A Combat Exercise of Soldier Knowledge
Training Technologies (1986)
Designer not attributed, but it may be Training Technologies President Dan York
Players: 2-6
Playing Time: 1 hour or more
Period: modern
Scale: abstract
Box: 14”x21” flat box.

Components:

22”x28” mounted map board; rules sheet; publisher’s letter; 6 plastic vehicles; 36 plastic pegs; six-sided die.

Plastic Parts Manifest:

The vehicles and pegs come in six different colors. There should be one jeep and six pegs in each color.

Training Technologies says:

“Dear Customer, The two greatest challenges facing the military leader today are imparting professional knowledge to the soldier and subsequent application of that knowledge in a training environment and/ or on the field of battle ... Training Technologies is committed to making that first great challenge much less difficult for you by enabling you to obtain a solid grip on the fundamentals of military knowledge; and we hope that by mastering Domination you will become a much more knowledgeable and professional soldier/leader.”

Comments:

I was intrigued when I saw this game on eBay. The brief description stated that it was a Risk-like game that was obviously intended to be some sort of military training aid. With thoughts of Logistics Command, I bid the $12 minimum and won an uncontested auction. You can imagine my disappointment when I received Domination and found that the only thing Risk-like about it was that it had continents printed on the mapboard! A quick look at the components revealed that it was simply a Trivial Pursuit variant. The recipe behind the game is simple: combine one part Trivial Pursuit, one part Field Manual and one part Rand McNally.

The Domination questions come in six categories: Leadership, Weaponry, Soldier Skills, Military History, Tactics, Friends and Foes. Don’t expect softballs like: “What golfer is nicknamed The Golden Bear?” Instead, you’ll be confronted with hard core questions such as: “When utilizing the leaf sights of the M203 grenade launcher, what is the maximum range you are able to select?” The accompanying chart covers some of the other similarities and differences between Domination and Trivial Pursuit.

Collector’s Notes:

If you collect Trivial Pursuit variants or trivia games, this one could be for you. Boone has no listing.

Other “military training aids” copied wholesale from civilian trivia games:

None (that we know of).

Trivial Pursuit	Domination
family trivia game	military training aid
2 -sided rules of play	2-sided operations sheet order sheet
six plastic player tokens and 36 scoring wedges	six plastic jeeps and 36 passenger pegs
1000 Q&A cards with 6 color-coded questions	100 Q&A cards with 6 color-coded questions
civilian die	military spec die?
board has six category headquarters, 12 roll-again spaces, and no continents	board has six headquarters locations, eight roll again spaces, and seven continents