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I played Dominion for the first time a little over a year ago. Played it twice and was pretty disappointed. Maybe it was not knowing the cards or how to go about winning, but the game just did not excite me. Not knowing my thoughts, my wife bought it for me a month later for Christmas, and it sat unopened in the closet for 10 months, and after playing a couple of times with a friend, loved it and currently can not play enough of it. 3,4,5, or 6 player, I have loved each game. And each one has been different. I just got Intrigue and the Saboteur made for a very interesting game.
Just curious if this is at all common...that it takes a few plays for it to sink its teeth into you?
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Derek Thompson
United States
Beech Grove
Indiana
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royal tenenbaum wrote: I played Dominion for the first time a little over a year ago. Played it twice and was pretty disappointed. Maybe it was not knowing the cards or how to go about winning, but the game just did not excite me. Not knowing my thoughts, my wife bought it for me a month later for Christmas, and it sat unopened in the closet for 10 months, and after playing a couple of times with a friend, loved it and currently can not play enough of it. 3,4,5, or 6 player, I have loved each game. And each one has been different. I just got Intrigue and the Saboteur made for a very interesting game.
Just curious if this is at all common...that it takes a few plays for it to sink its teeth into you?
I think it depends on your background. As a Magic player, the idea of in-game deckbuilding was mind-blowing.
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Andrew Nichols
United States
Cincinnati
Ohio
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I personally loved it from day 1. Now my cousin who I taught it too was a different story. She hated the entire first game until the end. Once we scored everything it clicked for her and she was hooked. Its now one of her favorite games. I think some people may have trouble taking in everything thats going on to really appreciate it.
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Andy Andersen
United States
Newark
Delaware
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My wife and I loved it from our first play. She ordered me to get all of the expansions.
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Rick Teverbaugh
United States
Anderson
Indiana
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I loved it immediately after being given a demo of it at a convention the year it was released.
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G Schulteis
United States
Bourbonnais
Illinois
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Disliked it after both my learning game and the subsequent actual game. I see no reason to try it again.
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Chris Hawks
United States
Apple Valley
Minnesota
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I hadn't even heard of the game when a friend gave it to me for Christmas a couple years ago. It took me only two reads of the rulebook (one, really, but I reread to make sure) to get a complete understanding of the rules and mechanics. But I didn't "get" the game until my wife and I gave it our first play. It was a total n00b game that went overlong and saw us both playing horribly inefficiently, but we both saw the promise, and were fans from that moment forward. Though my wife's enthusiasm has cooled considerably after so many expansions, it remains one of my favorites.
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Guido Gloor
Switzerland
Ostermundigen
Bern
The statement below is false.
The statement above is correct.
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When I read about the game after its release, I was hyped. Deck building in a non-collectible game sounded like exactly the thing I was looking for. I waited a bit anyway, and got both the first base game and Intrigue nearly together.
When I got the game, I was quite excited. Played 10-20 times, and loved it. But my enthusiasm slowly went down, because I started to realize that it's not the deck building I was used to, for one simple reason: Every game only has you build a deck from 10 types of cards (plus money and victory point ones). There's no searching awesome comboes within the card pool, no looking for great cards to supplement a deck's strategy, no tweaking a deck until you're happy with it - just those 10 cards, different ones every game, that may or may not synergize.
Thus after 20 or 30 games, that was that. I haven't played the game since, and eventually traded it away. I did not regret that decision.
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Drew Spencer
United States
Tucson
Arizona
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Dennis Engilis
United States
Elk Grove
California
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I love games. I love all games I buy. Then sometimes I stop loving a game I own. I still love Dominion.
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Ron Laufer
United States
Millington
New Jersey
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Loved it the first time I played, and so has every single person (over a dozen) that I've introduced it to (except for one, but he's a known weirdo)
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A H
United States
Virginia
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I didn't like Dominion the first time I played either. I think it was because I just didn't get it at first. It seemed like a quick quiet game where the best move was obvious to everyone but me. Months later, I got into playing Thunderstone, which I consider to be very different from Dominion, but when I tried Dominion the second time I could apply some of the deck building concepts from Thunderstone. Now I enjoy Dominion very much.
I find that when I don't like a game that most on BGG seems to love, after I spend some more time with it a great game usually reveals itself. Or even if it turns out the game is not for me, I can understand what others like about it.
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Freelance Police
United States
Palo Alto
California
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haslo wrote: There's no searching awesome comboes within the card pool, no looking for great cards to supplement a deck's strategy, no tweaking a deck until you're happy with it - just those 10 cards, different ones every game, that may or may not synergize.
This won't work with just the base set (not an interesting enough pool), but an obvious variant would be that each player brings to the tableau 3-5 Kingdom cards. You may, however, buy cards from any stack.
This is essentially a reverse of veto, a more common variant.
I liked Dominion, but, as an erstwhile CCG'er, Intrigue was a defnite step up, and Cornucopia and Hinterlands *much* better.
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I was lukewarm on the game in the beginning, as was my wife, who also hated the constant shuffling. The main thing that changed our feelings was the various online implementations, which allowed us to focus solely on the deckbuilding. The expansions, particularly Prosperity, pushed this game into a perennial.
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Jonathan Harrison
United States
Fisher
Illinois
South Quarter Independent Games
Firp! ding! blast!
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I loved it from the first game, and have only grown to love it more with each successive play.
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A H
United States
Virginia
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haslo wrote: When I read about the game after its release, I was hyped. Deck building in a non-collectible game sounded like exactly the thing I was looking for. I waited a bit anyway, and got both the first base game and Intrigue nearly together.
When I got the game, I was quite excited. Played 10-20 times, and loved it. But my enthusiasm slowly went down, because I started to realize that it's not the deck building I was used to, for one simple reason: Every game only has you build a deck from 10 types of cards (plus money and victory point ones). There's no searching awesome comboes within the card pool, no looking for great cards to supplement a deck's strategy, no tweaking a deck until you're happy with it - just those 10 cards, different ones every game, that may or may not synergize.
Thus after 20 or 30 games, that was that. I haven't played the game since, and eventually traded it away. I did not regret that decision.
This is one reason why I don't think deck building games should be compared to CCGs. I love both genres, but they are very different.
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David Boeren
United States
Marietta
Georgia
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I agree, deckbuilders have little in common with CCGs, it's just a bad comparison and if you go into one expecting it to be like the other you're going to be disappointed.
Back to Dominion. The first time I played it I thought it was a pointless soulless game with a clever mechanic. But, a mechanic isn't a game by itself, and the mechanic is all it had going for it. Today, my opinion has not changed one bit. It's still a pointless soulless game, only now other games have taken the mechanic and are trying to do it better. Some of them are succeeding.
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Mrs Jester and I were looking for a new game and we were checking out bgg and especially the video reviews.
Watched loads and none of them really appealed. Then we saw a review of Dominion and straight away we 'got' it. Enjoyed our first game but really couldn't see the point in chapel, why would we want to throw away points or money or those nice cards we'd been buying?
Now we really, really like it. Bought Prosperity which kicked the whole game into gear for us, added that thing the base box lacked.
Fantastic came and every game offers something different. Not just different Kingdom cards but some times you can play the same set two or three ways. Really good game.
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Rick Teverbaugh
United States
Anderson
Indiana
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I don't agree that all CCG fans will be disappointed even if they are looking for a similar experience. Of course, if they are looking for a game where the person who can afford to spend the most money wins, they will be sorely disappointed.
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dboeren wrote: I agree, deckbuilders have little in common with CCGs, it's just a bad comparison and if you go into one expecting it to be like the other you're going to be disappointed.
Back to Dominion. The first time I played it I thought it was a pointless soulless game with a clever mechanic. But, a mechanic isn't a game by itself, and the mechanic is all it had going for it. Today, my opinion has not changed one bit. It's still a pointless soulless game, only now other games have taken the mechanic and are trying to do it better. Some of them are succeeding.
I have to wonder why you would hang around a Dominion forum? I mean, feel free, the site is geared for all to have opinions on all games.
But as an example : I HATE AXIS AND ALLIES. There I said it. Several friends of mine love the game, but I just can't stand it. I wouldn't DREAM of going to the Axis and Allies forum, because I can't imagine myself saying anything useful or positive about A&A. And that is what I hear from you. You appreciate one tiny aspect of Dominion but generally despise the game, and yet you are here in the Dominion forums!?! Doesn't it make you unhappy to be surrounded by people who (by and large) really like a game that you clearly hate?
I just don't understand this? I am not trying to be rude or disrespectful, I am just trying to understand.
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Phil Sauer
United States
Willow Street
Pennsylvania
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royal tenenbaum wrote: I played Dominion for the first time a little over a year ago. Played it twice and was pretty disappointed. Maybe it was not knowing the cards or how to go about winning, but the game just did not excite me. Not knowing my thoughts, my wife bought it for me a month later for Christmas, and it sat unopened in the closet for 10 months, and after playing a couple of times with a friend, loved it and currently can not play enough of it. 3,4,5, or 6 player, I have loved each game. And each one has been different. I just got Intrigue and the Saboteur made for a very interesting game.
Just curious if this is at all common...that it takes a few plays for it to sink its teeth into you?
From my comments in my collection on this game:
INITIAL IMPRESSION (2008, soon after release): I don't yet fully appreciate the allure of deck-building... I continue to keep trying though, as there is something I must be missing. This will certainly stay on the shelf and I have every confidence the mystery will reveal itself to me.
UPDATE (sometime in mid-2009... after 10 plays or so): I have no confidence that the mystery will reveal itself. None. I simply don't get it. To me, this seems as if it's a slot machine played with cards. Dominion obviously needs a home that has more love than I'm capable of giving it... thus it's traded (something I rarely do).
About a year went by and I wound up buying it again:
SECOND UPDATE: After taking an even longer break from this game, I find I'm actually liking it.  While it won't be my favorite game, it's unlike my past impressions a great deal -- much more favorable. This and the series are keepers for me now, I'm happy to say. I've always WANTED to like it, and now I can say that I do.
THIRD UPDATE: This is awesome. I'll play it whenever anyone wants to do so. The kids even like it. Win all around.
When a game doesn't click for me, I seriously give it other chances -- sometimes MANY other chances. Exceptions to this would be cases where the game is so poor or where it's abundantly clear that I've exhausted most of the practically-possible variations to game play that it simply won't or cannot get any better for me.
This title wound up going the distance... I think it is "up there" with games that I simply didn't get for the longest time... until it clicked.
For this, I'm very glad I continued to get it to the table.
The only expansion I dislike would be Alchemy. Perhaps fans of Alchemy can help me determine what I'm missing regarding THAT aspect of this title?
By the way, welcome to the Geek if you're new around here, and thanks for sharing your thoughts and particular history about this game with us.
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Played Dominion a couple of times now, since I bought it a month ago. I only own the base set. In the beginning I must admit that it was a bit dull. There was not much interaction, and many draws seemed repetitive. Only towards the end of the game it was fun to have some combos.
But now I like it better, for some reason. When you start experimenting, some really cool combinations of action cards can suddenly appear and you start to wonder about all other possibilities. That did it for me. I also like the deck getting bigger and bigger and shuffling it. I like the smell of the cards. I like the artwork. Yes, I am a very sensorial person .
Played it for the first time with my girlfriend yesterday, and she beat me with 57 - 21  So I think I am still not getting the hang of the best strategy. I think it was because I am a bit of a "collector" and I like building an awesome deck (then to realise that I have way too much awesome action cards but not enough money at all to buy victory points  ). Normally she does not like games where there is too much competition or attacking other players. Because Dominion is not overly interactive (every player is especially busy building his/her own deck) and not too complex, I think it is probable that we will be playing it a lot more in the coming months! That is a BIG plus for me, since my girlfriend is not so eager to play games.
I am still at the point where I want to explore all possible combinations of action cards. So I think yeah, I will like it even better in the future. And of course the expansions...
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After reading reviews and seeing it on the top ten here at BGG for a long time, I was really excited about Dominion.
I finally bought the game and immediately read the rules. While they were easy enough to understand, I just couldn't see how the game was going to be fun.
Got some friends together and explained the rules. Their faces told me that they shared my worries. We started playing, buying cards mostly at random, since we didn't really know what we were doing.
And then, someone got the very first string of action combinations. It was very short, only three cards I think. But everyone around the table started to get a little excited.
Right there, I was hooked.
Everyone had a new look at the 10 kingdomes available, suddenly understanding the games potential. Primitive tactics started to take form.
Also, the speed of play picked up drastically, there was basically no down time at all.
After the first game was over, everyone agreed that we had just played one of the most amazing games ever. We talked about how brilliant, yet simple, the concept of deck building was.
We couldn't understand how no one had thought of it before. Or why we hadn't. In fact, everyone I've introduced to Dominion have said "why didn't I think of this?"
We could easily understand why there were so many immitators though...
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Allen Michaels
United States
Brooklyn
New York
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Love it from the start, though I quickly (within a few plays) ordered Intrigue and Seaside...since I thought the first 25 base cards would get dull. I think it helped. I don't think I would have liked it as much, if I was confined to the base set...and I love the game.
Though...i went through a lull of...'Is that it?'. And thought that it came down to luck with really good players. I still like it though...and my friends and fiancee like it...and anything that gets them to play games with me (I'm pretty much a lone gamer) is good!
I often have to handicap myself, because I don't want to destroy them. I've seen a few ways to do this. I think the best is to start with negative VPs, that way, we all can play the game to win with 'normal' rules (instead of, say...giving them silvers, or giving me curses). It's a bit more obvious that I'm getting handicapped...but now we both must play our best...with the cards as intended.
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'The Completist'
United States
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I always read the rules and forums ahead of time for any new game. I never play a game ahead of time because I am the gamer who ropes in the friends and family.
Of course, I only buy games that interest me and sometimes a game is disappointing to me (Galaxy Trucker) but that is rare. Most of the time a game is as good as I expect. Sometimes there are some unexpected fiddly rules that I didn't expect that bring it down a notch.
I expected Dominion to be a hit with me but I had know idea how good. It is really the only game in my collection that has truly surpassed my expectations. It is a truly great game. I love the mechanic. I love the variable combinations. I love the "collecting" aspect of it with the assurance that cards from two years ago won't become obsolete. I love seeing combinations used against me that I never would have expected to work. I love losing to a well-made deck.
I find myself pampering my Dominion collection. I have just the right storage system. I sleeve the cards. I watch the others at the table and make sure they are respecting her. Dominion is my baby.
Dominion is, without a doubt, pure awesomeness.
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