How to Play Dominion | Official Rules

Last Updated on August 4, 2025 by The Official Game Rules Team

Dominion is a deck-building card game where players compete to acquire the most victory points by strategically purchasing and playing kingdom cards. This page provides a clear breakdown of the rules, guiding you through the card purchasing, action phase, and victory point accumulation that define this game.

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Dominion second edition board game box product photo

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How to Play Dominion – Complete Guide

Game Objective

Your goal in Dominion is to collect the most victory points in your deck by the end of the game. Players build their decks during play, using strategy to balance resource generation, actions, and scoring cards.

Dominion Game Components

The Dominion base game contains 500 cards in total, divided into several key types:

Treasure Cards – 130 Total

These provide coins used to buy new cards.

60 Copper — worth 1 coin
40 Silver — worth 2 coins
30 Gold — worth 3 coins

Victory Cards – 48 Total

These are how you win the game—each adds points to your deck total at game end.

24 Estate — worth 1 Victory Point (VP)
12 Duchy — worth 3 VP
12 Province — worth 6 VP

Curse Cards – 30 Total

Used mainly by Attack cards, each Curse is worth –1 Victory Point.

Kingdom (Randomizer) Cards – 32 Total

These cards are used to randomly determine which 10 Kingdom card piles will be used in a given game.

Other Cards

1 Trash Card — A reference card marking the trash pile.
7 Blank Cards — Extra cards for customization or replacements.

Game Setup

Unwrap and Organize
Remove the five card packs and organize them in the tray. Use either side of the insert to guide your layout.
Set Up Core Cards (Used in Every Game):
- Treasure Piles: Place remaining Copper, Silver, and Gold in separate face-up piles after giving each player 7 Coppers.
- Victory Piles: Each player gets 3 Estate cards. Place 12 of each (Estate, Duchy, Province) in 3–4 player games or 8 of each in 2-player games.
- Curse Cards: Use 10 for 2 players, 20 for 3, or 30 for 4. Unused cards go back in the box.
- Trash Card: Set aside to hold trashed cards during gameplay.
Player Decks:
Each player begins with:
- 7 Copper cards
- 3 Estate cards
  Shuffle these 10 cards to form your starting deck, placed face-down in your play area. Then, draw the top 5 cards as your opening hand.
Kingdom Cards:
Select 10 different Kingdom card types from the available 25 and place 10 of each in piles. For cards that grant victory points (like Gardens), use 8 in 2-player games or 12 in games with 3–4 players. Suggested Starter Kingdom Cards:
Cellar, Market, Militia, Mine, Moat, Remodel, Smithy, Village, Woodcutter, Workshop

Turn Overview

Each player’s turn consists of three phases, played in this order:

A) Action Phase
Play one Action card from your hand. Some cards may let you play additional actions.

B) Buy Phase
Play Treasure cards and purchase new cards from the Supply using the total coins available. You may only buy one card unless a card grants you extra Buys.

C) Clean-Up Phase
Discard all played and unplayed cards. Then draw 5 new cards from your deck. Reshuffle your discard pile if your deck runs out.

Understanding Card Types

Treasure Cards

Copper = 1 coin
Silver = 2 coins
Gold = 3 coins
These are played during your Buy phase to afford more powerful cards.

Victory Cards

These contribute to your score:

Estate = 1 VP
Duchy = 3 VP
Province = 6 VP

Curse Cards

Each Curse = –1 Victory Point. Often added to opponents’ decks by Action cards like the Witch.

Kingdom Cards

Special action cards unique to each game. They provide abilities like drawing more cards, gaining money, extra actions, attacks, etc.

Common Card Keywords

+X Card(s): Draw more cards immediately.
+X Action(s): Gain additional actions this turn.
+X Buy(s): Buy additional cards during the Buy phase.
+X Coin(s): Extra money for the Buy phase.
Trash: Permanently remove a card from play.
Gain: Add a card from the Supply to your discard pile.
Reveal: Show a card to others before returning or discarding it.
Discard: Move a card from hand to discard pile.
Set Aside: Temporarily remove a card for later use.

Playing the Game

Action Phase:
- Play one Action card from your hand.
- Resolve its instructions top-to-bottom.
- If you earn more actions, you can play more cards.
Buy Phase:
- Play any Treasure cards from your hand.
- Spend the total coin value to buy one or more cards (if you have extra Buys).
- Place bought cards in your discard pile.
Clean-Up Phase:
- Discard all cards from hand and play area.
- Draw 5 new cards from your deck.
- Reshuffle if needed.

Ending the Game

The game ends at the conclusion of a player’s turn if:

The Province card pile is empty or
Any three Supply piles are empty.

Each player counts up the Victory Points in their entire deck. The player with the most points wins.

Tiebreaker: If tied, the player with fewer turns wins. If still tied, the players share the victory.

Dominion Strategy Tips

Balance is key: Don’t overload on Victory cards early—they clog your hand.
Economy first: Build a strong economy with Treasures before stacking VPs.
Watch your deck size: Trashing weak cards makes your deck more efficient.
Adapt each game: Use different strategies based on the Kingdom cards available.

Additional Rules

Player Areas: Each player has their own:
- Deck (draw pile)
- Hand
- Discard Pile
Drawing & Shuffling:
If a player needs to draw or reveal cards and their Deck is empty, they shuffle their Discard pile to form a new Deck. You only shuffle when you need to draw or reveal a card and your Deck is exhausted. If you must draw or reveal more cards than are available, draw as many as possible, then reshuffle your Discard pile and draw the rest.
Acquiring Cards:
Any card a player Buys or gains goes to their Discard pile, unless the card instructs otherwise.
Turn End:
At the end of a player’s turn, all cards in hand and play are discarded.
Looking at Piles:
- You can count cards in your own Deck but cannot look through it.
- You cannot look through your Discard pile, but you can look through the Trash pile.
- You can count the number of cards in any Supply pile.
Card Effects on Multiple Players:
When resolving effects that impact multiple players, always proceed in turn order, starting with the active player.
Actions and Buys:
Each player starts their turn with 1 Action and 1 Buy. These can be increased with Action cards.
Gaining Cards with Costs:
If a card allows you to “gain a card costing up to X,” you may not add coin values from other sources to gain a more expensive card.

Kingdom Card Clarifications

Here are clarifications for some of the commonly used Kingdom cards:

Adventurer

If you need to shuffle mid-effect, do so. Revealed cards are not discarded until the full effect is resolved. If only one Treasure is revealed after a shuffle, you keep just that one.

Bureaucrat

If your Deck is empty, the gained Silver becomes the only card in it. Likewise, if an opponent has no Deck, the Victory card they place goes on top of a newly shuffled Deck.

Cellar

You can’t discard Cellar itself. Choose cards to discard first, discard them all at once, then draw. If you shuffle during this draw, the discarded cards can enter the new Deck.

Chancellor

Resolve the discard decision immediately before doing anything else. You may not examine your Deck when discarding it.

Chapel

You can’t trash the Chapel being played. Only cards still in hand are eligible for trashing.

Council Room

All other players must draw a card—this is not optional. Each player shuffles as needed.

Feast

The gained card must come from the Supply and goes into your Discard pile. You can’t use coins from Treasures to gain a higher-cost card. If played with Throne Room, you gain two cards, even though the Feast is only trashed once.

Festival

Track your Actions aloud to avoid confusion: “I play Festival and now have 2 Actions…”

Gardens

This is a Victory card worth 1 VP per 10 cards in your deck (rounded down) at game end. It does not impact gameplay until scoring.

Laboratory

Draw two cards and gain +1 Action.

Library

When drawing to a hand of 7, you may set aside Action cards (optional). Set-aside cards are discarded afterward and not shuffled in if you reshuffle mid-effect.

Market

Draw one card, gain +1 Action, +1 Buy, and +1 coin.

Militia

Opponents must discard down to 3 cards. Players with 3 or fewer cards discard nothing.

Mine

Trash a Treasure card from your hand and gain one costing up to 3 more, placing it directly into your hand. You cannot gain anything if you have no Treasure to trash.

Moat

When an opponent plays an Attack card, you may reveal Moat from your hand to be unaffected. You must do this before the Attack resolves. Moat can also be played as an Action to draw two cards.

Moneylender

Trash a Copper from your hand to gain +3 coins. If you don’t have a Copper, you gain nothing.

Remodel

Trash a card from your hand and gain a card costing up to 2 more. You cannot trash the Remodel card being played. The gained card must come from the Supply and goes to your Discard pile.

Smithy

Draw three cards.

Spy

All players (including you) reveal the top card of their Deck. You choose whether each revealed card is discarded or returned. Players must shuffle if they cannot reveal a card.

Thief

Each opponent reveals the top two cards of their Deck. You choose one Treasure to be trashed, then may gain any of the trashed Treasures. These go into your Discard pile. Only Treasures revealed this way can be gained.

Throne Room

Select another Action card in your hand and play it twice. If you play Throne Room on Throne Room, you can double two separate Actions, not play one card four times.

Dominion offers endless strategic depth while remaining accessible to new players. Build your deck wisely, adapt to your opponents, and claim Dominion over the game!