Dominion Seaside Expansion & Base Cards Bundle - Strategy Board Game for Family Game Night & Competitive Play

Let me begin with the only caveat- this is an expansion pack. You must buy the main Dominion game first.That said, this is my favorite game ever. Dominion is fun and continually changing. The game is played with a small subset of the available cards, so each game can be different. It's part luck and part strategy. You get to build up a deck of cards and what cards you put in your deck is pretty much completely up to you (you have to have enough "money" on a turn to "buy" a card). The way the cards come out of your deck is random. Different sets of cards demand different strategies, so you can't just figure out one way to play the game and just coast through.The seaside expansion in particular adds a bunch of cards similar to the regular deck. It also adds duration cards- you play them one turn and they stay in play through the next turn. For example, Haven lets you set aside one card from your current hand to use in your next hand. There are also a few special cards that do nonstandard things. Embargo lets you set a chip on a supply pile and, for the rest of the game, whenever anyone buys from that pile, they get a curse card. Island is a victory card that you can play once as an action to set it and another card from your hand aside, out of your deck, for the rest of the game.As to the physical quality of the game: the cards are pretty sturdy card stock (about the same as Magic cards). There are some mats for things like Island and they are made of nice cardboard. The chips for the Embargo card (and another card I can't think of right now) are metal. The only part of the game that isn't quite as tough as I would like is the plastic tray that sits in the box and keeps your cards sorted. I haven't ever had a problem with it, but I don't think it could take much more abuse than it would get from normal storage. For instance, if you dropped something on it, it might break. (I am clumsy, so this is a bit of a concern for me.)In summary: Dominion is awesome. The Seaside expansion makes it even more awesome. It is well worth the money.We bought the Seaside expansion pack to use in conjunction with the original Dominion and Dominion Intrigue and have absolutely no regrets. Seaside offers a variety of new and very original cards to use, many of which "continue" to your next turn. This expansion also adds "metal coins" to be used with the Pirate Ship card, and metal chips to use with the Embargo card, so beware, if you have small kids, this new expansion does have small parts along with the usual multiple cards.The strategies change significantly with Seaside, as there are numerous cards that allow you to take extra actions, use more coins, and/or draw extra cards on not only the turn they are played, but also the subsequent turn. There are also cards that allow you to "store" coins and/or action cards to be used later in the game. There are also a few attack cards, so the Curse cards are also used in Seaside. There is only one card that I don't like: the Lookout card, which requires you to draw three cards and then you are mandated to trash one. This could be tragic if you happen to draw three Provinces, or something along that line. I refuse to ever buy a Lookout. In fact, my wife and I won't even use it in our games.Take note that this is an expansion pack and requires the original Dominion or Intrigue, as there are no money or point cards included with it. The action cards in Seaside can be used separately or in conjunction with Dominion and/or Intrigue. We usually combine all three games and use action cards from all of them. It assures that every game is different and totally new strategies are needed each time you play.I highly recommend Seaside if you are a fan of the first two Dominion games. The new version adds a number of new strategies and ways to not only accumulate points faster, but also to attack opponents, if that is your bag. My wife and I play this game daily, several times usually, and never tire of it. It's the best game I'm ever owned, without a doubt.One thing I definitely recommend is to get card protectors (sleeves)for the cards, as with the constant shuffling that the game requires can and will wear out your cards quickly. They are relatively cheap--a couple bucks for a pack of 100. Bear in mind, you'll need several hundred sleeves for each game, though. However, it's a worth while investment.If you are a Dominion lover, by ALL means, buy this expansion pack. You will not regret it.This is an expansion to Dominion or Dominion: Intrigue and you must have one of them to be able to play this. I have the base set of the game but not Intrigue. I have played about 5 games of Seaside so far and enjoy the difference in game play.Differences between Dominion and Dominion: Seaside:Duration cards: There are cards in this expansion that last more than one turn. Yes this can get confusing and does make the play more interesting. I found that I really liked this new aspect of the game.The embargo card: This card allows you to place an embargo token on any stack of cards after which when someone buys one they will be given a curse card. I thought this was an interesting addition to the game but didn't see it get used as much as I would have expected.Pirates card: this card lets you place coins on a mat. Once you have coins on the mat and the pirate card comes up you can choose to get more coins or to add the value of the coins to your treasure cards. This is a good way to build treasure and buy victory points.Island victory card: This is an action + victory card that has a mat with it. It allows you to set aside a card onto the mat when you play the Island card they are added back into your deck at the end of the game. I thought this was going to be a much better card than it ended up being.The Native Village card: This also has a mat that lets you set aside a card or pick up the cards on the mat. I found this handy and was using it to get victory cards out of my deck but the random and unpredictable manner in which you put them down doesn't always make this possible.So this expansion adds embargo tokens, coins, and mats which are in addition to the cards themselves. I like the expansion but I'm not sure how much tokens, coins, and mats add to the game. I ended up liking the new types of cards more than I liked the addition of non-cards. Over all I liked the expansion and would recommend it to others.I'm a big fan of Seaside and how much it adds to Dominion's gameplay. Duration cards feel very satisfying to play, and the game also brings in brand new mechanics such as keeping coin tokens on your Pirate Ship or placing Embargo tokens on supply piles to give people Curses for buying from one.None of the cards add too much complexity, and they give Dominion the edge it needed to slice its way into my favourite games of all time. Definitely worth obtaining if you already own the base Dominion.Dominion is a fantastic game and this is a great expansion. It does make the game substantially more complicated - new game mechanics and a few extra pieces to control. Lots of interesting new cards, some brilliant and some weak but that's as you'd expect from any game expansion.Best Dominion expansion ever!!!!!! Love all the new additions to the game.. Pirates which plunder treasure, islands for marooning VP cards, really shakes up the mechanic and opens up more strategy and most of all FUN, just add rum!Well balanced, fun thematic cards like pirate ship and treasure map. Duration cards are probably the best "new mechanic" that an expansion introduces (Guilds included). This is probably the best expansion to get after the base game, as it is the most fun for your money.Dominion is a game that is really suitable and very easy to set up for family play and within a relatively short time-frame. Seaside adds a new and challenging dimension to the basic game.For me it was a must and adds to my game playing addiction!