Eminent Domain: Microcosm

A fifteen-minute space-empire duel built from cards that both act and score.

Designer: Seth Jaffee
Published by: Tasty Minstrel Games
Editions by: Edge Entertainment, (Web published)

Two empires, one tiny galaxy and about fifteen minutes. Eminent Domain: Microcosm is a quick two-player card game that squeezes space-empire building into a handful of turns. On your turn you take a card from the supply into your hand, then either play a card and follow its instructions or pick up your discard pile to refill your hand. Every card also carries a scoring condition, so the real game is deciding which conditions you want to maximize. As in the original Eminent Domain, you can boost an action by revealing other cards with the same icon. Colonize and attack planets, research and use politics. Ages 13 and up, published in 2014.

Fifteen minutes for a whole empireCards that act and scoreBoost actions with matching icons

Who it's for

You want a very short two-player civilization game with a clever card economy, and maybe know the original Eminent Domain.

Not for you if…

You want a big space epic or have more than two players.

Vibe's take

Brisk and puzzly. You always weigh playing a card now against picking up your discard pile, and each card doubles as an action and a scoring clue.