Dominion: Second Edition

At the start of Dominion, every player receives a personal starting deck consisting of seven Copper cards (treasure) and three Estate cards (victory points). In the center of the play area, general supply piles are arranged: basic treasures like Copper, Silver, and Gold, victory cards such as Estates, Duchies, and Provinces, curse cards, and ten chosen kingdom cards which form the variable card pool for the game. Players shuffle their starting cards, draw a hand of five, and set aside a personal discard pile.

The main objective of Dominion is to construct a highly efficient card-playing engine through smart drafting and purchasing. By acquiring better treasures, action cards, and valuable victory points, players build their decks dynamically to outscore their opponents.

A player's turn is divided into three distinct phases: the Action phase, the Buy phase, and the Clean-up phase. During the Action phase, you may play one action card from your hand, following any instructions regarding extra actions, card draws, or coins. In the Buy phase, you total the coin value of cards played and acquire one card from the supply whose cost does not exceed your available funds. Finally, the Clean-up phase discards all played and remaining hand cards, after which you draw five fresh cards from your personal deck.

Scoring takes place exclusively at the end of the game. Every card in a player's possession—including their personal draw deck, discard pile, and hand—is examined, and all victory point values printed on Estates, Duchies, Provinces, and special kingdom cards are summed up to determine the winner.

The game triggers an end condition in one of two ways: either the entire stack of Province victory cards is completely depleted, or any three supply stacks of any card type are fully emptied. Once triggered, the current round finishes so every player gets an equal number of turns.