Dominion – A New Level of Board Gaming
At the risk of making myself sound like a total geek, I’m going to recommend a board game that everyone should try: Dominion.
Never heard of it? Don’t worry, most people beyond the realm of geekdom haven’t. But once you play Dominion, you’ll realize that it’s too amazing to be left hidden among the race of the mucus-nosed and greasy-faced. In fact, I’ve helped get nearly a dozen people hooked on it, many of whom mocked me fiercely until they tried it for themselves.
If you’re brave and ready to be rewarded with loads of excitement, go ahead and buy a copy of the game from Amazon.
Maybe you need more information before you shell out 35 bucks. Perhaps you’re asking, “What’s Dominion all about? Is it like Monopoly or Risk or something?” Actually, Dominion is one of a whole slew of European board games, which are much more sophisticated than the American board games we’ve grown up playing.
Wired Magazine recently wrote a good article on the difference between American and European board games. American board games are aggressive, zero-sum games: In order for me to gain something, you must lose something. As most of us know, this results in more arguments than good times! What’s more, American games are mostly luck based (hence the dice) and geared towards children.
European board games, though, are strategy based games that adults play. They exercise the mind and tear us away from the boob tube. (I’m wasting money on my Netflix account! I’ve hardly watched anything in the past three months!) In fact, Dominion, was recently named a 2009 Mensa Select Winner, so you can tell your friends that you’re smart for playing it.
Unlike some other European board games, Dominion is really easy to learn how to play. After one quick test game, you’ll start to get the hang of it. And after a few more plays, you’ll get so good that you can finish games within 20 minutes.
Before I sign out, I must clarify a few things: Dominion isn’t actually a board game; it’s a card game. It comes with 24 sets of action cards. But when you play, you only use 10 sets, meaning that you can swap out your action cards each time you play. This customizability really makes for interesting strategies and keeps the game fresh.
And when you play, you’ll see that Dominion does involve a good bit of luck. When you’re ready to graduate to a more complex, more pure strategy game, try Puerto Rico, which was for years rated the top board game, but has recently dropped to number 2. (For comparison, Monopoly is rated 5377.)
What games are you playing? Do you agree with Wired’s assessment of American board games? Have you tried any European board games?
Happy gaming and let me know what you think of Dominion.
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