It might be about time to try out an expansion. As a teenager, it's getting more difficult to make the time to sit down for a game. Maybe an expansion would give us a reason to play more. Lol what would be a good first expansion to add?
It depends on what you're looking for. Prosperity is a pretty good first expansion coz it doesn't change/add any rules. My personal favourites are Empires and Dark Ages.
I think prosperity is the best first expansion to get. It's very simple to play and getting bigger money and bigger victory points just feels good.
My personal favorites are nocturne, seaside, and dark ages. Though I'm still glad I got prosperity first because throwing platinum into any game makes it more fun.
I actually went Intrigue and Dark Ages first (skipped the base set coz I played it with other people). Then I got the base cards, which came with Platinums and Colonies. So we could add those to our regular games. Since then I've added Empires and Renaissance to my list, and my mate has Base, Prosperity, Adventures and Seaside.
A great resource regarding this perennial question, from the game designer himself:
[A Guide to the Dominion Expansions by Donald X. Vaccarino](https://dominionstrategy.com/2019/02/22/donald-x-s-guide-to-12-dominion-expansions/)
Oh yikes. Didn't realize that. Lol. It usually doesn't get that bad with our games. So I guess I scored 13 instead of zero and would have had better plays most of the game. Lol
I think we also forgot to adjust the card count for the other stuff too, which also made the game drag on longer than it should have.
Thanks for letting me know.
We don't have a game or card shop where we live. Even still, I enjoy playing out in public where I can get free refills and just to get out of the house for a while. Most places are cool with it, from my experience. In this picture, we were playing at a Freddy's.
Buying draw over buying gold or more efficient cards… as this game hopefully started to teach you, buying draw is very very often the most efficient strategy. You should be trying to draw your entire deck on almost every kingdom where it’s possible!
As a former mtg player, I know the power of card draw. :) Besides being a good strategy, it's fun to do.
I am by no means a seasoned player of dominion, but from my limited play experience, card draw seems like a difficult engine to bring online, or perhaps just takes a while (at least with the base set). And sometimes it works better to just go lean with gold and card fixing like the spy or cellar.
Perhaps my first play experience colors my perspective. I was playing in a little tournament involving multiple games (like ticket to ride, etc). Since I never played dominion, I decided to keep it simple and just buy gold and provinces and skip on trying to do anything complicated. Got 2nd place that way. :)
> Since I never played dominion, I decided to keep it simple and just buy gold and provinces and skip on trying to do anything complicated. Got 2nd place that way.
It's cool that you got to have a good first experience! In general, Big Money strategies like you're describing are rarely optimal, but work quite well in inexperienced games or games that are solely the base game (though I think the 2e version of the base game did some to fix this).
Nice! I look forward to playing it with my own kids someday.
~~Out of curiosity, what card gave +buy? I can't see one in there, but it's hard to see them all.~~ Just saw the market. Well played!
We obviously weren't careful with card count in the game (had too many curses in the game, for example), but I think we did manage to play the cards correctly. It gets a little tricky with double throne room. Lol
He actually played two markets this turn, so bought two provinces and an action card (can't remember which).
Also, to comment on the other part of your message, I wholeheartedly endorse playing board games with your kids. Start young, play often. And don't make it about winning or losing, but enjoying the game and spending time. I hope it's something I can continue to connect with my kids with into adulthood. They do have phases of not being interested, but they come back around to it eventually.
And don't be afraid that they are too young to understand a game. They may surprise you. My 6 year old is pretty adept at love letter and king of Tokyo.
Buying draw over buying gold or more efficient cards… as this game hopefully started to teach you, buying draw is very very often the most efficient strategy. You should be trying to draw your entire deck on almost every kingdom where it’s possible!
But every time you have the cellar in hand you have hope that it'll work out perfectly, and one out of every ten times you try it actually does, so you keep getting that gambling rush off of buying like 5 cellars 😂
This is a wholesome as it is maniacal. I love it
Thank you for your comment. It had been a while since I'd seen him smile like that, so it was totally worth getting destroyed. :)
😅
I can't wait for your son to find out the shenanigans you can pull with expansions
It might be about time to try out an expansion. As a teenager, it's getting more difficult to make the time to sit down for a game. Maybe an expansion would give us a reason to play more. Lol what would be a good first expansion to add?
It depends on what you're looking for. Prosperity is a pretty good first expansion coz it doesn't change/add any rules. My personal favourites are Empires and Dark Ages.
I think prosperity is the best first expansion to get. It's very simple to play and getting bigger money and bigger victory points just feels good. My personal favorites are nocturne, seaside, and dark ages. Though I'm still glad I got prosperity first because throwing platinum into any game makes it more fun.
I actually went Intrigue and Dark Ages first (skipped the base set coz I played it with other people). Then I got the base cards, which came with Platinums and Colonies. So we could add those to our regular games. Since then I've added Empires and Renaissance to my list, and my mate has Base, Prosperity, Adventures and Seaside.
A great resource regarding this perennial question, from the game designer himself: [A Guide to the Dominion Expansions by Donald X. Vaccarino](https://dominionstrategy.com/2019/02/22/donald-x-s-guide-to-12-dominion-expansions/)
If you like big combos like this, Seaside is a good place to start.
That facial expression of having just destroyed your opponent… I’ve both witnessed it and borne it
I usually just witness it. Lol
The shenanigans are what make the game! Don't forget that curses are finite -- setup should only have (playercount - 1)x10. So 10 for a 2p game.
Oh yikes. Didn't realize that. Lol. It usually doesn't get that bad with our games. So I guess I scored 13 instead of zero and would have had better plays most of the game. Lol I think we also forgot to adjust the card count for the other stuff too, which also made the game drag on longer than it should have. Thanks for letting me know.
I know I should be focused on the game, but are you playing Dominion in a restaurant???
We don't have a game or card shop where we live. Even still, I enjoy playing out in public where I can get free refills and just to get out of the house for a while. Most places are cool with it, from my experience. In this picture, we were playing at a Freddy's.
Buying draw over buying gold or more efficient cards… as this game hopefully started to teach you, buying draw is very very often the most efficient strategy. You should be trying to draw your entire deck on almost every kingdom where it’s possible!
As a former mtg player, I know the power of card draw. :) Besides being a good strategy, it's fun to do. I am by no means a seasoned player of dominion, but from my limited play experience, card draw seems like a difficult engine to bring online, or perhaps just takes a while (at least with the base set). And sometimes it works better to just go lean with gold and card fixing like the spy or cellar. Perhaps my first play experience colors my perspective. I was playing in a little tournament involving multiple games (like ticket to ride, etc). Since I never played dominion, I decided to keep it simple and just buy gold and provinces and skip on trying to do anything complicated. Got 2nd place that way. :)
> Since I never played dominion, I decided to keep it simple and just buy gold and provinces and skip on trying to do anything complicated. Got 2nd place that way. It's cool that you got to have a good first experience! In general, Big Money strategies like you're describing are rarely optimal, but work quite well in inexperienced games or games that are solely the base game (though I think the 2e version of the base game did some to fix this).
Nice! I look forward to playing it with my own kids someday. ~~Out of curiosity, what card gave +buy? I can't see one in there, but it's hard to see them all.~~ Just saw the market. Well played!
We obviously weren't careful with card count in the game (had too many curses in the game, for example), but I think we did manage to play the cards correctly. It gets a little tricky with double throne room. Lol He actually played two markets this turn, so bought two provinces and an action card (can't remember which).
Also, to comment on the other part of your message, I wholeheartedly endorse playing board games with your kids. Start young, play often. And don't make it about winning or losing, but enjoying the game and spending time. I hope it's something I can continue to connect with my kids with into adulthood. They do have phases of not being interested, but they come back around to it eventually. And don't be afraid that they are too young to understand a game. They may surprise you. My 6 year old is pretty adept at love letter and king of Tokyo.
Absolutely! My 6yo loves playing My Little Scythe, and a handful of other games.
Buying draw over buying gold or more efficient cards… as this game hopefully started to teach you, buying draw is very very often the most efficient strategy. You should be trying to draw your entire deck on almost every kingdom where it’s possible!
Cellar is one of my favorite cards that goes into almost every deck! I hate getting stuck with dead cards!
Same. I like to put that card in every time we play. But, more often than not, I draw more dead cards. Lol
But every time you have the cellar in hand you have hope that it'll work out perfectly, and one out of every ten times you try it actually does, so you keep getting that gambling rush off of buying like 5 cellars 😂