How to Teach Dominion

Dominion has a reputation as a game with a lot of reading. It is not. Most of the reading is on the cards, and the cards stay on the table where everyone can see them. The rules underneath are short: draw five, play, buy one, discard, draw five.

The trap for hosts is explaining all ten Kingdom cards before anyone has taken a turn. Do not do that. Teach the loop, show one turn, and let the cards come up as people want them. Here is a script in the order you would say it. Print the Dominion teach sheet and set it where everyone can see it.

Before anyone sits down

Set up first, so the teach starts with the game ready.

• Lay out the First Game kingdom from the rulebook: Cellar, Market, Merchant, Militia, Mine, Moat, Remodel, Smithy, Village, Workshop.
• Sort those piles by cost, cheapest on the left. It makes the table easier to read.
• Count the Victory piles and Curses for your player count. With 2 players, that is 8 each of Estates, Duchies, and Provinces, and 10 Curses.
• Give each player 7 Coppers and 3 Estates, unshuffled, so they can see what they start with.

Minute 1: the goal

Say: “Each of you starts with the same ten cards. Seven Coppers are money. Three Estates are points. On your turn, you spend money to buy one new card, and it goes into your deck. Your deck gets better as you go. When the game ends, most points wins.”

Then the twist, which is the whole game: “Points cards do nothing in your hand. Every Estate you draw is a card that is not money. So you build first, then you buy points.”

Minutes 2 to 4: one turn, out loud

Have everyone shuffle and draw 5. Then take a real turn with your own hand.

1. “A is Action. I have no Action cards yet, so I skip it.”
2. “B is Buy. I lay down my Coppers: one, two, three, four. I have $4. I can buy any one card that costs 4 or less.” Buy something, and put it in your discard pile.
3. “C is Clean-up. Everything I played and everything left in my hand goes to my discard pile. I draw five new cards. That’s my turn.”

Now the part that makes it click: “When my deck runs out, I shuffle my discard pile, and that new card shows up in my hand.”

Stop here. Ask: “Questions on the turn?”

Minutes 5 to 7: money and points

Point at the Base piles, one at a time.

• “Silver costs 3 and gives 2. Gold costs 6 and gives 3. Copper is free and gives 1.”
• “Estate costs 2 and is worth 1 point. Duchy costs 5 for 3 points. Province costs 8 for 6 points. The Provinces are the main prize.”
• “Curses are minus 1. Nobody wants them, but you can be forced to take one in some games.”

Then the Action rule, in one breath: “You may play one Action card each turn. Some cards say +Action, which lets you play another. Do what the card says, top to bottom, then go to the next.”

Minutes 8 and 9: the four card words

Pick up Market and read its four lines. They teach every word people need.

• “+1 Card: draw one now.”
• “+1 Action: you may play one more Action this turn.”
• “+1 Buy: you may buy one more card this turn.”
• ”+$1: one more coin for your Buy.”

Then: “Everything else on these cards, you can read when you want to buy it. Ask me any time.”

Minute 10: the end, then start

“The game ends after any turn when the Provinces run out, or when any three piles in the middle run out. Then you count every card you own.” Pick a first player at random, and play.

What to teach when it happens

• The first Militia. Explain discarding down to 3, and show how Moat blocks it.
• The first big turn with Village. Count Actions out loud. The rulebook suggests saying the number of Actions you have left, and it works.
• The first shuffle mid-draw. Show that the old cards stay on top and the reshuffled pile goes underneath.
• Remodel and Mine. Explain them the first time someone wants to buy one.

What to leave out

• Strategy. Let people find their own first plan. The one exception is the twist from minute 1, which keeps beginners from buying Estates early.
• The tiebreaker. Explain it if the scores are close at the end.
• Expansions and other kingdoms. Save them for game two or later.

Coaching during the first game

Help with counting, not choices. “You have $6, so Gold is an option” helps. “Buy the Gold” is playing for them.

Watch for one common pain point: two Smithies in one hand with no Village. Do not stop the game to explain it. After the game, ask what happened that turn, and let them find it.

Our general guide on how to teach a board game has more on pacing a teach for any table.