By Donald X. Vaccarino

Something's afoot. The steward smiles at you like he has a secret, or like he thinks you have a secret, or like you think he thinks you have a secret. There are secret plots brewing, you're sure of it. At the very least, there are yours. A passing servant murmurs, "The eggs are on the plate." You frantically search your codebook for the translation before realizing he means that breakfast is ready. Excellent. Everything is going according to plan. 

This is the 1st expansion to the game of Dominion. It has 300 cards. There are victory cards that do something before the end of the game, cards that interact with victory cards, and underlings that give you a choice as to what they do. Dominion: Intrigue cannot be played by itself; to play with it, you need the Basic cards and rulebook (Dominion provides both). Dominion: Intrigue can also be combined with any other Dominion expansions you have.  

We hope you enjoy this expanding world of Dominion. 

Contents

300 cards consisting of 268 Kingdom cards     

10 each of Baron, Bridge, Conspirator, Courtier, Courtyard, Diplomat, Ironworks, Lurker, Masquerade, Mining Village, Minion, Patrol, Pawn, Replace, Secret Passage, Shanty Town, Steward, Swindler, Torturer, Trading Post, Upgrade, Wishing Well

12 each of Duke, Harem, Mill, and Nobles

and 26 Randomizer cards (one of each Kingdom card with a blue banded back and an R in braille) 

and 6 blank cards (unused)     

1 Plastic organizer tray   

1 Organizing Inlay   

1 Rule booklet

Preparation

Before the first game, remove the three sets of cards from their wrappings and place them in the card tray. The included inlay suggests a way to organize the cards. 

Intrigue has 26 Kingdom cards, with 26 corresponding randomizer cards. Players will need the Treasure cards, Victory cards, Curse cards, and Trash mat/card from either Dominion or Base Cards; the first edition of Intrigue included base cards but this edition does not. If players wish to choose Kingdom cards randomly, they can shuffle the randomizer cards from this expansion with the ones from Dominion and/or any other expansions they have. 

Victory piles start with 8 cards for 2 players, 12 cards for 3-6 players. That includes Duke, Harem, Mill, and Nobles. 

Additional Rules for Intrigue

Intrigue has cards that give players a choice between two or more options. A player given a choice picks any choice, even if unable to do the instruction, then does as much of it as they can. For example, Sylvia plays Steward with one card left in her hand. She can pick the "trash 2 cards from your hand" option despite only having one card in hand. If she picks that option, she trashes the one card in her hand. Sometimes one of the options of a card with a choice is to make +$1. To track the $, players can push the card up slightly from the line of played cards. 

Intrigue has three Victory cards that have another type as well: Harem, Mill, and Nobles. These cards are both types for all purposes. For example, since Nobles is an Action card, it can be played in the Action phase, can be trashed from the Supply with Lurker, and so on; since it is a Victory card, it is worth VP when scoring, is put into a player's hand due to Patrol, and so on.

Sample Turn

It is the start of Molly's turn in a game vs. Kelly. Her hand is Mining Village, Shanty Town, Torturer, Pawn, Copper. 

Molly plays Mining Village, drawing Estate and getting +1 Action. She chooses not to trash the Mining Village. She plays Torturer, drawing Silver, Estate, Shanty Town. Kelly chooses to gain a Curse to his hand. Molly plays Shanty Town, getting +2 Actions, revealing her hand which does have Actions in it, and not drawing.  

She plays Pawn, choosing +1 Card and +$1. She draws a Silver. She plays another Shanty Town for +2 Actions, this time revealing a hand with no Actions and drawing Torturer and Bridge. She plays the Torturer, drawing Shanty Town, Bridge, Copper. Kelly discards the Curse and a Copper.  

Molly plays her last Shanty Town for +2 Actions, revealing her hand with Actions, and plays the two Bridges, getting +$2 and +2 Buys. 

Now it is her Buy phase. She plays two Coppers and two Silvers. She has $9 and 3 Buys (her normal Buy plus the 2 from the Bridges). Cards cost $2 less due to the Bridges. She buys two Torturers for $3 each, and a Mining Village for $2. She has $1 left but no more Buys. She discards everything she played and draws a new hand of 5 cards.

Kingdom Card Notes

Baron: You do not have to discard an Estate, but if you do not, you must gain an Estate (if any are left). 

Bridge: All cards, including cards in the Supply, in play, in decks, and in hands, cost $1 less for the rest of this turn, but not less than $0. For example after playing Bridge, you could buy a Gold with $5, since Gold only costs $5; you could Upgrade Copper to Estate, since Copper still costs $0, but Estate costs $1; you could use Ironworks to gain a Duchy, since Duchy only costs $4. This is cumulative; if you play two Bridges (or the same Bridge twice via Throne Room), cards will cost $2 less.   

Conspirator: This counts Actions played this turn, rather than Action cards in play. For example if you start a turn with Throne Room on a Conspirator, you get +2 for the first play of Conspirator, but +$2 +1 Card +1 Action for the second play of Conspirator. You only have two Action cards in play, but the second play of Conspirator is your third Action played this turn. 

Courtier: First reveal a card from your hand, then count the types. The types are the words on the bottom line - including Action, Attack, Curse, Reaction, Treasure, and Victory (with more in expansions). Then choose one different thing per type the card had; if you revealed a card with two types, you pick two things. For example you could reveal a Copper and choose "gain a Gold," or reveal a Mill and choose "+1 Action" and "+$2." If you gain a Gold, put the Gold into your discard pile. 

Courtyard: The card you put on top does not have to be one of the 3 you just drew. 

Diplomat: When playing this, you get +2 Cards, then count your cards in hand, and if you have 5 cards or fewer, you get +2 Actions. So, for example if you play this from a hand of 5 cards, you will put it into play, going down to 4 cards, then draw 2 cards, going up to 6 cards, and that is more than 5 cards so you would not get the +2 Actions. Diplomat can also be used when another player plays an Attack card, if you have at least 5 cards in hand. Before the Attack card does anything, you can reveal a Diplomat from your hand; if you do, you draw 2 cards, then discard 3 cards (which can include the Diplomat). If you still have at least 5 cards in hand after doing that (such as due to Council Rooms), you can reveal Diplomat again and do it again. You reveal Reactions one at a time; you cannot reveal two Diplomats simultaneously. You can reveal a Moat from your hand (to be unaffected by an Attack) either before or after revealing and resolving a Diplomat (even if the Moat was not in your hand until after resolving Diplomat). 

Duke: For example, if you have five Duchies, then each of your Dukes is worth  5 VP. Use 8 Dukes for games with 2 players, 12 for games with 3 or more players. 

Harem: This can be played in your Buy phase like other Treasures, and is worth  2 VP at the end of the game. Use 8 Harems for games with 2 players, 12 for games with 3 or more players. 

Ironworks: The card you gain comes from the Supply and is put into your discard pile. You get bonuses depending on the types of the card you gained. A card with 2 types gives you both bonuses; if you use Ironworks to gain a Mill, you both draw a card and get +1 Action. 

Lurker: The card trashed or gained has to be an Action card, but can have other types too. For example Lurker can trash Nobles from the Supply and can gain Nobles from the trash. When gaining a card with Lurker, put the gained card into your discard pile. 

Masquerade: First you draw 2 cards. Then, all players at the same time choose a card to pass left, putting it face down on the table between players. Then the cards are passed; each player takes the passed card from the player to their right. Players with no cards in hand (such as due to Torturer) are skipped over - they neither pass a card nor receive one. Finally, you may trash a card from your hand. This is not an Attack and so cannot be stopped with Moat. Passed cards are not "gained" (which matters for some expansion cards, e.g. Trader from Dominion: Hinterlands). 

Mill: You can choose to discard 2 cards even if you only have one card in hand, but you only get +$2 if you actually discarded 2 cards. Use 8 Mills for games with 2 players, 12 for games with 3 or more players. 

Mining Village: First draw a card and get +2 Actions; then choose whether or not to trash Mining Village, getting +$2 if you did. You may not trash Mining Village later in the turn, only right then. If you Throne Room a Mining Village, you cannot trash it twice (and so cannot get the +2$ twice).

Minion: Players wishing to respond with e.g. Moat or Diplomat do so before you choose your option. A player who Moats this neither discards nor draws. 

Nobles: Use 8 copies of Nobles for games with 2 players, 12 for games with 3 or more players. 

Patrol: First draw 3 cards, then reveal the top 4 cards of your deck. Put the revealed Victory cards and Curses into your hand; you have to take them all. Put the rest of the cards back on your deck in any order you choose. 

Pawn: You pick both things before doing either. You cannot pick the same option twice. 

Replace: Like Remodel, you first trash a card from your hand, then gain a card from the Supply costing up to $2 more than the trashed card, putting the gained card into your discard pile. Replace gives you an additional bonus based on the types of the gained card; if it is an Action or Treasure you move it to the top of your deck, and if it is a Victory card the other players each gain a Curse. It is possible to get both bonuses; if you gain Harem, Mill, or Nobles with Replace, it both goes on your deck and causes the other players to each gain a Curse. 

Secret Passage: First draw 2 cards and get +1 Action; then put a card from your hand anywhere in your deck. The card can be one you just drew or any other card from your hand. It can go on top of your deck, on the bottom, or anywhere in between; you can count out a specific place to put it, e.g. four cards down. If there are no cards left in your deck, the card put back becomes the only card in your deck.   

Shanty Town: You get +2 Actions, then reveal your hand. If it has no Action cards in it (including Action cards with other types too, such as Nobles), then you draw 2 cards. 

Steward: First choose one of the three options, then do it. If you pick "trash 2 cards from your hand" and only have one card in hand, you trash that card; if you choose that option and have 2 or more cards in hand, you have to trash 2. 

Swindler: When it matters (such as when piles are low), go in turn order, starting with the player to your left. Each other player trashes their top card, and gains a replacement you choose with the same cost. The card they gain comes from the Supply and goes to their discard pile. For example if a player trashed Copper, you might give them Curse, which costs $0 like Copper does. You can give a player back another copy of what they lost. If the Supply has no cards with the same cost as the trashed card, the player fails to gain a card. 

Torturer: If it matters, the other players choose what happens to them (and resolve that) in turn order, starting to your left. A player can choose to gain a Curse even with no Curses left (and thus not gain one), or to discard 2 cards even with one or zero cards in hand (discarding their only card if they have one). Gained Curses go to players' hands rather than their discard piles. 

Trading Post: If you have only one card in hand, trash it and nothing else happens; if you have 2 or more cards in hand, trash exactly 2 of them and gain a Silver, putting it into your hand. 

Upgrade: First draw a card and get +1 Action; then trash a card from your hand; then gain a card costing exactly $1 more than the trashed card. The gained card comes from the Supply and is put into your discard pile. If there is no card available at that cost, you do not gain a card; for example if you play Upgrade and trash a Copper, in a game with nothing costing $1, you simply fail to gain a card.

Wishing Well: First you draw a card and get +1 Action. Then name a card - a name, not a type, so e.g. "Copper," not "Treasure." Reveal the top card of your deck. If it has the name you named, put it into your hand, otherwise leave it on your deck. 

Credits

Thanks 1st Edition Developers: Dale Yu and Valerie Putman   1st Edition Playtesters: Ted Alspach, Kelly Bailey, Dan Brees, Josephine Burns, Max Crowe, Ray Dennis, David Fair, Lucas Hedgren, Michael M. Landers, W. Eric Martin, Destry Miller, Miikka Notkola, Molly Sherwin, Sir Shufflesalot,  P. Colin Street, John Vogel, Chris West, the 6am Gamers, the Cincygamers, and the Columbus Area Boardgaming Society.  2nd Edition Playtesters: Tyler Babcock, Jeff Boschen, Kent Bunn, Josephine Burns, Bryan Doughty, Matthew Engel, Dibson T Hoffweiler, Jen Huang, Destry Miller, Kevin White, and Jeff Wolfe.  © 2009, 2016, 2019, 2021  Rio Grande Games; All Rights Reserved If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions,  please contact us at: PO Box 1033, Placitas, NM 87043, USA or by email at: RioGames@aol.com Please visit our web site at www.riograndegames.com