Dominion Wins 2009 Spiel des Jahres

The card game Dominion has won the 2009 Spiel des Jahres, Germany's award for the best family game of the year. Dominion is a deck-building card game in which players all begin with the same 10 cards: seven copper pieces and three victory points (VPs). You have a hand of five cards; a basic turn consists of using one action and buying one card. New cards either give you new abilities (e.g., increasing the available number of actions or forcing other players to work with just three cards) or add to your VPs. Although you need VPs to win, during the game VP cards waste precious space in your hand.

Dominion, an addictive and enjoyable game, was my pick as the best card game published in 2008, and it also won a 2008 Meeples Choice Award. The other nominees for the 2009 SdJ were Fauna, Finca, Fits and Pandemic.

^{Image courtesy of Rio Grande Games}