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How to Play

Dominion (Second Edition)

2-4 players 30-30 min 7.8 Board Game Geek Rating

Competing monarchs race to expand their kingdoms by acquiring territory. Players start with identical small card decks and purchase additional cards throughout the game to build stronger, more efficient decks. Victory comes from accumulating the most victory points by game's end through strategic deck construction and card play.

Published 2016

Dominion (Second Edition)

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

1
Gather required materials
Obtain any Dominion base game plus the twelve Hexes from Nocturne, two copies of Deluded/Envious, two copies of Miserable/Twice Miserable, and ten tokens of any kind
2
Set up standard supply
Place Copper, Silver, and Gold piles as usual, with ten Curses and eight Estates
3
Use expanded Victory card supply
Place twelve Duchies and twelve Provinces instead of the standard eight each
4
Remove cards based on kingdom
Reduce Duchies and Provinces according to your chosen kingdom's difficulty settings
5
Prepare player starting decks
Each player takes seven Coppers and three Estates
6
Arrange starting hands
Ensure your first hand contains either three Coppers and two Estates, or four Coppers and one Estate
7
Create automa treasure deck
Take six Coppers and six Silvers from the supply and shuffle them face-down
8
Prepare Hex deck
Shuffle all twelve Hexes into a face-down pile
9
Place state cards
Set two copies of Deluded/Envious and two copies of Miserable/Twice Miserable near the automa
10
Position attack tokens
Place ten tokens near the supply to serve as negative points for the automa
11
Establish automa position
Set up the automa to the right of the starting player, between both players

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

1
Take normal player turns
Each player takes their turn following standard Dominion rules in clockwise order
2
Pass cards when Silver revealed
When the automa draws a Silver on even rounds, both players simultaneously pass one card from hand to each other
3
Block Hex attacks
Use Reaction cards like Moat or Lighthouse to protect yourself from the automa's Hex attacks on odd rounds
4
Apply Hex effects
Resolve drawn Hexes as if an Attack card reading "Each player receives the next Hex" was played
5
Attack the automa
Whenever you play an Attack card, move one token from the supply to the automa regardless of whether your partner blocks the attack
6
Handle Locusts specially
If Locusts would trash your Victory card, you may instead move it to your discard pile and gain a Curse
7
Skip automa's first round
The automa does nothing at the end of round one
8
Execute even round automa turns
The automa draws from its Copper/Silver pile, takes a Duchy (or Province if Duchies are empty), then applies Silver's swap effect if applicable
9
Execute odd round automa turns
The automa draws a Hex and both players receive its effect unless blocked
10
Check automa piles
You may count but not look at the automa's face-down Copper/Silver and Hex piles
11
Review automa discard
You may look through the automa's face-up discard pile at any time

Winning

How to claim victory.

1
Trigger game end on Province depletion
The game ends at the end of any turn (including the automa's) when no Provinces remain in the supply
2
Trigger game end on three empty piles
The game ends when any three supply piles are empty, noting that Duchies may start empty and count toward this condition
3
Calculate player team score
Each player counts their individual points (subtracting for Miserable/Twice Miserable), then add both totals together
4
Calculate automa score
The automa scores six points per Province owned, six points per Duchy owned, minus one point per token it has (minimum zero total)
5
Determine victory
You win if your combined team score is strictly greater than the automa's score
6
Accept defeat
You lose if your combined score equals or is lower than the automa's score

watch & Learn

Let the pros teach you with these top videos.

How to Play: Dominion (Second Edition)

How to Play: Dominion (Second Edition)

Instructional

Leer Dominion spelen in 15 minuten met deze handige tips!

Leer Dominion spelen in 15 minuten met deze handige tips!

Instructional

MORE VIDEOS

FULL rules

Looking for the full details? Grab the complete rulebook as a downloadable PDF.

PDF RULEBOOK

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