Donald X. Vaccarino
Donald X. Vaccarino | |
|---|---|
_in_the_video_'Poem_Jam_with_Kim_Shuck_December_8%252C_2022'.png) Reading poetry at the San Francisco Public Library in 2022 | |
| Born | 1969 (age 56–57) |
Donald X. Vaccarino (born 1969) is an American board and card game designer. He published the card game Dominion in 2008, which won the Spiel des Jahres award along with many others, and has had 16 expansions.[note 1][1] Dominion and its expansions have sold more than 2.5 million copies worldwide, as of 2017.[2] His 2012 game Kingdom Builder also won the Spiel des Jahres award.[3]
With Dominion, Vaccarino has been credited with pioneering the genre of deck-building games.[4] Dominion has been studied academically as a test-bed for how evolving game rules can create balanced play.[5]
Life and work
Vaccarino got his first full-time job as a programmer at age 16, before becoming self-employed as a game designer around 1994.[6][7] Vaccarino was influenced by Magic: The Gathering and was credited with contributing to the game in the Comprehensive Rules of Magic.[8] Vaccarino's games have been published by companies including Rio Grande Games[9] and Queen Games.[10]
Selected works
Vaccarino's published works include:[11][12]
- 2008: Dominion
- 2009: Dominion: Intrigue
- 2009: Dominion: Seaside
- 2010: Dominion: Alchemy
- 2010: Dominion: Prosperity
- 2011: Dominion: Cornucopia
- 2011: Dominion: Hinterlands
- 2011: Nefarious
- 2011: Nitroplus Card Masters
- 2012: Dominion: Dark Ages
- 2012: Kingdom Builder
- 2012: Monster Factory
- 2012: Gauntlet of Fools
- 2012: Android: Infiltration
- 2012: Kingdom Builder: Nomads
- 2013: Dominion: Guilds
- 2013: Kingdom Builder: Crossroads
- 2014: Temporum
- 2014: Piña Pirata
- 2014: Greed
- 2015: Dominion: Adventures
- 2016: Dominion: Empires
- 2016: Kingdom Builder: Marshlands
- 2017: Temporum: Alternate Realities
- 2017: Kingdom Builder: Harvest
- 2018: Dominion: Nocturne
- 2019: Dominion: Renaissance
- 2020: Dominion: Menagerie
- 2020: Winter Kingdom
- 2022: Dominion: Allies
- 2022: Dominion: Plunder
- 2024: Dominion: Rising Sun
- 2025: Moon Colony Bloodbath[13]
Personal life
Vaccarino lives in California with at least two daughters.[6]
See also
Notes
- ↑ Two of the expansions, Cornucopia and Guilds, were later combined into one.
References
- ↑ "Dominion Announces 15th Expansion". GAMING. September 11, 2022. Retrieved November 29, 2022.
- ↑ "Table-top Generals". The Economist. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
- ↑ "Kingdom Builder". Spiel des Jahres. Retrieved November 29, 2022.
- ↑ Livingstone, Ian; Wallis, James (September 17, 2019). Board Games in 100 Moves. Penguin. p. 150. ISBN 978-1-4654-9871-7.
- ↑ Mahlmann, Tobias; Togelius, Julian; Yannakakis, Georgios N. (June 2012). "Evolving card sets towards balancing dominion". 2012 IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation. pp. 1–8. doi:10.1109/CEC.2012.6256441. ISBN 978-1-4673-1509-8. S2CID 15555254.
- 1 2 Dagmar (February 3, 2021). "Spelauteur onder het vergrootglas: Donald X. Vaccarino – Spellengek" (in Dutch). Retrieved December 6, 2023.
- ↑ "Interview with Donald X. Vaccarino | Donald X. Vaccarino". BoardGameGeek. Retrieved July 20, 2024.
- ↑ Hiwiller, Zack (August 14, 2018). The Game Designer's Playlist: Innovative Games Every Game Designer Needs to Play. Addison-Wesley Professional. ISBN 978-0-13-487329-9.
- ↑ "Dominion". Rio Grande Games. Retrieved November 29, 2022.
- ↑ "Kingdom Builder". Queen Games - Connecting Generations. January 21, 2021. Retrieved November 29, 2022.
- ↑ "Donald X. Vaccarino". www.luding.org. Retrieved November 29, 2022.
- ↑ "Donald X. Vaccarino | Board Game Designer | BoardGameGeek". boardgamegeek.com. Retrieved August 8, 2025.
- ↑ Benson, Paul (March 21, 2025). "Will You Survive the 'Moon Colony Bloodbath'?". GeekDad. Retrieved August 8, 2025.