Dominion Intrigue - an excellent game for two

My husband and I like playing games together. I love Scrabble, but my husband is not a fabulous speller, so playing each other is not satisfying for either of us. Thank goodness for online Scrabble. My husband is great at chess, and always beats me. I understand the game, but find myself unmotivated to think three or moves ahead, anticipating all possible responses and counter responses of my opponent. I end up just moving any possible piece to bring the traumatic thinking to a close. Most other popular games are better played with more than two participants.

This lead me on a journey to find games that are satisfying to play, don’t take an eon to get through, and are enjoyable with two. We have some other great German board games, but they are best played with three or more. We don't often have a third player. I spent hours trawling Boardgamegeek to see what other gamers recommended, and finally settled on Dominion, released by Rio Grande. Dominion is a deck building game where you collect cards that enable you to do or buy things, with a view to getting the most victory points. Of course, describing the gist of the game in this way does not do it justice. See this article for a more detailed outline of how to play Dominion.  Don't be put off by its description as a deck building game.  That sounds more complex and boring than it actually is!  Think of deck building in this context as collecting the best possible cards to help you buy what you need to win the game, and to assist you with strategies to make it a bit more difficult for your opponents to do likewise.  I have played many games of Dominion, and because of the incredible variety of scenarios, no two games are the same. This greatly enhances the playability of the game.

Dominion Intrigue builds on the base game, but can also be played as a stand alone game. This makes it a good starting point for seasoned gamers. For those just starting to play games of this kind, I think the base game is a better introduction to the genre. The cards seem less complex in how they are used, and how they interact with other cards and players.

The rules and gameplay are essentially the same as the base game, with one additional move. Some cards direct the player to pass cards to their left.

There are some nasty characters in Domionion Intrigue, with more attacking options than the base game. The cards are overall more interactive than the first set also.

Dominion Intrigue arrived in the post yesterday, and we have played two games thus far. I will update this page with more information when I have played it a few more times.

So far? Loving it.