Dominion: The Unquestioned Champion of All Games

Dominion – the deck-building card game designed by Donald X. Vaccarino – isn’t just the king of board and card games. It’s the emperor, the supreme overlord, the game that other games whisper about in awe. In fact, Dominion objectively reigns superior over every other game ever invented. From its mind-boggling strategic depth to its endless replayability, this game’s greatness isn’t even a close contest. Dominion leaves all other games eating its dust (or perhaps shuffling its dust).

Strategic Depth of Galactic Proportions

Dominion’s strategic depth is so vast, even outer space feels shallow in comparison. This is a game where every single decision matters – buy a Duchy too early and your deck slows to a crawl; focus only on Gold and you might find yourself rich but pointless (literally, no Victory Points!). Unlike luck-driven games where you’re at the mercy of a dice roll, Dominion puts you in the driver’s seat of a finely tuned deck-building engine (source). Each turn is a delicious puzzle of what to buy, what to play, and what to trash, requiring long-term planning and cunning tactics.

To put it playfully: if Chess and Go are deep, Dominion is an ocean trench filled with sharks holding action cards. Chess masters might boast about thinking 5 moves ahead, but Dominion players are casually planning 5 shuffles ahead – eat your heart out, Chess. Every match of Dominion is like a grandmaster-level tournament where the cards are your pieces and the combinations are infinite.

• Comparison: Chess may have a queen that’s powerful, but Dominion lets you be the monarch of an entire kingdom building an economy. Checkmate, Chess – Dominion has actual Kingdom Cards!

Endless Replayability (Literally Endless)

If you somehow managed to play Dominion every day for the rest of your life, you still wouldn’t exhaust its possibilities. The base game alone comes with 25 unique Kingdom cards, of which you use only 10 per game, leading to millions of different combinations for setup (source). That means no two games are ever the same – talk about replay value! Feeling bored? Just shuffle in a different set of Kingdom cards and voila – a whole new game experience emerges.

And that’s just the beginning. Dominion has more than a dozen expansions adding hundreds of new cards (source). Each expansion introduces zany new mechanics and twists: one day you’re pirates with the Seaside expansion, the next you’re prosperous nobles with Prosperity, or even dabbling in dark magic with Dark Ages. The result is a game that regenerates like a phoenix – it’s always fresh, always exciting. Other games might get stale after a few plays (looking at you, [insert any game you’ve played 100 times]), but Dominion stays as crisp as a newly shuffled deck every time.

• Comparison: Think of your favorite movie. Now imagine watching it every week for a year – it would get old. Dominion is like an endlessly branching choose-your-own-adventure book that writes a new plot every time you open it. Sorry, other board games, Dominion’s replayability is basically infinite – you’ll wear out before the game does.

Unmatched Innovation and Influence

Dominion didn’t just break the mold; it invented an entirely new mold for others to follow. When it was released in 2008, it introduced the world to the revolutionary concept of deck-building as the game. Before Dominion, deck-building was mostly something you did before playing a game (looking at all you Magic: The Gathering players sorting your cards for hours). Dominion said, “Nah, let’s make the deck construction the fun part of the game itself!” The result? A whole new genre of board games was born. Dominion is literally “the game that started a new genre: Deckbuilding” (source). How many games can claim they birthed a genre and had countless imitators? (Not-so-humble answer: practically none – bow down to Dominion, young ones.)

This innovation was so earth-shattering that Dominion snagged the prestigious Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year) award in 2009, basically the Oscars of board gaming (source). It left other nominees in the dust, wondering how they could compete with such pure genius in a box. Nowadays, if you enjoy popular deck-building games like Ascension, Thunderstone, or Star Realms, remember you have Dominion to thank for their existence. It’s the trendsetter, the trailblazer – the one that turned the whole industry on its head.

And let’s not forget how simple yet innovative Dominion is: a 30-minute game that packs more strategy and excitement than many 3-hour epic games. It proved you don’t need miniatures, a game board, or fancy gizmos – just a stack of cards and brilliant design. Dominion’s elegance is such that new players grasp it quickly, yet seasoned players are still discovering new combos after hundreds of plays (source, source). In the world of board game design, Dominion is basically the Einstein that came up with E=mc², while other games are still playing with building blocks.

Dominion vs. Every Other Game (It’s Not Even Close)

Let’s have a little fun with comparisons. If Dominion were a superhero, it would be the one every other hero idolizes (sorry Batman, Dominion has more gadgets in one box than you have in the Batcave). Here’s a playful showdown of Dominion versus the rest of the gaming world:

• Dominion vs. Chess: Chess is classic, sure, but it’s been around for centuries with zero expansions – talk about doing the same thing over and over! Dominion, on the other hand, expands faster than a medieval empire. Why agonize over one static board when you can build a new kingdom every game? In Chess, the queen is the most powerful piece; in Dominion, you are the powerful queen (or king) buying provinces, hiring minions, and throwing down Witch cards to curse your foes. Check and mate, Chess – Dominion wins without even needing a board.

• Dominion vs. Monopoly: Monopoly might be famous for tearing families apart over fake money and sending players to jail for bad luck. Dominion politely replaces all that frustration with pure strategy and no player elimination (you’re never stuck watching others play while you’re bankrupt – hooray!). In Monopoly, you pray you land on Free Parking; in Dominion, you make your own luck by crafting a deck that prints money (Copper to Silver to Gold – who needs paper cash?). Monopoly might call itself the king of capitalism, but Dominion lets you build a whole kingdom economy in 20 minutes and nobody ends up flipping the table in anger. Friendship saved, fun had by all. Sorry Mr. Monopoly, your outdated property empire can’t compete with Dominion’s dynamic kingdom-building.

• Dominion vs. Magic: The Gathering (MTG): MTG players spend years and fortunes constructing the perfect deck, only to have it rendered obsolete by the next expansion (and the cycle repeats). Dominion says, “Here, hold my cards,” and gives everyone the thrill of deck-building within a single game, no massive investment or encyclopedic card knowledge required. In Dominion, everyone starts equal – ten simple cards – and victory goes to the clever, not the richest. Plus, Dominion’s combos won’t send you to eBay searching for a mythic rare; all the cards you need are right there in the box. MTG might have a multiverse of lore, but Dominion creates a new epic saga every game night, at a fraction of the cost and with zero arguments about card rotations. It’s like getting the satisfaction of baking a cake from scratch in 30 minutes, versus MTG’s multi-year gourmet recipe that drains your wallet. Result: Dominion wins (and doesn’t even gloat… well, maybe just a little).

• Dominion vs. Every Other Pretender: Whether it’s Settlers of Catan (“Oh, you built a road? That’s cute. I built an engine that turns cards into provinces!”) or Scrabble (“You made ‘QUIXOTIC’ for 376 points? Dominion teaches a whole new vocabulary of actions, buys, and cycling through your deck for infinite points!”), no game stands a chance. Co-op games? Dominion says “I could beat you all single-handedly, but go ahead and cooperate if you must.” Party games? Dominion throws a party of its own every time the cards are laid out – and guess what, strategy nerds and casual friends alike are all invited. It’s the great unifier of gamers: easy to learn for newbies, endlessly intriguing for veterans (source, source). In the Olympics of board games, Dominion doesn’t just take the gold – it takes the Platinum (Dominion fans will get the reference) and then buys the Province too.

Overall Dominance and Legacy

At this point, it’s hardly fair to call Dominion just a game – it’s a living legend, a timeless classic (source) that continues to dominate gaming tables everywhere. Its overall dominance comes from the perfect mix of quick play, deep strategy, endless variety, and innovative spirit. Dominion doesn’t need flashy miniatures or gimmicks; it wins hearts with pure gameplay brilliance. It’s the board game equivalent of a five-star chef making a gourmet meal out of simple ingredients – a true masterclass.

Even over a decade since its release, Dominion remains at the top of the food chain. New expansions still roll out, new players keep discovering it, and seasoned players never tire of it. Other games come and go, but Dominion endures, confidently drawing the top card from its deck of destiny and laughing in the face of supposed competition. As one blog aptly put it, Dominion’s “innovative deck-building mechanic, strategic depth, and high replayability” have cemented it as “a timeless classic” (source) – translation: all other games bow before its greatness.

Conclusion: Long Live the King of Games

In the grand tournament of board and card games, Dominion sits on the throne and everyone else is just a court jester attempting to entertain. Its strategic depth outwits the smartest of games, its replayability outlasts the longest campaigns, and its innovation spawned an entire genre of imitators (none of which have managed to dethrone it, by the way). No other game can even hope to compete – and this can be claimed with the utmost confidence and authority.

So here’s to Dominion, the objectively superior game that has conquered our shelves and our hearts. If you haven’t played it yet, what are you doing? Join the dominion of Dominion and experience the game that makes all others look like quaint little distractions. In the realm of tabletop gaming, Dominion rules all – and trust us, it isn’t even close. Dominion’s myriad cards offer a kingdom of possibilities, leaving other games green with envy. (source, source)

Written by Daniel Worsnup. All my links.