Hello,

Ok, Citadels was pretty cool for a bit, but grew stale after a while. It's still a game I consider breaking out every once in a while though. Anyway, the other day I finally got around to trying out Dominion from Rio Grande Games. It feels similar to Citadels to me in a lot of ways, but with an interesting "build you own deck as you go" mechanic that I've never seen before.

It's very fun and addictive as heck. Honestly, I'd say if you like Citadels and want to try something else that is similar you should try out Dominion.

Has anyone else already tried Dominion? Does anyone else like both games?

I have both, played both about the same number of times, and like both. Besides both being card games in a loose medieval setting, they have nothing in common to compare.

ColtsFan76 said:

I have to go with this guy. The atmosphere is all that's similar. The play is nothing but different. Good, but different.

Both games are great. I played them too much though, burned out big time.

Third on the - they are not really comparable. The style and range of interactions between players are so very different

If you enjoy one of them, you'll surely enjoy the other! Otherwise I go along with the previous posters.

PzVIE said:

I am not necessarily sure that is the case. I like both but I don't see a correlation. Another thing to consider is that Citadels most often comes with the Dark City expansion in it. And from other threads, sounds like there aren't any plans for anotehr expansion any time soon.

Dominion on the other hand could be a money sink. there are already 2 planned expansions that cost as much as the base game with many more planned after that. There are also "exclusive" promo cards on BoardGameGeek.com.

So there is an expansion/chase element to the one and not the other. And that also means a money impact. That might influence your decision as well.

I've played both and enjoyed both equally. Yes Dominion is going to be a bit more pricey than Citadels, but both are fun so you can't go wrong either way imo

ColtsFan76 said:

I agree with the sentiments of this poster as well as the other posters. You really can't compare these games. I don't see any similarity other than the medieval setting and the fact they are card games. If I was comparing them solely on the theme, I could say Kingsburg reminds me of them as well. That would be inaccurate as well, because Kingsburg is nothing like Dominion or Citadels. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love both Dominion and Citadels, but that's where it ends. Citadels as far as I know only has the Dark City expansion and aren't planning on coming out with any more. Dominion already has two expansions, Intrigue and Seaside. Intrigue has everything to be played independently, all the Treasure cards, etc. Seaside doesn't. You need Intrigue or the base game to use the Seaside expansion. And from what I have heard, there are more Dominion expansions being planned. So Dominion is a very versatile game, with infinite possibilities. What I love about Citadels is that it can play up to 8 players, which is great at times for my game group. Sometimes we have as few as 2 or 3 people, and other times like 20 people. So Citadels is a good choice for times when there are a lot of us. Dominion on the other hand, only plays with 4 people. The great thing about Dominion though is its replayability. There are so many combinations of cards to use, that each game is different. I was introduced to Dominion at SpoCon this August and one of my friends from my game group who was there with me bought it at SpoCon that weekend. And it has quickly became a favorite among our group. I can't recall a week since SpoCon where it hasn't been played.

Both games are great, but comparisons between the two are not fair.

Citadels lacks the repeatable play of Dominion, especially with the extensive cardlists provided by the Dominion expansions. Since Dominion can turn into a different game depending on the card setup, its a fresh game with every replay.

Citadels is very easy to burn out and is really only fun with lots of people (in my opinion). Dominion plays well with 3 to 6, and I've even played 8 player before.

I like Dominion and don't really care much for Citadels, so there goes THAT correlation.

Hard to compare them (besides the setting) because Citadels is way more interactive than Dominion.

Well, in continuing the theme of opinions, I too would agree that the medeival theme is about the only two thing that are in common, although both are in fact awsome games.

What I would had is my own opionion on the similarities of Citatels and either Race for The Galaxy and/or San Juan. Though given the three, I certaily enjoy Citadels over the three primarily due to the "interaction" between players, a.k.a. the FU factor.

Just my $0.02 worth.

Cheers, and may your character never be assasinated!

It's time for a new expansion...

Mattr0polis said: Ok, Citadels was pretty cool for a bit, but grew stale after a while.

How about “Race of the Galaxy”? As for me, it more similar to Citadels than Dominion.

I really like Citadels and don't care for Dominion at all (I think this is counter to most people's postings).

Citadels is a deduction/subterfuge game. Dominion is just a deck growth/point acquisition game.

I find Citadels has endless replay value, like a medieval RPG-influenced Texas Hold'Em.

Dominion... I don't even feel like I'm playing against my opponents. I just look at the chosen deck, and decide what I'm going to pick immediately with minor adjustments if other players lean in one direction or another. I feel like you could make a spreadsheet (a fairly involved one) for most Dominion line-ups and win. It's strange because a number of the people I play with love Dominion and I never want to play it, but I almost always win.

On the other hand, I love Agricola, and you could make some of the same arguments about that game but I find the resource-taking to be much more competitive and your play has a much larger impact on your opponents. It's interactive where Dominion just really isn't. In Dominion, there are tons of cards available and your strategy isn't usually ruined from 1 or even all your opponents taking a card from your desired next pile. However, it's worth noting that I haven't played with most of the expansions if they make a huge difference on the gameplay.

I played CItadels and Dominion many times. The gameplay is completely different - that has been already said. But it´s Citadels I enjoy most of these two. The reason is, that it´s more offensive type of game than Dominion. In Citadels you have to make correct answers to your opponents strategy, you are defending yourself against Warlord, Assassin and Thief or using them to your advantage, attacking with them. Dominion doesn´t have so much interaction between players, and since I prefer monster killing themes over citybuilding themes, I would just go for Thunderstone, which is very similar in game mechanics.

Shannar said:

Honestly I don't think Race is similar to either game. Each of the three games is very different, Citadels is very family friendly and easy to learn compared to either of the others. The strategy for Race would be very confusing for non-gamers and my personal opinion is that the vanilla version (pre-expansions) was very poorly balanced and involved a great deal of luck (expansions have fixed this some, but its still a lot more luck-based than Dominion is).

I have both. My wife and I both like Citadels better. I do agree that they should come out with some more expansions for replay value. Dominion is time consuming yet fun. It is more fun with multi people as my wife and I found out. Citadels is a great two to three player game that is somewhat quick. Overall, these are two great game from different companies. I'm happy to have them both and plan to teach my 2 year son both when he gets old enough. Right now i'm buying 1 to 2 board game a month for future use (teaching my son). I have already bought thousands of dollars worth of books for him to learn how to read quick. Now is board game time.

I play online Dominion with friends and enjoy it quite a bit, but I've never played Citadels. It's now in the top 20 of dice tower so I came here to have a look.

haha, quite funny i see this thread now.

I used to play Citadels a lot (a game I could even convince my sisters to play with me) and wished for a new game on christmas (cause my sisters never know what to get me)

and I chose Dominion, as I explained it to them, one said: it sounds like Citadels.

And I strongly disagreed cause I don't see any similarities (besides the medieval time of course):

but she said Cards, Gold, You Buy Cards and Take them in your "deck". I know you can't compare them but for a person being not into games too much, they might sound similar

She will probably completely disagree after we played Dominion I guess