Dominion

In Dominion, each player starts with an identical, very small deck of cards. In the center of the table is a selection of other cards the players can “buy” as they can afford them. Through their selection of cards to buy, and how they play their hands as they draw them, the players construct their deck on the fly, striving for the most efficient path to the precious victory points by game end. You are a monarch, like your parents before you, a ruler of a small pleasant kingdom of rivers and evergreens. Unlike your parents, however, you have hopes and dreams! You want a bigger and more pleasant kingdom, with more rivers and a wider variety of trees. You want a Dominion! In all directions lie fiefs, freeholds, and feodums. All are small bits of land, controlled by petty lords and verging on anarchy. You will bring civilization to these people, uniting them under your banner. But wait! It must be something in the air; several other monarchs have had the exact same idea. You must race to get as much of the unclaimed land as possible, fending them off along the way. To do this you will hire minions, construct buildings, spruce up your castle, and fill the coffers of your treasury. Your parents wouldn
You are a monarch, like your parents before you, a ruler of a small pleasant kingdom of rivers and evergreens. Unlike your parents, however, you have hopes and dreams! You want a bigger and more pleasant kingdom, with more rivers and a wider variety of trees. You want a Dominion! In all directions lie fiefs, freeholds, and feodums. All are small bits of land, controlled by petty lords and verging on anarchy. You will bring civilization to these people, uniting them under your banner. But wait! It must be something in the air; several other monarchs have had the exact same idea. You must race to get as much of the unclaimed land as possible, fending them off along the way. To do this you will hire minions, construct buildings, spruce up your castle, and fill the coffers of your treasury. Your parents wouldn’t be proud, but your grandparents, would be delighted.

Dominion Reviews:

I bought this a couple months ago, thinking it might be a good game to play with my wife. She and I have very different tastes in games (she likes word games, I like strategy games), but this sort of was meeting in the middle.
My wife was a little put off by the game at first, thinking it was some sort of war game (the official description sure does not help here). Once she realized it was just an interactive card game, she has taken to it so well that she ends of winning most of the time.
Since then, we have played this game for hours, including staying up to 3 am on weeknights. We took it with us on family vacations and introduced it to family young and old. Everyone has liked it, although some have been a little intimidated at first.
It is a great game and well worth the purchase.
And I am not kidding. Thank goodness for the reviews on youtube.
Every Christmas my wife and I always look to buy a new game. And since our daughter is now 7, we’re looking for good family games. I read a great review of Dominion in the SF Chronicle and thought this would be a good family Christmas gift. Maybe we were exhausted on Christmas Day – I don’t know. But I couldn’t make heads or tales out of the instructions.
However, once my daughter and I sort of figured out what was going on, we played our first game – and loved it. In fact, she whooped me that first game. Once it dawns on you that all you are doing is “building a deck” then everything else is east. As it is, this is a perfect family game. My daughter actually taught my wife the game, and now the three of us are playing it nonstop.
While I am not a consumer of “euro-card” games, this one is a lot of fun. I highly recommend it.