Dominion: Intrigue

Dominion: Intrigue

Build a kingdom deck with flexible Actions, attacks and functional Victory cards, converting your economy into points before the shared Supply runs out.

Dominion: Intrigue supports 2–6 players; community best: 3 players; playing time: 30 minutes. A WANGO browser trial has not been confirmed.

Background & introduction

Dominion: Intrigue builds on Dominion’s deck-building system. Everyone starts with the same small deck, buys cards from a shared Supply and repeatedly cycles those cards through their own deck. The winner has the most victory points across all owned cards, rather than the most money.

This page explicitly uses Intrigue Second Edition’s 26 Kingdom cards and corresponding rules. The 2009 original included base cards and could be played on its own; Second Edition removes those cards and requires Dominion or Base Cards plus the core rules. The editions have different card lists and different requirements.

Intrigue emphasizes Actions that offer choices between drawing, money, extra Actions and deck thinning, alongside cards that both score and perform useful functions. Attacks disrupt opposing hands or decks, but some card-passing effects are not Attacks. Card types, timing and conditions matter when assembling combinations and controlling the ending.

Core rules & scoring

  1. Setup: Choose ten Kingdom piles from the Second Edition list, either entirely from Intrigue or mixed with owned sets. Add Copper/Silver/Gold, Estate/Duchy/Province, Curse and a Trash area. Each player shuffles seven Coppers and three Estates and draws five. Victory Supply piles use eight cards for two players or twelve for three–four; use ten/twenty/thirty Curses respectively.

  2. Turn sequence: Action, Buy, Clean-up. Start each turn with one Action and one Buy. Action cards may add Actions, cards, Buys or money for this turn. Finish resolving the current Action before spending another Action to play the next card; using every available Action is optional.

  3. Buying: Play any number of Treasures first, then pay to buy cards from the Supply. Extra Buys share your available money; gained cards normally enter your discard pile rather than your hand. You cannot play more Treasures after buying. Producing money does not consume Treasure cards, and unused money and allowances disappear at turn end.

  4. Clean-up and cycling: Discard played cards and remaining hand cards, then draw five. When an instruction needs more deck cards than remain, shuffle your discard pile beneath the remaining deck first; an empty deck alone does not cause an immediate shuffle. Trashed cards enter the shared Trash and leave your ownership, unlike discarded cards.

  5. Choices: You may choose an option you cannot fully perform and do as much as possible, but conditional rewards still require their condition. Pawn requires choosing two different options before resolving either. Trading Post, for example, awards its Silver only if two cards were actually trashed, not just one.

  6. Multiple types: Harem is both Treasure and Victory; Mill and Nobles are both Action and Victory. All relevant rules recognize every listed type. Playing them does not spend their endgame points. Ironworks can award multiple type bonuses for one multi-type card. Each Duke scores according to the number of Duchies you own.

  7. Interaction and Reactions: Follow each Attack’s instructions and reveal/resolve Reactions one at a time at their specified timing. Masquerade passes cards and is not an Attack: players with cards simultaneously pass one left, skipping empty hands; passing is not gaining. Only the player who played Masquerade may then trash a hand card.

  8. Ending and scoring: With two–four players, finish the current turn if Provinces are empty or at least three Supply piles are empty, then score all owned cards. Highest score wins; tied players with fewer turns win, otherwise share victory. Five–six players need extra base cards: fifteen/eighteen Provinces, forty/fifty Curses and a four-empty-pile threshold.

Rules & gameplay questions

Can Intrigue be played on its own?

It depends on the edition. The 2009 original includes base Treasures, Victory cards, Curses and other essentials and can stand alone. Second Edition, used here, omits base cards and needs Dominion or Base Cards together with the core rules. Seven new Kingdom types replace six old types, bringing its total to 26.

May I select an option I cannot carry out?

Usually yes; do as much as you can. For example, Torturer lets you choose to gain a Curse even when no Curses remain, in which case you gain nothing. Conditional follow-up rewards still require their condition: Trading Post gives a Silver only after actually trashing two cards.

Does playing a Victory card such as Nobles spend its points?

No. Nobles and Mill still score at game end, and Harem can produce money as a Treasure and still score. They retain every printed type and remain yours unless trashed, passed away or otherwise transferred.

Can Moat block Masquerade?

No: Masquerade is not an Attack. Players with hand cards simultaneously pass one, while empty-handed players neither pass nor receive. Only Masquerade’s player may then trash a card from hand. A passed card also does not count as a gained card.

Do empty piles stop the turn immediately, and can spare money carry over?

Finish the current turn before ending the game when an ending condition is met. Unspent money, Actions and Buys do not carry over. A single empty ordinary Kingdom pile is normally insufficient in a two–four-player game unless it brings the empty Supply-pile total to three.

Rules & introduction sources
Edition
For BGG entry 40834, this page explicitly selects Intrigue Second Edition (2016 edition family, official 2021 rules text) with Dominion Second Edition core rules. Main rules cover 2–4 players and note official 5–6-player base-card adjustments. The 2009 original is discussed only to distinguish editions; removed cards and its standalone setup are excluded. Other expansions are mentioned only for mixing Kingdom cards.
Introduction source
BoardGameGeek

WANGO editorial

Dominion: Intrigue · Game parameters
ParameterRecorded value
BGG overall rank (snapshot)#136
Complexity Weight2.41 / 5
Best player count (community)3
Player range2–6
Playing time (minutes)30
Core mechanismsDeck, Bag, and Pool Building · Delayed Purchase · Hand Management · Open Drafting · Variable Set-up
Chinese publicationUnconfirmed
WANGO browser playNo confirmed WANGO trial
Year published2009
Suggested age13+

BGG statistics are stored snapshots, not live rankings. Source checked:2026-09-27

Player questions

What is the best player count for Dominion: Intrigue, and can I play online?

Dominion: Intrigue supports 2–6 players; community best: 3 players; playing time: 30 minutes. A WANGO browser trial has not been confirmed.

How complex is Dominion: Intrigue, and which mechanisms does it use?

Weight: 2.41 / 5. Mechanisms: Deck, Bag, and Pool Building · Delayed Purchase · Hand Management · Open Drafting · Variable Set-up. Chinese publication: Unconfirmed.

Where can I learn Dominion: Intrigue?

No rule guide, strategy article or WANGO trial has been confirmed for this record.