Deck Building Games

A couple of days ago we played Dominion. It’s a relatively simple game, and as we were playing it I was reminded of just how much I enjoy deck-building games, and what a great addition they are to our gameschooling portfolio. We have several, and it’s now time to break out my favorites.

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What is a Deck-Building Game?

In a deck-building game, you are buying cards to build your deck over the course of the game. Each game has a different reason and way you use the cards you purchase.

Point-earning deck-building games

In these, as you build up your deck, you are building up the points you need to win the game. Most of these cards you buy can either earn you points or earn you more ways to act that will allow you to purchase more cards and potentially earn more points.

• Dominion– this is the original deck-building game, there are loads of expansions, which changes up what cards you play with and greatly changes up how long the game takes to play. Dominion card game
• Tea Dragon Society– if you run in gaming circles, this is the game people bring up as a way to teach your kids how to learn deck-building. It’s not very competitive, and the theme is very child-friendly. Tea Dragon Society Game
• Favor of the Pharaoh– I couldn’t decide where to put this, but ultimately you are trying to earn points as you buy more dice. Oh no, it looks like it’s no longer for sale!

Deck-building to “fight better”

I’m not quite sure how to phrase this, but these you are building up your deck to make your character better. I like this because what you purchase greatly changes your playstyle.

• Harry Potter Battle for Hogwarts– I still continue to not have written this post yet. I really should get it done. In the original, there are 7 “games” following each book, and with each game, you have more spells you can purchase. It’s fun
• Clank!– we have a couple of expansions for this, and this is also a bit of a press-your-luck game as you see just how far you go in to get points Clank! board game
• Star Trek deck building game– I should love this, it’s everything I love, but at the same time, we did not like it, the instructions were not particularly good, I will add, that there are deck-building games for pretty much every fandom you can think of
• Star Realm– my boys play this with their friends, from what I’m reading it’s a bit more competitive than I prefer as you’re trying to get your competitors to zero