The game of Dominion

So for Christmas, I got Dominion. It's a game I'd heard a lot of good things about but had not yet played. I really don't enjoy buying games sight unseen like this but for Christmas and given the good reviews it seemed like the kind of thing to take a flier on. I'm very glad I did. I've already bought the first expansion and will almost certainly buy the next expansion.

The game is very simply designed. There are 3 types of cards (basically). There are action cards, victory cards and treasure cards (technically there's a fourth type, a Curse card, but I'll get to that later).

The way the game plays, the Victory cards and Treasure cards are laid out in every game. Of the 25 action cards, 10 are chosen at random (there's even some special "blue backed" cards provided to help you randomly pick these). You then take those 10 action cards (of which each type has 10) and lay them out. So now you've got 10 stacks of 10 action cards, 3 victory card stacks and 3 treasure stacks. Each player starts the game with a "deck" consisting of 3x 1 point victory cards and 7x 1 treasure treasure cards. Each turn, you draw 5 cards from your deck, use them as best you can, discard the rest and then draw 5 more. Each turn you may play 1 action card and buy 1 card (as you can imagine, many action cards modify these totals). As you empty your "deck" you reshuffle your discarded cards and start afresh.

So you're constantly fine tuning your deck by adding different action cards and better money (you start with the 1 treasure copper but you can upgrade to the 2 treasure silver or 3 treasure gold as money permits). The key mechanic is that the cards you actually need to win (the VP cards) don't actually do ANYTHING for you during game play. So buying them early can clog up your deck with wholly unproductive cards.

The game plays very fast and because there's limited interaction amongst the players, you can actually be taking your turn while someone else is finishing up theirs. There are some "attack" cards that provide a bit more "interaction" but honestly that's not the thrust of the game. It's fast paced and interacts at a "strategic" level (reminding me somewhat of Race for the Galaxy, actually). If someone is going for a certain type of card then you need to take it before they're all gone (if you want one).

I've played several games (both in person and online) and I haven't found a definitive strategy. Nor have I decided whether I think it's better with 2, 3 or 4 players (I have not played it with 5-6 players although the expansion provides rules for this). It's definitely a personal favorite of mine and (unlike many games that I enjoy) is also enjoyed by my usual play group (including spouses and significant others).

On Boardgamegeek, one of the primary criticisms is that the game isn't immersive enough in that the genre tie is pretty weak. I don't think that's a particularly big deal but I'd say I would generally disagree with it. Some of the cards are a stretch or don't have any direct ties (Village is +1 Card, +2 actions?) but the thief steals, the moat protects from attacks and the library allows you to go get stuff out of your deck.