bit about how Donald X. tried to make Dominion with very little "politics" in it. e.g. by making all attacks hit equally and such. This not only makes game-play faster, but also reduces any relational issues that arise out of players targeting each other.
Thus 3 player Dominion keeps the feeling of competition, without the imbalance that an odd number of players creates in other games.
In my case, where I'm mainly playing with my family, this is very much appreciated!

[pingpongsam]

Attack cards really shine in 3p. Thief even becomes a good card in 3p. Pirate Ship gains steam much faster. etc.