Comparison

Dominion vs Code Words

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Dominion

Build a powerful deck to expand your kingdom and earn victory points in this acclaimed deck-building strategy game. Explore vast card combinations, compete against AI or other players online, and enjoy endless replayability with numerous expansions.

Highlights
  • Deck-building mechanics
  • Kingdom expansion
  • AI opponent
  • Online multiplayer
  • Daily puzzles
  • Cross-platform play
  • Expansion packs
Read full description

Expand a small kingdom to a mighty Dominion! Play the Spiel des Jahres winner beloved by millions of boardgame hobbyists around the world. This is the officially licensed implementation. REIGNING DECKBUILDER Discover the game that defined a genre, Dominion was first to popularize deck-building and remains a staple of tabletop. GROW YOUR KINGDOM Collect as many Victory Points as you can by building a powerful deck. Your deck starts out a small sad set of Estates and Coppers, but you hope that by the end of the game it will be brimming with Gold, Provinces, and the inhabitants and structures of your kingdom. BUILD YOUR ENGINE Choose wisely among the 10 cards available in the tableau to create the strongest combos to dominate your opponent. COLLECT ALL EXPANSIONS Make your games more exciting with additional cards and rules from up to 15 expansions including the recent Plunder expansion! NEAR INFINITE VARIETY Over one hundred thirty-two septillion possible Kingdom combinations, 500+ cards, 15 and counting expansions, and ongoing promo packs make Dominion one of the most extensive and replayable boardgames in the hobby. COMPETE WITH THE COMPUTER Sharpen your skills with solitaire style solo play against a robust AI, with four levels of difficulty. Our innovative AI learns through self-play. Earn Achievements and win in Recommended Sets against each AI level. PLAY FRIENDS OR STRANGERS Play with up to 6 players online through your device or pass and play among your friends. Join ranked or unranked matchmaking, with realtime and asynchronous modes. Set up a private table for a family game, challenge a stranger in the lobby, or invite a friend! DAILY PUZZLE A daily ritual to relax with over a cup of coffee. Try the Daily Dominion, a free puzzle level available to players around the world. Practice your strategy to keep up a winning streak and climb the leaderboard. CROSS-PLATFORM PLAY Play from any supported device, whenever you want, after verifying your email in-game. Join games with opponents on platforms other than your own. JOIN THE COMMUNITY With an active Discord and online community, make new friends or challenge new people to a game. Export and share kingdoms and game summaries to compare strategies. FREE TO PLAY Download the game that started it all for free! The base set of Dominion is available at no charge. Try the rotation of expansion cards in the Daily at no cost once per day. Jump into a lobby game with expansions enabled to try before you buy. Only the host needs to own the expansions. INTRODUCTION TO TABLETOP Learn the ropes in this easy to pick-up, hard to master title. Play one of the most highly regarded strategy tabletop games of all time through our simple tutorial. The core loop is easy to follow, but offers a wealth of strategy to explore. • 1 - 6 player support • Five-hundred plus cards • Solo play against 4 AI difficulties • Async & real-time multiplayer • Ranked & unranked matchmaking • Lobby & Private game tables • Cross platform multiplayer • Cross platform purchases • Daily challenge • Challenging AI that learns through self-play • Recommended Sets • Customize, save & share Kingdoms • Achievements, Stats & Leaderboards • Pass & Play mode • Automated score-keeping & hints • Smart-play options to streamline gameplay • Jumbo mode for readability on phones • Turbo mode to zoom through games quickly • Tutorial & Rules • 4 languages: English, Japanese, German, French • 15+ expansions plus three promo packs

About

Code Words

Compete in a word-guessing board game where spymasters give clues to their teammates. Guess words of your team's color while avoiding the opponent's and the assassin. Supports English and Russian languages.

Highlights
  • Team-based gameplay
  • One-word clue system
  • Agent and assassin mechanics
  • Multiple language support
  • Competitive play
Features
Read full description

In Code Words - Board Game, two teams compete to see who can make contact with all of their agents first. Spymasters give one-word clues that can point to multiple words on the board. Their teammates try to guess words of the right color while avoiding those that belong to the opposing team. And everyone wants to avoid the assassin. Languages: - English - Russian

Screenshots

Dominion2 screens
Code Words4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Dominion at every 5 days against Code Words's every 9 months. Dominion also leads on review sentiment (68% vs 45%) and iOS requirement (8.0 vs 15.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Dominion sells 17 one-off in-app purchases and Code Words sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Dominion ships an update every 5 days, Code Words every 9 months. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Dominion versus Code Words: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDominionCode Words
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (4.7K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews68.4% of reviews — better45.5% of reviews
Number of ratings4.7K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterEvery 9 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS8.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size423 MB68 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTemple Gates Games LLCOleksandr Sudarenko

Customer experience

Dominion

All ratings4,729 ratings
Positive97.1%
Neutral1.2%
Negative1.7%
Written reviews354 reviews
Positive68.4%
Neutral12.4%
Negative19.2%

Code Words

Written reviews11 reviews
Positive45.5%
Neutral9.1%
Negative45.5%

Bugs and requests

Dominion

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Possession card not working correctly
  • Victory points not displayed properly
  • Inability to rejoin games after server disconnects

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to select specific card sets for randomized games
  • Option to complete games against AI when opponents forfeit
  • More detailed game statistics and player history tracking
  • Improved matchmaking filters for online play
  • Shareable in-app purchases for family members

Code Words

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

17 purchases

Dominion

One-time17
  • Alchemy$4.99
  • Intrigue$4.99
  • Cornucopia$4.99
Show 14 more
  • Guilds$4.99
  • Seaside$9.99
  • Renaissance$9.99
  • Menagerie$9.99
  • Prosperity$9.99
  • Dark Ages$9.99
  • Adventures$9.99
  • Empires$9.99
  • Plunder$9.99
  • Nocturne$9.99
  • Rising Sun$9.99
  • Hinterlands$9.99
  • Launch Bundle$99.99
  • Expansion Bundle$109.99
1 purchases

Code Words

One-time1
  • Remove Ads$0.99

Questions

Is Dominion free?
Dominion is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Code Words free?
Code Words is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Dominion or Code Words have ads?
Neither Dominion nor Code Words shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Dominion or Code Words?
Dominion ships an update every 5 days, and Code Words every 9 months. Most recently, Dominion was updated on October 14, 2026 and Code Words on September 23, 2026.

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