Dominion Seaside

by Rio Grande Games

• Nautical expansion to the popular Medieval card game Dominion
• For 2-4 players
• Takes about 30 minutes to play
• This is an expansion - you need Dominion or Dominion Intrigue in order to use it
• Medieval Nautical theme

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 11.8 x 3 inches ; 2.8 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• Origin: Germany
• ASIN: B002THXRWK
• Item model number: RGG404
• Our recommended age: 3 years and up
• Manufacturer recommended age: 12 - 16 years
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,963 in Toys & Games (See Top 100 in Toys & Games)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (85 customer reviews)

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Dominion Seaside is an expansion to both Dominion and Dominion Intrigue. As such, it does not contain material for a complete game. Specifically, it does not include the basic Treasure, Victory, Curse or Trash cards. Thus, you will need either the base game or Intrigue to play with this expansion, and you will need to have experience playing Dominion with either of the first two games. It is designed to work with either or both of these sets, and any future expansions that may be published. All you ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by. And someone who knows how to steer ships using stars. You finally got some of those rivers you'd wanted, and they led to the sea. These are dangerous, pirate-infested waters, and you cautiously send rat-infested ships across them, to establish lucrative trade at far-off merchant-infested ports. First, you will take over some islands, as a foothold. The natives seem friendly enough, crying their peace cries, and giving you spears and poison darts before you are even close enough to accept them properly. When you finally reach those ports you will conquer them, and from there you will look for more rivers. One day, all the rivers will be yours. This is the 2nd addition to Dominion. It adds 26 New Kingdom cards to Dominion. Its central theme is your next turn; there are cards that do something this turn and next, cards that set up your next turn, and other ways to step outside of the bounds of a normal turn. Dominion Seaside is an expansion to both Dominion and Dominion Intrigue. As such, it does not contain material for a complete game. Specifically, it does not include the Treasure, Victory, Curse or Trash cards. Thus, you will need either the base game or Intrigue to play with this expansion and have experience playing Dominion with either of the first two games. It is designed to work with either or both of these sets, and any future expansions that may be published.

Product Description

Dominion: Seaside is an expansion to both Dominion and Dominion: Intrigue. As such, it does not contain material for a complete game. Specifically, it does not include the basic Treasure, Victory, Curse, or Trash cards. Thus, you will need either the base game or Intrigue to play with this expansion, and you will need to have experience playing Dominion with either of the first two games. It is designed to work with either or both of these sets, and any future expansions that may be published. All you ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by. And someone who knows how to steer ships using stars. You finally got some of those rivers you'd wanted, and they led to the sea. These are dangerous, pirate-infested waters, and you cautiously send rat-infested ships across them, to establish lucrative trade at far-off merchant-infested ports. First, you will take over some islands, as a foothold. The natives seem friendly enough, crying their peace cries, and giving you spears and poison darts before you are even close enough to accept them properly. When you finally reach those ports you will conquer them, and from there you will look for more rivers. One day, all the rivers will be yours. This is the 2nd addition to Dominion. It adds 26 new Kingdom cards to Dominion. Its central theme is your next turn; there are cards that do something this turn and next, cards that set up your next turn, and other ways to step outside of the bounds of a normal turn. Dominion: Seaside is an expansion to both Dominion and Dominion: Intrigue. As such, it does not contain material for a complete game. Specifically, it does not include the Treasure, Victory, Curse, or Trash cards. Thus, you will need either the base game or Intrigue to play with this expansion and have experience playing Dominion with either of the first two games. It is designed to work with either or both of these sets, and any future expansions that may be published.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

158 of 163 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Expansion! November 10, 2009

By Connor Sites-Bowen

Format:Toy

Durability: 4.0 out of 5 stars    Educational: 5.0 out of 5 stars    Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

Dominion: Seaside is the second expansion (but first strictly-expansion expansion) to the award-winning uncollectible collectible card game Dominion. The first expansion, Dominion: Intrigue, was an expansion, but could also be played on its own.

Seaside, on the other hand, is a strict expansion- it lacks the Land and Money cards that Dominion and Dominion:Intrigue come with, and can only be played when on also has a copy of one of those two (or both, if you have all three!).

Dominion (the original) had 25 different stacks of Kingdom cards, from which you chose ten stacks to use in any given game (about three million possible scenarios). Intrigue added another 25, for a total of 50 stacks from which you chose 10 (for something like 10 billion possible starting scenarios). Seaside adds 26 more Kingdom cards, for a total of 76 from which one chooses ten (pushing the possible start scenarios up towards the trillions).

Like the other two games, the game starts with each player having a fixed deck of ten cards, and using those cards to purchase more cards from a central pool of Land Cards, Money Cards, and Stuff Cards. One recycles this ever-growing deck back onto itself, simulating a small dominion's cycling economy, and competing against the other player's kingdoms in a race of efficiency and resource-wealth.

Intrigue, as the name belies, introduced many "sneaky" or "mean" cards into the game- attacks that pulled cards from other peoples hands and decks, or cards that punished other players who were getting ahead. Rather than rehashing the original game's mechanics, it pushed them in new, interesting directions, typically by forcing competing players to choose the lesser of two evils when presented with certain card-actions.

Seaside continues this trend, adding an overall theme of "your next turn". Many of the cards in this expansion let you sacrifice a not-so-great hand for a nearly-guaranteed amazing hand next turn, or squirrel cards from your deck away, to be drawn back into your hand later. Other cards let you pirate treasure from other players, embargo goods and services, or move cards from the bottom of your deck to the top.

This theme gives games played with these new 26 cards a much different feel from playing just the original or Intrigue- there are more elements of chance, whimsy, and, after sufficient quiet building momentum, the heady exercise of much-restrained power. It is a nice companion to the smash-and-grab routines introduced by Intrigue.

Like the Intrigue expansion, the 26 Seaside expansion stacks can be used on their own, or combined with the other 50 stacks from the original and Intrigue.

Seaside has some game mechanics that are a little more complicated than the other two games, but this complication is mitigated by the excellent reminder mats and (real metal) tokens that come with the game specifically to make those mechanics easier.

It does not, though, take too long to get up to speed. (All three games share that quality- it takes a couple of turns to learn how to play, a couple of playthroughs to learn how to win, and then has more possible game-states than atoms in the universe- you can always come back for more).

The only downside to Seaside as compared to Intrigue is that it is a strict expansion- it cannot actually be played without the Land and Money cards that come with the Original or Intrigue.

Also, (and this isn't necessarily a downside), it has about 500 cards, and one really ought to by card sleeves for them, both for protection and easier organization.

In any case, Seaside is an interesting, challenging, and all around excellent expansion to Dominion and Dominion: Intrigue.

41 of 43 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Seaside is an EXCELLENT expansion November 25, 2009

By J. Judy

Format:Toy|Amazon Verified Purchase

Durability: 5.0 out of 5 stars    Educational: 3.0 out of 5 stars    Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

We bought the Seaside expansion pack to use in conjunction with the original Dominion and Dominion Intrigue and have absolutely no regrets. Seaside offers a variety of new and very original cards to use, many of which "continue" to your next turn. This expansion also adds "metal coins" to be used with the Pirate Ship card, and metal chips to use with the Embargo card, so beware, if you have small kids, this new expansion does have small parts along with the usual multiple cards.

The strategies change significantly with Seaside, as there are numerous cards that allow you to take extra actions, use more coins, and/or draw extra cards on not only the turn they are played, but also the subsequent turn. There are also cards that allow you to "store" coins and/or action cards to be used later in the game. There are also a few attack cards, so the Curse cards are also used in Seaside. There is only one card that I don't like: the Lookout card, which requires you to draw three cards and then you are mandated to trash one. This could be tragic if you happen to draw three Provinces, or something along that line. I refuse to ever buy a Lookout. In fact, my wife and I won't even use it in our games.

Take note that this is an expansion pack and requires the original Dominion or Intrigue, as there are no money or point cards included with it. The action cards in Seaside can be used separately or in conjunction with Dominion and/or Intrigue. We usually combine all three games and use action cards from all of them. It assures that every game is different and totally new strategies are needed each time you play.

I highly recommend Seaside if you are a fan of the first two Dominion games. The new version adds a number of new strategies and ways to not only accumulate points faster, but also to attack opponents, if that is your bag. My wife and I play this game daily, several times usually, and never tire of it. It's the best game I'm ever owned, without a doubt.

One thing I definitely recommend is to get card protectors (sleeves)for the cards, as with the constant shuffling that the game requires can and will wear out your cards quickly. They are relatively cheap--a couple bucks for a pack of 100. Bear in mind, you'll need several hundred sleeves for each game, though. However, it's a worth while investment.

If you are a Dominion lover, by ALL means, buy this expansion pack. You will not regret it.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Great Expansion January 7, 2010

By Kenneth Lawson

Format:Toy|Amazon Verified Purchase

Durability: 5.0 out of 5 stars    Educational: 5.0 out of 5 stars    Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

Seaside is great expansion for the Dominion series. I thought Dominion was an amazing stand alone game that needed no improvement but both Seaside and Intrigue have truly added so much more to the already considerable amount of game play variations.

Seaside adds a particularly neat dynamic with duration cads which have a lasting effect where card abilities are used for two turns. Seaside also adds more cards that interact with you opponents like those in Intrigue. So far my favorite card is "Embargo" which allows you to place an Embargo token on any of the purchasable cards to penalize any player who wishes to purchase it. The embargo card is then trashed but each embargo token placed on a card pile forces a player to pick up a curse card with purchase. 3 tokens = 3 curse cards, great for slowing the game down or keeping someone else from getting that last card.

I personally think Dominion is one of the best card/board/ strategy games out there. It's easy to learn and it's always interesting since no two games are ever the same if you are using a random set up method.