Dominion Projects: Rules, All 20 Cards & Strategy

What are Dominion Projects?

Projects are lasting abilities introduced by Dominion: Renaissance. They look like landscape cards, rather than Kingdom cards. During the Buy phase, you may spend money and one Buy to purchase a Project; place your colored cube on it instead of gaining a card. Its power then applies to you for the rest of the game.

The main strategic appeal is that a Project does not need to cycle through your deck. A useful Action card must be drawn and played. A Project such as Barracks can provide its bonus automatically when its timing occurs. But the purchase also delays buying another useful card or scoring points. Projects are investments, not free upgrades.

They matter again in Dominion: Arcana. Rio Grande Games confirms that Projects return in its planned Q4 2026 expansion, but has not provided a verified complete list of new Arcana Projects in the materials checked here. All named Project card effects below come from Renaissance. For release details, see our Arcana expansion guide.

How to buy a Project: rules and timing

1. Make sure the Project is part of this game’s setup and you have an unused cube.
2. During your Buy phase, generate enough money to cover the Project’s printed price.
3. Spend one Buy and the cost, then place your cube on the Project. Do not gain or discard a copy of the landscape card.
4. Apply its ability whenever the printed effect triggers from that point onward.

Example: you have $4 and one Buy. Instead of a $4 Action, you buy Fair and mark it with your cube. On later turns, you receive an extra Buy. That can help if your engine earns plenty of money but struggles to make more than one purchase.

A player may own each Project only once. The ownership marker cannot be voluntarily removed. A Project is not exclusive: every player may buy the same one and independently receive its ability. Buying a Project is not buying or gaining a card. Cards that only discount card costs do not automatically discount Projects.

Project setup and the two-cube limit

Set up your normal ten Kingdom card piles first. Add any Project landscapes alongside the Supply; they do not replace Kingdom piles. The publisher’s ordinary setup recommendation is at most two Projects per game. When mixing them with Events and Landmarks, the normal recommendation is at most two of those landscapes in total.

When using Projects, give each player two colored cubes. If a custom game uses more than two Project cards, those cubes limit how many one person can buy. You cannot buy a Project again to stack the same ability, and there is no way to sell one back.

Projects and Artifacts are different. Artifacts are shared objects that can change controller when card effects tell players to take them. Projects are individually owned permanent upgrades. Likewise, Events are single purchased effects, not permanent owned abilities.

All 20 Renaissance Projects: costs and quick descriptions

The table gives every Project included in Dominion: Renaissance. The summaries describe what each is for, not complete card text. Consult the printed cards for timing and card-specific exceptions.

Verified against the Renaissance rulebook and the Renaissance card list. Do not treat this as an Arcana preview card list.

Best Projects for Dominion engines and economy

Barracks helps a deck with too many terminal Actions and insufficient ways to play them. Citadel doubles the first Action card played on each turn, which can be extremely powerful in a well-built engine. Its sequencing matters, though: the first Action played consumes the benefit whether or not it is the strongest one you hold.

Academy rewards Action gains with saved Villagers. Innovation can immediately play the first Action gained each turn, under its specific restrictions. Both make more sense when your strategy repeatedly gains suitable cards than when you buy one or two Actions and stop.

On the economy side, Fair provides an additional Buy, but extra Buys are only useful if your deck can afford multiple good purchases. Guildhall rewards Treasure gains by storing Coffers, while Pageant offers a way to save spare money for a later turn. Canal lowers the costs of cards during your turn but does not generally make Project purchases cheaper.

Example: if your deck frequently generates $9 and only has one Buy, an additional Buy may be more valuable than more coin. If you have two Buys but only reach $4 consistently, extra buying capacity will not fix the underlying money problem. Evaluate the bottleneck rather than ranking a Project solely by cost.

Trashing, card draw and Projects that can backfire

Cathedral is often tempting early because it thins your deck each turn. The danger is that its start-of-turn trash is mandatory. When your Estates and Coppers are gone, you may have to trash something useful; you cannot remove the cube or switch the Project off. It is important to plan for later turns, not merely the first few trashes.

Sewers compounds another trashing effect by allowing an extra hand trash. It is weaker if the Kingdom contains few ways to trash. Silos can exchange Coppers in your hand for fresh draws, but those discarded Coppers could reappear after a shuffle. Sinister Plot lets you build up tokens and cash them in for a later burst of cards.

City Gate draws a card but then places a card from your hand on top of your deck. Crop Rotation can trade a Victory card in hand for additional drawing. They help with particular draw problems, but should not be confused with a no-cost permanent increase to hand size.

When is it worth buying a Project?

Start with three questions. How many turns are left? A repeatable upgrade bought early generally has more chances to repay its price. Which bottleneck does it solve? An extra Buy does little for a poor economy; an extra Action does little for a deck with no terminal Actions. What are you giving up right now? A Project purchase can cost you a critical card or a Province on a turn when those matter most.

Fleet is a special case because it grants an extra turn to Fleet owners after the usual game-ending condition. It can still matter near the end, but that extra turn needs to be productive. Fleet does not make play continue indefinitely, and players without Fleet do not simply receive a free turn.

For instance, purchasing Barracks on the turn before the game finishes may create only one or no meaningful opportunities. Buying it much earlier could improve a long engine. Conversely, acquiring a weak Project early instead of the card that starts your engine can delay your entire plan. There is no universal opening rule.

Six Project rules that are easy to misplay

1. Projects do not count as Kingdom piles. Continue selecting ten actual Kingdom card piles.
2. Buying a Project is not a card gain. Gain-specific triggers are not automatically activated by it.
3. Exploration checks card purchases. Buying only a Project or Event can still meet its condition for not buying a card.
4. Every player can buy the same Project. One player’s cube does not exclude rivals.
5. Debt restricts purchases. The Renaissance rules say you may not buy a Project while you have Debt from Empires.
6. Mandatory effects remain mandatory. Cathedral cannot be turned off when the deck is already thin.

Other important clarifications concern Capitalism’s card types, Citadel and Duration cards, Innovation’s first Action gain, and Fleet alongside extra-turn effects. Use the Project notes in the rulebook when a specific interaction matters.

Dominion: Arcana Projects: what is actually confirmed in 2026?

Rio Grande Games’ official Arcana page still shows a Q4 2026 release window. Arcana is the seventeenth expansion and contains 500 cards and 37 Kingdom piles, including five Victory piles. The announcement names Studies to improve cards, Carts to improve the economy, and the return of Projects.

The publisher does not yet define Studies or Carts in the detail needed to write a reliable complete rules guide, and it does not identify the Arcana Project card names and prices in the currently verified summary. Therefore, do not assume that Renaissance’s twenty Projects are reprinted in Arcana. The established rules above are useful background, not a claim about unpublished effects.

Arcana will require the Basic cards and Dominion rulebook; it is not a standalone game. Consult the Arcana overview for release information, and the publisher’s future rulebook for any new exceptions.

Dominion Projects FAQ

Does a Project use a Buy?

Yes. You pay its printed cost and one Buy, but gain no card.

Can two players own the same Project?

Yes. Each may buy it independently and place their own cube.

Can you buy a Project twice?

No. Each player can buy a particular Project only once.

Can you take back a Project cube?

No. It cannot be voluntarily removed.

How many Projects are recommended?

Usually no more than two landscapes of this type, according to the Renaissance setup guidance.

Does Cathedral force you to trash cards?

Yes. Its ongoing trash effect is mandatory at the start of your turns.

Are Project costs reduced by Canal?

No. Canal reduces card costs, and Projects are not cards.

Does buying a Project count as buying a card for Exploration?

No. The no-card-buy condition can still apply.

Are all Renaissance Projects in Arcana?

That has not been verified. Rio Grande Games confirms the mechanic returns but has not provided a verified full list of Project cards for the new expansion.

Primary rules and editorial references

Official rulebook: Rio Grande Games’ Dominion Renaissance rules; the accessible rules transcription contains specific Project notes.

Names and costs: Dominion Strategy Renaissance card list, checked with the official component list.

Arcana status: Rio Grande Games’ official Arcana page. Last researched 2 November 2026.

Original explanations and qualitative strategic reasoning. No first-hand playtest claims, invented Arcana card effects or reproduced copyrighted artwork. Corrections: BoardGameArchive editorial policy.