Dominion rules: how to play and how to score

Dominion quick rules

The goal

Each player builds their own pile of cards, their deck, during the game. Everyone starts with seven Coppers and three Estates, and buys new cards to make their deck stronger. At the end, the most victory points in your deck wins.

The cards

Treasure cards, Copper, Silver and Gold, produce 1, 2 or 3 coins. Victory cards, Estate, Duchy and Province, are worth 1, 3 and 6 points but do nothing during the game. Kingdom cards, mostly Action cards, have all sorts of effects: each game uses ten piles of them, which form the Supply along with the Base cards.

A turn in three phases

Your turn has three phases: Action, Buy, then Clean-up. You can play one Action card, then you play your Treasures and buy one card, and finally you discard everything and draw five new cards.

The Action phase

You play just one Action card and follow its text from top to bottom. “+1 Card” draws a card, “+1 Action” lets you play one more Action card, but after finishing the current one, and “+1 Buy” gives you an extra buy. Playing Actions is never mandatory.

The Buy phase

You put down any Treasures you want, add their coins to those from your Actions, and buy a card from the Supply costing that much or less. The card you buy goes to your discard pile. Once you have bought, you can’t play any more Treasures.

Clean-up and shuffling

Your played cards and your hand go to your discard pile, then you draw five cards. When your deck is empty and you need to draw, you shuffle your discard pile into a new deck: that’s how your purchases come back into your hand.

Card words

Gaining a card means taking it from the Supply and putting it in your discard pile, without paying. Trashing a card means putting it on the Trash mat: it leaves your deck for good. An Attack card hurts the others; a Reaction card is revealed from your hand to protect you.

End of the game

The game ends at the end of the turn in which the Province pile is empty, or any three Supply piles are empty. Everyone counts the points among all their cards: Province 6, Duchy 3, Estate 1, Curse −1, plus Gardens if they are in the game.

Ties

On a tie, the tied player who had fewer turns wins. If the tied players had the same number of turns, they share the victory.

Beginner traps

Buying Victory cards too early clogs your hand for the rest of the game. Without “+1 Action”, you play only one Action card per turn. And watch the nearly empty piles: three empty piles, and the game ends.

How to score Dominion

Provinces

The number of Provinces among all your cards: 6 points each.

Duchies

The number of Duchies: 3 points each.

Estates

The number of Estates, starting ones included: 1 point each.

Gardens

If Gardens is in the game: each Gardens is worth 1 point per 10 cards you have, rounded down.

Curses

The number of Curses: −1 point each.

Other victory points

With expansions: other Victory cards and VP tokens, at their value.

Turns taken

Optional, to break ties: on a tie, the player who had fewer turns wins; otherwise, the victory is shared.

Worked example

Emma ends with 3 Provinces, 2 Duchies, 4 Estates and 1 Curse: 3 × 6 + 2 × 3 + 4 × 1 − 1 = 18 + 6 + 4 − 1 = 27 points. Jake also has 27, but he had one more turn: Emma wins.

Common mistakes

• Forgetting the cards in your discard pile or hand: you count all your cards.
• Forgetting your 3 starting Estates, unless you trashed them.
• Counting Gardens on Victory cards only: it’s your total number of cards that counts.
• Breaking a tie with coins or Provinces: it’s the number of turns taken that counts.

How to set up Dominion

Setup takes about 5 minutes with an organized box. The Victory and Curse piles depend on the number of players.