# Dominion: Dark Ages

Dominion: Dark Ages is a board game for 2–4 players. It plays in 30 minutes and is meant for ages 13 and up. Ludoya players call it best with 3. It is rated 7.8 out of 10 by 10 Ludoya reviewers. The cheapest copy in stock is $28.95 (United States).

- **Players:** 2–4 (best with 3)
- **Playing time:** 30 minutes
- **Minimum age:** 13+
- **Complexity:** 2.7 out of 5
- **Year published:** 2012
- **Categories:** Medieval, Card Game, Expansion for Base-game
- **Mechanics:** Delayed Purchase, Deck, Bag, and Pool Building, Hand Management, Open Drafting
- **Ludoya rating:** 7.8 out of 10, from 10 reviews
- **Owned by:** 49 Ludoya players
- **Plays logged on Ludoya:** 20
- **Unique players:** 24

**Designers:** Donald X. Vaccarino

**Artists:** Matthias Catrein, Lorraine Schleter, Jessica Cox, Donald X. Vaccarino, Jason Slavin, Simon Jannerland, Alex Drummond, Eric J. Carter, Marcel-André Casasola Merkle, Claus Stephan, Marco Primo, Martin Hoffmann, Kurt Miller, Ryan Laukat, ASS Altenburger Spielkarten, Joshua J. Stewart, Ian Kirkpatrick, Franz Vohwinkel, Julien Delval, R. C. Torres, Dennis Lohausen, Garret DeChellis, Raven Mimura, Lynell Ingram, Alayna Lemmer-Danner, Harald Lieske, Brian Brinlee

**Publishers:** Rio Grande Games

## Where to buy in United States

| Shop | Price | Link |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Gamers Guild AZ | 28.95 $ | https://gamersguildaz.com/products/dominion-dark-ages |
| Cardhaus Games | 31.49 $ | https://www.cardhaus.com/dominion-dark-ages/ |
| Miniature Market | 31.99 $ | https://www.miniaturemarket.com/rgg481.html |
| Board Game Bliss | 43.95 $ | https://www.boardgamebliss.com/products/dominion-dark-ages |
| 401 Games | 47.95 $ | https://store.401games.ca/products/dominion-dark-ages |
| Zatu Games | 28.95 £ | https://zatu.com/products/dominion-dark-ages |
| Good Games | 56.45 $ | https://www.goodgames.com.au/products/dominion-dark-ages |
| Spelexperten | 465 kr | https://www.spelexperten.com/sallskapsspel/expansioner/dominion-dark-ages-1.html |
| Hyggeonkel | 319.95 kr | https://www.hyggeonkel.dk/produkt/dominion-dark-ages |
| Alphaspel | 489 kr | https://alphaspel.se/491-bradspel/24301-dominion-dark-ages |
| Nordisk Spil | 329 kr | https://nordiskspil.dk/products/dominion-dark-ages |
| Games Empire | 71.99 $ | https://gamesempire.com.au/products/dominion-dark-ages |
| Spilforsyningen | 359.95 kr | https://spilforsyningen.dk/products/dominion-dark-age-exp |
| Fantasiapelit | 55.1 € | https://www.fantasiapelit.com/index.php?main=ai&kat=single&mista=indeksi&etsittava=_138934 |

## Expansions

- [Dominion: Sammler-Box](https://www.ludoya.com/games/dominion-sammlerbox)

## Rules questions

### Do Shelters replace my starting Estates, and can I buy or return Shelters to the Supply?

Shelters replace starting Estates in some games as described under Preparation, but they are never part of the Supply and cannot be bought or returned with Ambassador; they can, however, be trashed by effects that trash cards (and Overgrown Estate is a Victory card worth 0 VP). (pages 4, 6, 14)

### When a card tells me to "gain" a card, where does that gained card go?

Unless a card specifically says otherwise, a gained card comes from the Supply and is put into your discard pile; some cards explicitly change this (for example Armory gains to the top of your deck). (pages 7, 16–17)

### How do Ruins work — are they in the Supply, can they be bought, and how many are there?

If the Ruins pile is used it is part of the Supply: shuffle the mixed Ruins, include 10 per player, place the pile face down with the top card face up, and only the top Ruins can be gained or bought; Ruins are Action cards and may be played, and the Ruins pile being empty counts toward end-game pile conditions. (pages 5, 18)

### If a card says "when you trash this," does that ability trigger if someone else trashes it, and who gets the effect?

Yes: a "when you trash this" ability triggers no matter whose turn it is and regardless of who trashes it, and the player who owned the trashed card is the one for whom the ability functions; these effects happen immediately after the card is put into the trash. (page 5)

### What does it mean when an effect "loses track" of a card — what happens then?

If an effect expects to move or find a particular card but that card has been moved or covered up, the effect fails to move it (it "lost track"), but everything else still resolves; see the Procession/Madman example for how this can affect multi-step plays. (page 7)

### How exactly does Procession resolve — do 'when trashed' effects happen before you gain the new Action, and can the gain fail?

Procession plays the chosen Action twice, then trashes it; any effects that happen when that card is trashed resolve before you gain the new Action, and you must then gain an Action from the Supply that costs exactly 1 more (gaining fails only if no such card exists). (pages 16–17)

## Links

- [This page](https://www.ludoya.com/games/dominion-dark-ages)
- [Dominion: Dark Ages in the Ludoya app](https://app.ludoya.com/g/dominion-dark-ages)
- [BoardGameGeek entry](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/125403)

_Data from Ludoya, updated 2026-09-18. Ratings, ownership and play counts are Ludoya's own._