[spielfrieks] 2008 Retrospective - Results

[[e-mail] [spielfrieks]]

So 50 people voted in our latest retrospective, which is great support. The results showed much less change than they did for 2013. Here's the top 10, together with their vote totals, and with the original place given in parentheses (n/a means that the game wasn't nominated the first time around):


1. Dominion - 24 (1)
2. Pandemic - 20 (2)
3. Le Havre - 11 (3)
3. Stone Age - 11 (4)
5. Dixit - 10 (n/a)
6. Chicago Express - 7 (5)
6. Tinners' Trail - 7 (9)
8. Battlestar Galactica - 5 (6)
8. Snow Tails - 5 (6)
10. Nefertiti - 4 (n/a)
10. Time's Up! Title Recall - 4 (n/a)


As you can see, not much shifting around. Dominion and Pandemic remain the two dominant titles of the year, probably to the surprise of no one. 8 of the original top 10 are still in the current top 10 and the other two (Ghost Stories and Diamonds Club) finished tied for 12th. There were two interesting developments. Even though Le Havre once again finished third, it dropped down quite a bit from the original election--back then, it gave Dominion and Pandemic a run for their money, but this time around, it wound up tied with the original fourth place finisher, Stone Age, on which it had a big lead during the first election. The other item of note is Dixit, which wasn't even nominated originally, but which just missed finishing in the top three, and which had a nice lead on the rest of the field. I haven't seen or heard of a game of Dixit in 7 or 8 years in my games groups, but it's obviously popular elsewhere.


31 games got at least one vote. The only ones which were shut out were Municipium, Preussische Ostbahn, Say Anything, and Wealth of Nations. You can check out all the results, together with who voted for what, on the app.


Next on the dance card is 2003. I'll check out the potential nominees and get back to you in a little bit. Thanks to everyone who participated!


Larry

[Jacob Lee [e-mail] [spielfrieks]]

I love Dominion! But it's time for the designer to stop changing the game
so much with each new expansion and just give us new "regular" cards if you
know what I mean. I just want more of the same. I think it would sell.

2003? . . . The years don't mean much to me, but bring it on!

Jacob

Post by ***@comcast.net [spielfrieks]
So 50 people voted in our latest retrospective, which is great support.
The results showed much less change than they did for 2013. Here's the top
10, together with their vote totals, and with the original place given in
parentheses (n/a means that the game wasn't nominated the first time
1. Dominion - 24 (1)
2. Pandemic - 20 (2)
3. Le Havre - 11 (3)
3. Stone Age - 11 (4)
5. Dixit - 10 (n/a)
6. Chicago Express - 7 (5)
6. Tinners' Trail - 7 (9)
8. Battlestar Galactica - 5 (6)
8. Snow Tails - 5 (6)
10. Nefertiti - 4 (n/a)
10. Time's Up! Title Recall - 4 (n/a)
As you can see, not much shifting around. Dominion and Pandemic remain
the two dominant titles of the year, probably to the surprise of no one. 8
of the original top 10 are still in the current top 10 and the other two
(Ghost Stories and Diamonds Club) finished tied for 12th. There were two
interesting developments. Even though Le Havre once again finished third,
it dropped down quite a bit from the original election--back then, it gave
Dominion and Pandemic a run for their money, but this time around, it wound
up tied with the original fourth place finisher, Stone Age, on which it had
a big lead during the first election. The other item of note is Dixit,
which wasn't even nominated originally, but which just missed finishing in
the top three, and which had a nice lead on the rest of the field. I
haven't seen or heard of a game of Dixit in 7 or 8 years in my games
groups, but it's obviously popular elsewhere.
31 games got at least one vote. The only ones which were shut out were
Municipium, Preussische Ostbahn, Say Anything, and Wealth of Nations. You
can check out all the results, together with who voted for what, on the app.
Next on the dance card is 2003. I'll check out the potential nominees and
get back to you in a little bit. Thanks to everyone who participated!
Larry

[Anye Freer [e-mail] [spielfrieks]]

I really like Wealth of Nations, but it doesn't get to the table much.
If I had more votes it might have made my list though

Thanks,
Anye M. Freer

Post by Jacob Lee ***@gmail.com [spielfrieks]
I love Dominion! But it's time for the designer to stop changing the game
so much with each new expansion and just give us new "regular" cards if you
know what I mean. I just want more of the same. I think it would sell.
2003? . . . The years don't mean much to me, but bring it on!
Jacob

Post by ***@comcast.net [spielfrieks]
So 50 people voted in our latest retrospective, which is great support.
The results showed much less change than they did for 2013. Here's the top
10, together with their vote totals, and with the original place given in
parentheses (n/a means that the game wasn't nominated the first time
1. Dominion - 24 (1)
2. Pandemic - 20 (2)
3. Le Havre - 11 (3)
3. Stone Age - 11 (4)
5. Dixit - 10 (n/a)
6. Chicago Express - 7 (5)
6. Tinners' Trail - 7 (9)
8. Battlestar Galactica - 5 (6)
8. Snow Tails - 5 (6)
10. Nefertiti - 4 (n/a)
10. Time's Up! Title Recall - 4 (n/a)
As you can see, not much shifting around. Dominion and Pandemic remain
the two dominant titles of the year, probably to the surprise of no one. 8
of the original top 10 are still in the current top 10 and the other two
(Ghost Stories and Diamonds Club) finished tied for 12th. There were two
interesting developments. Even though Le Havre once again finished third,
it dropped down quite a bit from the original election--back then, it gave
Dominion and Pandemic a run for their money, but this time around, it wound
up tied with the original fourth place finisher, Stone Age, on which it had
a big lead during the first election. The other item of note is Dixit,
which wasn't even nominated originally, but which just missed finishing in
the top three, and which had a nice lead on the rest of the field. I
haven't seen or heard of a game of Dixit in 7 or 8 years in my games
groups, but it's obviously popular elsewhere.
31 games got at least one vote. The only ones which were shut out were
Municipium, Preussische Ostbahn, Say Anything, and Wealth of Nations. You
can check out all the results, together with who voted for what, on the app.
Next on the dance card is 2003. I'll check out the potential nominees
and get back to you in a little bit. Thanks to everyone who participated!
Larry

[Wei-Hwa Huang [e-mail] [spielfrieks]]

I discussed this with Donald a few years back. The problem with more
"regular cards" is that there actually aren't that many more "regular
cards" that are publishable. One general design rule he's trying to adhere
to is that there shouldn't be any cards that are strictly weaker or
strictly stronger than another card of the same price. For example,
consider the "regular card" that's +1 money, +1 Card, +1 Action. This card
should cost something like 3.8. You can't release it as a 3-cost card
because it's clearly better than a lot of other 3-cost cards. You can't
release it as a 4-cost card because it's worse. If you look at all the
4-cost cards throughout the expansion, you'll see that there are a lot of
cards that are actually this card but with a little bit of a bonus that
gets it to the 4-cost threshold.

Post by Jacob Lee ***@gmail.com [spielfrieks]
I love Dominion! But it's time for the designer to stop changing the game
so much with each new expansion and just give us new "regular" cards if you
know what I mean. I just want more of the same. I think it would sell.
2003? . . . The years don't mean much to me, but bring it on!
Jacob

Post by ***@comcast.net [spielfrieks]
So 50 people voted in our latest retrospective, which is great support.
The results showed much less change than they did for 2013. Here's the top
10, together with their vote totals, and with the original place given in
parentheses (n/a means that the game wasn't nominated the first time
1. Dominion - 24 (1)
2. Pandemic - 20 (2)
3. Le Havre - 11 (3)
3. Stone Age - 11 (4)
5. Dixit - 10 (n/a)
6. Chicago Express - 7 (5)
6. Tinners' Trail - 7 (9)
8. Battlestar Galactica - 5 (6)
8. Snow Tails - 5 (6)
10. Nefertiti - 4 (n/a)
10. Time's Up! Title Recall - 4 (n/a)
As you can see, not much shifting around. Dominion and Pandemic remain
the two dominant titles of the year, probably to the surprise of no one. 8
of the original top 10 are still in the current top 10 and the other two
(Ghost Stories and Diamonds Club) finished tied for 12th. There were two
interesting developments. Even though Le Havre once again finished third,
it dropped down quite a bit from the original election--back then, it gave
Dominion and Pandemic a run for their money, but this time around, it wound
up tied with the original fourth place finisher, Stone Age, on which it had
a big lead during the first election. The other item of note is Dixit,
which wasn't even nominated originally, but which just missed finishing in
the top three, and which had a nice lead on the rest of the field. I
haven't seen or heard of a game of Dixit in 7 or 8 years in my games
groups, but it's obviously popular elsewhere.
31 games got at least one vote. The only ones which were shut out were
Municipium, Preussische Ostbahn, Say Anything, and Wealth of Nations. You
can check out all the results, together with who voted for what, on the app.
Next on the dance card is 2003. I'll check out the potential nominees
and get back to you in a little bit. Thanks to everyone who participated!
Larry

[Jacob Lee [e-mail] [spielfrieks]]

Thank you for the insight. I enjoy learning about the "making of" process
(I read all the secret history of Dominion diaries).

I don't understand the math behind determining costs of cards but I've
always found the perceived cost of any card sort of relies on the other
cards in the set you're using. So a card that has some sort of unique
combination of +cards, +actions, etc and maybe throw in a little tweak like
"this card enters your hand when gained" or whatever and Donald may
determine its cost to be 3.8 but its value does change based on what other
cards in the current set can do. I know this because I regularly find
expansion cards that don't measure up well against others in the set we're
playing or maybe get all the attention compared to the other nine cards in
the set. I don't think all of the cards have a one size fits all perfect
cost - but that is one of the beauties of the game.

I would just argue that there are probably lots of players like me that are
less into the game changing expansions but would still buy cards that are
variations of cards from the first eight expansions. I hope this
suggestion reaches his ears but I can understand he may want to devote time
to new projects.

Jacob

Post by Wei-Hwa Huang ***@gmail.com [spielfrieks]
I discussed this with Donald a few years back. The problem with more
"regular cards" is that there actually aren't that many more "regular
cards" that are publishable. One general design rule he's trying to adhere
to is that there shouldn't be any cards that are strictly weaker or
strictly stronger than another card of the same price. For example,
consider the "regular card" that's +1 money, +1 Card, +1 Action. This card
should cost something like 3.8. You can't release it as a 3-cost card
because it's clearly better than a lot of other 3-cost cards. You can't
release it as a 4-cost card because it's worse. If you look at all the
4-cost cards throughout the expansion, you'll see that there are a lot of
cards that are actually this card but with a little bit of a bonus that
gets it to the 4-cost threshold.

Post by Jacob Lee ***@gmail.com [spielfrieks]
I love Dominion! But it's time for the designer to stop changing the
game so much with each new expansion and just give us new "regular" cards
if you know what I mean. I just want more of the same. I think it would
sell.
2003? . . . The years don't mean much to me, but bring it on!
Jacob

Post by ***@comcast.net [spielfrieks]
So 50 people voted in our latest retrospective, which is great support.
The results showed much less change than they did for 2013. Here's the top
10, together with their vote totals, and with the original place given in
parentheses (n/a means that the game wasn't nominated the first time
1. Dominion - 24 (1)
2. Pandemic - 20 (2)
3. Le Havre - 11 (3)
3. Stone Age - 11 (4)
5. Dixit - 10 (n/a)
6. Chicago Express - 7 (5)
6. Tinners' Trail - 7 (9)
8. Battlestar Galactica - 5 (6)
8. Snow Tails - 5 (6)
10. Nefertiti - 4 (n/a)
10. Time's Up! Title Recall - 4 (n/a)
As you can see, not much shifting around. Dominion and Pandemic remain
the two dominant titles of the year, probably to the surprise of no one.. 8
of the original top 10 are still in the current top 10 and the other two
(Ghost Stories and Diamonds Club) finished tied for 12th. There were two
interesting developments. Even though Le Havre once again finished third,
it dropped down quite a bit from the original election--back then, it gave
Dominion and Pandemic a run for their money, but this time around, it wound
up tied with the original fourth place finisher, Stone Age, on which it had
a big lead during the first election. The other item of note is Dixit,
which wasn't even nominated originally, but which just missed finishing in
the top three, and which had a nice lead on the rest of the field. I
haven't seen or heard of a game of Dixit in 7 or 8 years in my games
groups, but it's obviously popular elsewhere.
31 games got at least one vote. The only ones which were shut out were
Municipium, Preussische Ostbahn, Say Anything, and Wealth of Nations. You
can check out all the results, together with who voted for what, on the app.
Next on the dance card is 2003. I'll check out the potential nominees
and get back to you in a little bit. Thanks to everyone who participated!
Larry

--
-----------------------------------------------------------
If your Best isn't good enough, reach for a Starr.

[Brent Mair [e-mail] [spielfrieks]]

I'm approaching 500 plays of Dominion, over 150 with the core set and I'm
at the point where I probably want more complex. I just don't like games
where Big Money will win, or one or two card purchases then Big Money is
optimal.
That is how I'd like the way to go. Shake up the core enough so that I need
to purchase multiple Kingdom Cards. I'd actually welcome sets that remove
one or more of the base six money and VP stacks. I know this is unlikely
since this would significantly complicate the game, since there needs to be
a way to guarantee the game can end in a reasonable manner. Perhaps I want
cards that prevent purchasing from a certain stack until a certain number
of rounds have passed, or a certain number of other cards are bought.
This is where the real game expansion depth is, IMO.


Brent Mair
- Spielguy

Post by Jacob Lee ***@gmail.com [spielfrieks]
Thank you for the insight. I enjoy learning about the "making of" process
(I read all the secret history of Dominion diaries).
I don't understand the math behind determining costs of cards but I've
always found the perceived cost of any card sort of relies on the other
cards in the set you're using. So a card that has some sort of unique
combination of +cards, +actions, etc and maybe throw in a little tweak like
"this card enters your hand when gained" or whatever and Donald may
determine its cost to be 3.8 but its value does change based on what other
cards in the current set can do. I know this because I regularly find
expansion cards that don't measure up well against others in the set we're
playing or maybe get all the attention compared to the other nine cards in
the set. I don't think all of the cards have a one size fits all perfect
cost - but that is one of the beauties of the game.
I would just argue that there are probably lots of players like me that
are less into the game changing expansions but would still buy cards that
are variations of cards from the first eight expansions. I hope this
suggestion reaches his ears but I can understand he may want to devote time
to new projects.
Jacob

I discussed this with Donald a few years back.. The problem with more
"regular cards" is that there actually aren't that many more "regular
cards" that are publishable. One general design rule he's trying to adhere
to is that there shouldn't be any cards that are strictly weaker or
strictly stronger than another card of the same price. For example,
consider the "regular card" that's +1 money, +1 Card, +1 Action. This card
should cost something like 3.8. You can't release it as a 3-cost card
because it's clearly better than a lot of other 3-cost cards. You can't
release it as a 4-cost card because it's worse. If you look at all the
4-cost cards throughout the expansion, you'll see that there are a lot of
cards that are actually this card but with a little bit of a bonus that
gets it to the 4-cost threshold.

Post by Jacob Lee ***@gmail.com [spielfrieks]
I love Dominion! But it's time for the designer to stop changing the
game so much with each new expansion and just give us new "regular" cards
if you know what I mean. I just want more of the same. I think it would
sell.
2003? . . . The years don't mean much to me, but bring it on!
Jacob

Post by ***@comcast.net [spielfrieks]
So 50 people voted in our latest retrospective, which is great
support. The results showed much less change than they did for 2013.
Here's the top 10, together with their vote totals, and with the original
place given in parentheses (n/a means that the game wasn't nominated the
1. Dominion - 24 (1)
2. Pandemic - 20 (2)
3. Le Havre - 11 (3)
3. Stone Age - 11 (4)
5. Dixit - 10 (n/a)
6. Chicago Express - 7 (5)
6. Tinners' Trail - 7 (9)
8. Battlestar Galactica - 5 (6)
8. Snow Tails - 5 (6)
10. Nefertiti - 4 (n/a)
10. Time's Up! Title Recall - 4 (n/a)
As you can see, not much shifting around. Dominion and Pandemic remain
the two dominant titles of the year, probably to the surprise of no one. 8
of the original top 10 are still in the current top 10 and the other two
(Ghost Stories and Diamonds Club) finished tied for 12th. There were two
interesting developments. Even though Le Havre once again finished third,
it dropped down quite a bit from the original election--back then, it gave
Dominion and Pandemic a run for their money, but this time around, it wound
up tied with the original fourth place finisher, Stone Age, on which it had
a big lead during the first election. The other item of note is Dixit,
which wasn't even nominated originally, but which just missed finishing in
the top three, and which had a nice lead on the rest of the field. I
haven't seen or heard of a game of Dixit in 7 or 8 years in my games
groups, but it's obviously popular elsewhere.
31 games got at least one vote. The only ones which were shut out were
Municipium, Preussische Ostbahn, Say Anything, and Wealth of Nations. You
can check out all the results, together with who voted for what, on the app.
Next on the dance card is 2003. I'll check out the potential nominees
and get back to you in a little bit. Thanks to everyone who participated!
Larry

--
-----------------------------------------------------------
If your Best isn't good enough, reach for a Starr.

[[e-mail] [spielfrieks]]

Regarding changing up Dominion, don't you find that Events and Landmarks can change the strategy sufficiently to have a similar effect?

[David Goldfarb [e-mail] [spielfrieks]]

For example, consider the "regular card" that's +1 money, +1 Card, +1 Action. This card should cost something like 3.8. You can't release it as a 3-cost card because it's clearly better than a lot of other 3-cost cards. You can't release it as a 4-cost card because it's worse. If you look at all the 4-cost cards throughout the expansion, you'll see that there are a lot of cards that are actually this card but with a little bit of a bonus that gets it to the 4-cost threshold.

As it happens, I went looking through the complete card list to think
about all the variations on that one that we have. It's interesting to
see how the changes affect the cost. Judging by the cards we have, I
think the "should cost" is more like 4.2 than 3.8 – 4-costers with it
tend to have penalties more than bonuses, 3-costers have serious
penalties.
(warning, long list ahead)

"Base" == +1 card, +1 Action, +$1.

Straight up Base: $0-$8, depending on how much action chaining you're
doing. (Peddler)

Base plus +1 Buy: $5. (Market)
Base plus +1 Action: $5 (Bazaar) – which suggests that Market is a bit
overcosted, since +1 Action is a lot more generally useful than +1
Buy. Certainly I don't think Market is coming in at the top of the
"best $5 card" lists.
Base plus +1 Buy plus another +$1: $6, which is undercosted, except
that you can't use Copper, as an extra restriction. (Grand Market) –
Grand Market of course is super good, and games with it are often a
race to get the first one.

Base plus an extra +$1 for each card you buy, plus gainers like
Workshop are stronger: $5. (Highway – I often seem to see people going
for Highway when there are no +Buy cards out, which is silly; Highway
without +Buy is seriously overcosted.)

Base but you only get the +$1 if you play a Silver: $3 (Merchant)
Base but you don't get the $1 till next turn: $3 (Caravan Guard)
Base but your hand size lowers by one: $3 (Oasis)
Base but late in the game your hand size lowers: $4 (Poacher)
Base and you trash a card from hand: $5 (Junk Dealer)

Base but late in the game you probably don't get the card or $1, but
you can get various super-good cards: $4 (Tournament)

Base and in the early to middle game you get to re-use it every turn:
$5 (Treasury)

Base but you might get +1 Card or +1 Action instead of +$1, and in
some cases you get nothing: $4 (Ironmonger)

Base and you might get 2 VP when you buy it, and it comes packaged
with cards that sometimes give it +1 Card: $5 (Emporium)

Base but you only get the +$1 if the card you drew is more expensive
than your left-hand opponent's top card: $3 (Chariot Race)

[Jacob Lee [e-mail] [spielfrieks]]

Nice work with that list. I'm going to set that aside for future reference..

The Events and Landmarks slightly change the strategy, but not in the same
way I'm looking for. I'd rather have more action cards.

Jacob

For example, consider the "regular card" that's +1 money, +1 Card, +1

Action. This card should cost something like 3.8.. You can't release it as
a 3-cost card because it's clearly better than a lot of other 3-cost cards.
You can't release it as a 4-cost card because it's worse. If you look at
all the 4-cost cards throughout the expansion, you'll see that there are a
lot of cards that are actually this card but with a little bit of a bonus
that gets it to the 4-cost threshold.
As it happens, I went looking through the complete card list to think
about all the variations on that one that we have. It's interesting to
see how the changes affect the cost. Judging by the cards we have, I
think the "should cost" is more like 4.2 than 3.8 – 4-costers with it
tend to have penalties more than bonuses, 3-costers have serious
penalties.
(warning, long list ahead)
"Base" == +1 card, +1 Action, +$1.
Straight up Base: $0-$8, depending on how much action chaining you're
doing. (Peddler)
Base plus +1 Buy: $5. (Market)
Base plus +1 Action: $5 (Bazaar) – which suggests that Market is a bit
overcosted, since +1 Action is a lot more generally useful than +1
Buy. Certainly I don't think Market is coming in at the top of the
"best $5 card" lists.
Base plus +1 Buy plus another +$1: $6, which is undercosted, except
that you can't use Copper, as an extra restriction. (Grand Market) –
Grand Market of course is super good, and games with it are often a
race to get the first one.
Base plus an extra +$1 for each card you buy, plus gainers like
Workshop are stronger: $5. (Highway – I often seem to see people going
for Highway when there are no +Buy cards out, which is silly; Highway
without +Buy is seriously overcosted.)
Base but you only get the +$1 if you play a Silver: $3 (Merchant)
Base but you don't get the $1 till next turn: $3 (Caravan Guard)
Base but your hand size lowers by one: $3 (Oasis)
Base but late in the game your hand size lowers: $4 (Poacher)
Base and you trash a card from hand: $5 (Junk Dealer)
Base but late in the game you probably don't get the card or $1, but
you can get various super-good cards: $4 (Tournament)
$5 (Treasury)
Base but you might get +1 Card or +1 Action instead of +$1, and in
some cases you get nothing: $4 (Ironmonger)
Base and you might get 2 VP when you buy it, and it comes packaged
with cards that sometimes give it +1 Card: $5 (Emporium)
Base but you only get the +$1 if the card you drew is more expensive
than your left-hand opponent's top card: $3 (Chariot Race)

[David Goldfarb [e-mail] [spielfrieks]]

Thanks. I did miss one:

Base, but you get to bank the $1 if you like and use it later: $5 (Baker)

Post by Jacob Lee ***@gmail.com [spielfrieks]
Nice work with that list. I'm going to set that aside for future reference.
The Events and Landmarks slightly change the strategy, but not in the same way I'm looking for. I'd rather have more action cards.
Jacob

Post by David Goldfarb ***@gmail.com [spielfrieks]

For example, consider the "regular card" that's +1 money, +1 Card, +1 Action. This card should cost something like 3.8... You can't release it as a 3-cost card because it's clearly better than a lot of other 3-cost cards.. You can't release it as a 4-cost card because it's worse. If you look at all the 4-cost cards throughout the expansion, you'll see that there are a lot of cards that are actually this card but with a little bit of a bonus that gets it to the 4-cost threshold.

As it happens, I went looking through the complete card list to think
about all the variations on that one that we have. It's interesting to
see how the changes affect the cost. Judging by the cards we have, I
think the "should cost" is more like 4.2 than 3.8 – 4-costers with it
tend to have penalties more than bonuses, 3-costers have serious
penalties.
(warning, long list ahead)
"Base" == +1 card, +1 Action, +$1.
Straight up Base: $0-$8, depending on how much action chaining you're
doing. (Peddler)
Base plus +1 Buy: $5. (Market)
Base plus +1 Action: $5 (Bazaar) – which suggests that Market is a bit
overcosted, since +1 Action is a lot more generally useful than +1
Buy. Certainly I don't think Market is coming in at the top of the
"best $5 card" lists.
Base plus +1 Buy plus another +$1: $6, which is undercosted, except
that you can't use Copper, as an extra restriction. (Grand Market) –
Grand Market of course is super good, and games with it are often a
race to get the first one.
Base plus an extra +$1 for each card you buy, plus gainers like
Workshop are stronger: $5. (Highway – I often seem to see people going
for Highway when there are no +Buy cards out, which is silly; Highway
without +Buy is seriously overcosted.)
Base but you only get the +$1 if you play a Silver: $3 (Merchant)
Base but you don't get the $1 till next turn: $3 (Caravan Guard)
Base but your hand size lowers by one: $3 (Oasis)
Base but late in the game your hand size lowers: $4 (Poacher)
Base and you trash a card from hand: $5 (Junk Dealer)
Base but late in the game you probably don't get the card or $1, but
you can get various super-good cards: $4 (Tournament)
$5 (Treasury)
Base but you might get +1 Card or +1 Action instead of +$1, and in
some cases you get nothing: $4 (Ironmonger)
Base and you might get 2 VP when you buy it, and it comes packaged
with cards that sometimes give it +1 Card: $5 (Emporium)
Base but you only get the +$1 if the card you drew is more expensive
than your left-hand opponent's top card: $3 (Chariot Race)

[Wei-Hwa Huang [e-mail] [spielfrieks]]

Post by David Goldfarb ***@gmail.com [spielfrieks]
Base plus +1 Buy: $5. (Market)
Base plus +1 Action: $5 (Bazaar) – which suggests that Market is a bit
overcosted, since +1 Action is a lot more generally useful than +1
Buy. Certainly I don't think Market is coming in at the top of the
"best $5 card" lists.

Not quite the right comparison. Going from +0 Actions to +1 Action is very
useful. Going from +1 Action to +2 Actions, less so.

Which one of these is better can be very situational, based on the other
cards in the set.