Dominion FAQ
163 questions players ask · Updated Nov 7, 2026 · Full rulebook
Setup and Preparation
- Are Curse cards in the Supply in every game, even without a Witch?
- How many Curse cards go in the Supply?
- How many Estates, Duchies and Provinces go in the Supply for 2, 3 or 4 players?
- What does each player start with in base Dominion?
- Are the Copper, Silver and Gold piles limited, and do trashed Treasures return to the Supply?
- How many Silver cards should I use?
- Does Gardens count as one of the 10 Kingdom cards at setup?
- Which cards are Kingdom cards and which are always in the game?
- What are the blue-backed Randomizer and placeholder cards for?
- Is there a required mix of costs or types for the 10 Kingdom cards?
- Can I mix first and second edition cards, or cards from several sets?
- Do I need a full 10 copies of each Kingdom card to play?
- Can I play base Dominion with 5 or 6 players?
- What changes in a 2-player game of base Dominion?
- Do I need extra Treasure when playing 5 or 6 players?
- Who goes first in the next game after a finished game?
Turn Structure and Phases
- What are the phases of a turn?
- When do I get the +Action from a card like Village or Festival: before or after its other effects?
- What happens when I need to draw more cards than are left in my deck?
- In what order do players resolve a card that affects everyone?
- How many Action cards can I play each turn?
- Can I play Treasure cards during the Action phase (for example after playing Library)?
- In what order do I put cards on my discard pile in Clean-up, and must I show my hand?
- Do I have to play an Action card if I have one in hand?
- Do I have to buy a card in the Buy phase?
- What do +Actions, +Cards, +Buy and +$ mean when I play a card?
- Can I play an Action card that I just drew with +Cards?
- Must I play all my Treasures before buying anything?
- If a Treasure I played gets trashed later, do I keep its coins?
- Do unspent coins carry over to the next turn?
- When do I draw my next hand of five cards?
- Does a card I have played still count as being in my hand?
Buying, Gaining and Supply Piles
- Can I buy Curse cards, and where do they go?
- Can I buy cards from the Trash, or placeholder cards?
- What counts as the Supply?
- Is there one shared Trash pile, and does orientation matter?
- Is Curse a Victory card?
- Do cards whose names share a word count as the same card?
- Do I have to play Treasure cards, or can I buy with no Treasure in hand?
- Can I buy a Copper or Curse for 0 coins with a spare Buy?
- Can I buy more than one copy of the same card in a turn?
- Do Treasure or +Coin Action cards still in hand count for buying?
- Do the coin numbers printed on a card count as buying power?
- Are the coins from Festival or Market Treasure cards?
- Can I discard played Treasures during the Buy phase to free up coins?
- Can +Buy be used for any card, not just Actions?
- Can I buy Copper, and does the Copper I spend leave play?
- If I have several Buys, do my coins add up across all purchases?
- Do I need to pay exactly the cost of a card?
- Does gaining a card count as buying it?
- When a card tells me to gain a card, do I pay for it or use a Buy?
- Where do bought or gained cards go — discard pile or hand?
- If I buy a Curse, does another player receive it?
- If a card says to gain a card costing up to X, can I gain any card?
- Does it matter which card I take from a Supply pile?
- Can you buy more than one Gardens?
- What happens if the Silver pile is empty when Bureaucrat is played?
Game End and Scoring
- What ends the game?
- Does the game end immediately when the last Province or third pile empties?
- Which piles count toward the three empty Supply piles?
- Does an emptied Copper, Silver or Gold pile count toward ending the game?
- Do all players get the same number of turns when the game ends?
- Who wins if players tie on victory points?
- Which cards count for victory points at game end?
- How many points is Gardens worth?
- Do Victory cards do anything during the game?
- What if no player can buy anything and the game cannot end?
- Does the Curse pile count toward the three-empty-piles game end?
- Do Gardens count toward their own 1 VP per 10 cards?
Kingdom Cards: Drawing and Discarding
- When do I decide on Chancellor's deck discard?
- Can Cellar discard an Action I already played, or itself?
- Can a card I gained this turn be shuffled in and drawn the same turn?
- When my deck runs out mid-turn, are cards in play or in hand reshuffled?
- If I must reveal cards (Spy, Thief, Bandit) and my deck is short, do I shuffle?
- What happens when I must draw and both my deck and discard pile are empty?
- Is there a limit on how many times I can reshuffle in one turn?
- Can I arrange my discards and under-shuffle to keep cards together?
- Does trashing a card count as discarding it?
- Can you play Cellar and discard zero cards?
- Can Cellar discard just enough cards to trigger a reshuffle while keeping the rest of your hand?
- Does Cellar resolve its discard and draw before you play your next Action?
- Does Spy make you reveal your own top card too?
- Do you have to draw cards when you play Council Room or Witch?
- How does Cellar's discard and draw work, including reshuffles?
- If I play two Cellars, do their discard-and-draw effects combine?
- How does Library work: when do I stop drawing, and do I draw with 7+ cards in hand?
- Do I have to set aside Action cards drawn with Library, and what happens to them?
- If my deck runs out while Adventurer is revealing, do I reshuffle?
- Do other players draw their Council Room card immediately?
Kingdom Cards: Attacks and Reactions
- What happens when the Curse pile runs out and someone plays Witch?
- How does Militia affect players with 3 or fewer cards?
- When can I reveal a Reaction like Moat in response to an Attack?
- In what order do players reveal Reactions to one Attack?
- When do I discard to an opponent's Militia, and does who went first matter?
- Do you discard Moat when you reveal it to block an attack?
- Do you have to reveal Moat when an opponent plays an Attack?
- Can you play Bureaucrat without gaining the Silver?
- Can Bureaucrat be played when a deck is empty?
- Does Bureaucrat affect Curses?
- Do repeated Bureaucrat attacks stack?
- Do you get Militia's +2 Coins as well as its attack?
- Can Thief take Treasures trashed on earlier turns?
- Does one Moat block every Attack in a turn, even repeated Militia plays?
- Do I draw 2 cards when I reveal Moat to block an Attack?
- If I Moat an Attack, does the rest of the attacking card still happen?
- Is Militia an Attack card, and are all Attacks also Actions?
- Who chooses which cards are discarded to Militia?
- In what order does Spy resolve across players?
- Does Spy finish completely before I play another Action?
- Which Victory card do I put back with Bureaucrat, and does Gardens count?
- How long must I show my hand to Bureaucrat when I have no Victory cards?
Kingdom Cards: Trashing, Gaining and Costs
- Can I use coins from Treasures to gain a more expensive card with Remodel, Workshop or Feast?
- Where does the card gained with Mine go?
- Can Chapel, Remodel or Cellar affect themselves?
- Can Workshop or Feast gain cards that are not in the Supply?
- Do trashed Copper, Silver and Gold go to the Trash or back to their piles?
- Can I trash cards whenever I want?
- Can Chapel or Mine trash a card from my discard pile?
- Can I trash a card that is already in the Trash?
- Do I have to show the cards I trash?
- Does 'do as much as you can' force me to choose the biggest option?
- Can Chapel trash Curses?
- Can Remodel gain a card costing less than the trashed card?
- Can Remodel trash Treasures, Curses, or Victory cards, such as Gold into a Province?
- Can Remodel turn a Copper into a Silver?
- Does Mine or Remodel let you gain more than one card?
- Does Mine's limit use the Treasure's cost?
- Does Moneylender trash every Copper in my hand?
- Can Workshop gain a Silver, and does it use a Buy?
- Can Chapel trash a Feast and still gain the card?
- Must I trash a card with Chapel? Is playing it with zero trashed still an Action?
- Must I gain a card with Remodel after trashing, and can I Remodel a Curse?
- What if I Remodel and no card is left to gain?
- Must Feast trash itself, and does the gain depend on that?
- Must I trash a Copper with Moneylender, and what if I have none?
- How does Thief resolve: who trashes what, and can I decline to gain?
- How many Treasures can Thief gain in a multiplayer game?
- Does trashing a Silver trigger Merchant's bonus?
Kingdom Cards: Actions, Buys and Throne Room
- Does Throne Room need an extra Action, and does the copied card cost one?
- Do the coins and Buys from Market or Woodcutter apply in the Buy phase?
- Does +Action (for example +2 Actions) let me play another Action card right away?
- Do I have to use my extra Actions, extra Buys or all my coins?
- Do the +Actions from several Villages and Festivals add up, and can I play only some of them?
- Can I play an Action card even if I can't do what it says, like Moneylender with no Copper?
- If I Throne Room a Feast, do I gain two cards?
- Can Throne Room replay an Action that is already in play?
- If Throne Room plays Market, do I get the buys and coins doubled?
- What happens when you Throne Room a Throne Room?
- How does Throne Room on Cellar work?
- Does Throne Room repeat effects that happen later, such as when the card leaves play?
- Are Market's bonuses mandatory, and do two Markets' coins add up?
- Must I play an Action with Throne Room if I have one?
- Do I choose Throne Room targets in advance?
- How many doubled Actions do I get from several Throne Rooms in a row?
- Can Throne Room on Remodel gain two Provinces?
- If Throne Room plays Spy twice, is the same top card revealed twice?
- What does Throne Room on Library do?
- How many cards do I draw if Throne Room plays Moat?