You are a ruler, like your parents before you - lord of a pleasant little kingdom full of rivers and evergreens. However, unlike your parents, you have hopes…dreams! You want a bigger and nicer kingdom with more rivers and even more forests. You want an estate! Counties, freeholds, and fiefs lay in every direction—all small,
a piece of land teetering on the edge of anarchy, ruled by insignificant lords. Uniting them under your banner, you will bring civilization to these unfortunates.

But wait! There must be something in the air; several other rulers had exactly the same idea. You have to compete with them to get as much of the unoccupied lands as possible, and then defend them to the end. To do this, you hire minions, build buildings, beautify your castle and fill your treasury. Your parents wouldn't be proud of it, but your mother's parents would be very happy about it.

This is a deck building card game. The deck represents your dominion. It contains your raw materials, victory points, and things you can do. The deck starts out as a sad little collection of estates and copper, but you hope that by the end of the game it will be filled with gold, domains, and the inhabitants and buildings of your castle and kingdom.

This is the second edition of Dominion. Compared to the first edition, six cards have been replaced and one new one has been added. Basic cards now have graphics, and garbage has a separate storage.