Dominion: Renaissance Rules

Official-rulebook flavor excerpt: “It’s a momentous time.”

Renaissance is about accumulating resources for later and investing in permanent improvements. It introduces Coffers, Villagers, Projects, and five unique Artifacts that can change owners during the game.

Setup

Use the Basic cards and normal Dominion rules and choose 10 Kingdom piles. Projects are landscape cards and do not replace Kingdom piles. The official rules recommend no more than two Projects in a normal game, or no more than two total landscape cards when mixing Projects with Events and Landmarks from other expansions.

If any card uses Coffers or Villagers, give each player a Coffers/Villagers mat and make coin tokens available. If Border Guard, Flag Bearer, Swashbuckler, or Treasurer is used, place the relevant Artifacts near the Supply. With Projects, give each player two cubes of a distinct color.

Coffers and Villagers

When you receive +1 Coffers, add a token to the Coffers side of your mat. During your Buy phase, before buying, you may remove Coffers; each becomes one coin for that turn.

When you receive +1 Villager, add a token to the Villagers side. During your Action phase, remove a Villager to receive +1 Action. You may spend as many Villagers as needed.

Projects

A Project is bought during the Buy phase by spending a Buy and paying its cost, but instead of gaining a card you place one of your cubes on the Project. You may buy each Project only once. Its ability then applies to you for the rest of the game. A cube cannot later be voluntarily removed.

Artifacts

Artifacts are unique objects. Only one player can control a particular Artifact at a time. When an effect tells you to take one, move it from its current holder—or from beside the Supply—to you. Artifacts are not cards, are not in the Supply, and do not enter decks.

Kingdom Card Clarifications

Acting Troupe

Gain four Villagers, then trash Acting Troupe. The trash is mandatory, and it can trigger effects that care about trashing.

Border Guard

Receive +1 Action, reveal the top two cards of your deck, put one into your hand, and discard the other. Its reveal pattern can let you take the Lantern or Horn Artifact. With Lantern, Border Guard reveals an additional card and still puts one into hand. Horn can let a Border Guard leaving play return to your deck as described by the Artifact.

Cargo Ship

Receive its coin bonus. The next time you gain a card that turn, you may set that gained card aside face up. At the start of your next turn, put it into your hand. If no card is gained later that turn, Cargo Ship has no pending set-aside card.

Ducat

Ducat gives +1 Buy and +1 Coffers. When you gain a Ducat, you may trash a Copper from your hand.

Experiment

Experiment draws cards and gives an Action, then returns itself to its Supply pile instead of remaining in your deck. When you gain an Experiment, gain a second Experiment if possible; the second gain does not recursively gain a third.

Flag Bearer

Receive its coin bonus. Whenever you gain or trash a Flag Bearer, take the Flag Artifact from wherever it is. The Flag increases the size of the hand you draw during Clean-up while you control it.

Hideout

Draw a card and receive +2 Actions, then trash a card from your hand. If the trashed card is a Victory card, gain a Curse if possible. Multi-type Victory cards count.

Improve

Improve provides a coin benefit. During Clean-up, you may trash an Action card that would otherwise be discarded from play that turn and gain a card costing exactly one coin more. A Duration that is staying in play cannot be selected, but a Duration whose pending effects are finished and that would be discarded can be.

Inventor

Gain a card within Inventor's cost limit. For the rest of the turn, cards cost one coin less, without going below zero. Multiple Inventors can stack their cost reductions.

Lackeys

Draw two cards. When you gain Lackeys, add two Villagers. Those Villagers can be spent later in the same turn if the gain occurred during your Action phase.

Mountain Village

Draw a card and receive +2 Actions. Look through your discard pile and put a card of your choice into your hand. If your discard pile is empty, receive the fallback draw instead. Do not shuffle merely to create a discard pile for this effect.

Old Witch

Draw three cards, then each other player gains a Curse if possible. Afterward, each affected player may trash a Curse from their hand. A player who did not gain a Curse may still trash a Curse already in hand.

Patron

Patron gives its Villager and coin benefits when played. Whenever an effect causes you to reveal Patron, its Reaction gives you a Coffers. Merely looking at Patron or showing it for some reason that is not a “reveal” instruction does not trigger the Reaction.

Priest

Receive its coin bonus, then trash a card from your hand. For the rest of that turn, each additional card you trash gives another coin bonus. Multiple Priest plays make this cumulative, including trashing caused by other cards or Projects.

Recruiter

Draw two cards, trash a card from your hand, then gain Villagers based on the coin portion of that card's cost. Special cost components are not converted to coins.

Research

Receive +1 Action and trash a card from your hand. Set aside cards from the top of your deck based on the trashed card's cost; at the start of your next turn, put those set-aside cards into your hand. Research stays in play until that future effect is complete.

Scepter

Scepter is a Treasure. Choose either its ordinary coin production or replay an Action card you played earlier in the current turn. The selected Action need not still be in play if Scepter's rules allow it to be identified, but follow normal restrictions on replaying cards that have moved or changed identity.

Scholar

Discard your hand, then draw seven cards. The discarded cards are not available to be redrawn unless drawing forces a shuffle.

Sculptor

Gain an eligible card directly to your hand. If the gained card is a Treasure, receive a Villager. Multi-type cards that include Treasure qualify.

Seer

Draw a card and receive +1 Action, then reveal the top three cards of your deck, shuffling if necessary. Put cards in Seer's specified cost range into your hand and return the remaining revealed cards to your deck in an order you choose.

Silk Merchant

Draw two cards and receive +1 Buy. Whenever you gain or trash Silk Merchant, receive both a Coffers and a Villager.

Spices

Spices is a Treasure that gives coin and +1 Buy. When you gain Spices, add two Coffers.

Swashbuckler

Draw three cards. If your discard pile contains at least one card, receive a Coffers. If that brings or leaves you at the required Coffers threshold, take the Treasure Chest Artifact. Check the condition after receiving the Coffers.

Treasurer

Receive its coin bonus, then choose one mode: trash a Treasure from your hand; gain a Treasure from the trash directly to your hand; or take the Key Artifact. The Key gives its holder a coin at the start of each turn.

Villain

Add two Coffers. Each other player with at least five cards in hand discards an eligible card meeting Villain's cost requirement; if a player has no eligible card, they reveal their hand to demonstrate that.

Artifacts

Flag: While you hold it, draw one extra card when drawing your new hand.

Horn: Modifies Border Guard as described on the Artifact, allowing a qualifying Border Guard to be preserved for another draw.

Key: At the start of your turn, receive one coin.

Lantern: Improves Border Guard's reveal so it sees an additional card.

Treasure Chest: At the start of your Buy phase, gain a Gold.

Project Clarifications

Academy

Whenever you gain an Action card by any method, receive a Villager.

Barracks

At the start of each of your turns, receive +1 Action.

Canal

During your turns, cards cost one coin less for you, without going below zero. The reduction applies wherever card cost is checked during your turn.

Capitalism

During your turns, Actions whose text contains a coin-production amount are also Treasures. This type change applies wherever those cards are, including hands, Supply piles, and the trash, while it is your turn.

Cathedral

At the start of every one of your turns, trash a card from your hand. Once you have bought Cathedral, this is mandatory and your Project cube cannot be removed.

Citadel

The first Action card you play during each of your turns is played twice. This is automatic, so identify the first Action carefully.

City Gate

At the start of your turn, draw a card and then put a card from your hand on top of your deck.

Crop Rotation

At the start of your turn, you may discard a Victory card from your hand to draw two cards.

Exploration

At the end of your Buy phase, if you bought no cards that phase, receive a Coffers and a Villager. Buying only Events or Projects does not count as buying a card.

Fair

You have +1 Buy during each of your turns.

Fleet

After the normal game-ending condition is reached, players who own Fleet take one extra turn in turn order. The game does not end again during those Fleet turns; scoring occurs after all qualifying Fleet turns finish.

Guildhall

Whenever you gain a Treasure, receive a Coffers. Multi-type cards that include Treasure qualify.

Innovation

The first time you gain an Action card during each of your turns, you may set it aside and immediately play it. This can let a newly gained Action affect the same turn.

Pageant

At the end of your Buy phase, you may pay one coin to receive a Coffers.

Piazza

At the start of your turn, reveal the top card of your deck. If it is an Action, play it; otherwise leave or discard it as Piazza instructs.

Road Network

Whenever another player gains a Victory card, draw a card. Multiple Victory gains can trigger multiple draws.

Sewers

Whenever you trash a card by some other effect, you may also trash a card from your hand. The extra Sewers trash can be any card in hand even if the original effect had a restriction.

Silos

At the start of your turn, reveal and discard any number of Coppers from your hand, then draw that many cards. Discard the Coppers before drawing.

Sinister Plot

At the start of your turn, either add one unused token to your personal pile on Sinister Plot, or remove all of your tokens there and draw one card for each removed token.

Star Chart

Whenever you shuffle your deck, you may choose one card from the cards being shuffled to place on top of the newly shuffled deck, then shuffle the rest. You may inspect cards not being shuffled that are about to be drawn when making that choice.

Accessibility Notes

Keep Coffers and Villager totals public and announce every gain and spend. Announce an Artifact whenever it changes owners and state its current holder. For Projects, read all active Projects during setup and announce when each player places a cube. At the start of a turn, resolve Project start-of-turn abilities verbally in the chosen order. When Flag changes hands, state the resulting expected hand size before Clean-up. For Sinister Plot, keep each player's token pool physically distinct and announce its count after each change.

Source

This accessible rules page is based on the current Rio Grande Games Renaissance rulebook and retains additional accessibility guidance for mixed blind and sighted play. Official Rio Grande Games Renaissance rulebook PDF.