Domination

Domination is a game of strategy for up to four players.

To learn how to use Help, press F1

To get help on one of the topics below, click on it

Rules of the game

Scoring

Game options

Hints on strategy


Rules of the Game

Domination is played on a square board of size 6x6, 8x8, 10x10 or 12x12. The object of the game is to score points by capturing board positions, and to defeat opponents by capturing all their pieces.

Players take it in turn to place a piece on the board. A piece may only be placed on a square which already contains one or more of their pieces, or an empty square adjacent to such a square.

Each square has an associated maximum number of pieces it can hold - this is one for the corner squares, two for other edge squares, and three for all other squares. If a piece is placed on a square which already holds its maximum number of pieces, the square explodes, scattering a piece onto each of its neighbouring squares.

When this occurs, the neighbouring square is captured, and all pieces on it now belong to the player who captured it. If the addition of this piece causes the captured square to exceed its critical mass, this square too will explode and capture further pieces in a chain reaction.

A player who has no pieces on the board cannot place a piece, and is eliminated from the game.


Scoring

A player's score is incremented by one every time a piece is placed or exploded onto a square. Whether you consider the winner to be the last surviving player or the player with the highest score at the end of the game is up to you!


Game Options

Selecting Options from the Game menu allows the player types and board size to be selected. The possible player types are as follows:

None

Human

Defensive

Homicidal

Regicidal

Drifter


Hints on Strategy

Try to score more points than your opponents, or outlive them.


Selecting None disables the specified player. Use this option to play Domination with less than four players.


Selecting Human means the program will wait for you to select a square when it is this player's turn. Any, all, or none of the players may be human.


A Defensive player is played by the computer, using a strategy that is biased towards keeping a strong corner rather than capturing opponents corners.


A Homicidal player is played by the computer, using a strategy that is biased towards capturing squares belonging to human players.


A Regicidal player is played by the computer, using a strategy that is biased towards capturing squares belonging to computer players.


A Drifter is played by the computer, using a strategy that is biased towards capturing new corners. This is usually the hardest of the computer opponents to beat.