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We journey now to the islands to the east – or west, depending on where you are relative to them. Here your title is Emperor. They tell you you’re just a figurehead, though you can still order whatever breakfast you want. They may be right; you did get that breakfast. Your ceremonial sword and armor are made of paper. The samurai never let you into their tea parties, and the ninjas are always tying your shoelaces together. And the epic poem they wrote about you is only 17 syllables long. Rice has been adopted as currency, and no-one seems to even be trying to get your face onto the grains. But when you wake up each morning and look out over the land, life doesn’t seem so bad. Now, what’s for breakfast?
This is the 16th expansion to Dominion.
It has 300 cards, with 25 new Kingdom card piles. There are Shadow cards that leap out from your deck, and Prophecies that will someday happen and change everything. Debt and Events return.
—description from the publisher
Part of the Dominion family — see Dominion for the combined view.
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- strong integration into base Dominion
- adds depth through alliances and stronger pacing
- complex for new players
- more negotiating may feel heavy in some groups
- Power, alliances, and conquest
- Japan-inspired isles/dynasties, feudal era diplomacy
- Euro-game with heavy diplomacy
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Deck Building — build a deck to gain actions, coins, and keys
- deck-building — build a deck to gain actions, coins, and keys
- diplomacy/alliances — form and break alliances to influence the outcome
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- The wasteland has only one rule. Those with power make the rules.
- This thing is huge. It ain't the only one.
- I long to go back and play games that I fell in love with.
- We want to hit that 50K. Help us grow in 2026.
- Color Monster is an emotion game for kids.
References (from this video)
- introduces fresh mechanics to keep Dominion engaging
- expands player choice with new cards
- may increase teach time for new players
- Cornucopia
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Deck Building — explores new mechanisms to add depth and maintain engagement with Dominion's core systems.
- deck-building — explores new mechanisms to add depth and maintain engagement with Dominion's core systems.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this is really just a tremendous accomplishment of an expansion
- everything that came out this year was excellent and held the high standards that I have for Dominion
- more of a good thing is a good thing expansion which I Define as a situation where you already love the base game and what comes in the expansion is just essentially more of the base game to love
- more sets are good is kind of like saying that the pizza is good from your favorite pizza place every time you order it
- it's not increasing the size of the game or complexity but just giving more to love
- Carnival of chaos fantastic get it