Splendor (2024 Refresh)

Splendor is an outstanding board game that’s easy to learn but offers great strategic depth. The rules are simple, making it perfect for new players, yet each game feels engaging and competitive as you plan your moves and adapt to others’ strategies. The components are high quality, especially the poker-style chips, which add a premium feel to the experience. It plays smoothly with different group sizes and doesn’t drag on, making it ideal for both casual game nights and serious strategy sessions. Every round feels rewarding, and the replay value is excellent. Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys smart, elegant board games.

Great game for 2 to 4 players. I play 1 vs 1 against my wife all the time and it's such a good game. When we bring it to her parent's house we can play with 4 people and it's almost like a totally different game because the strategy changes a lot with more players. Super fast and simple set up, easy to teach new players, and surprisingly well balanced for such a simple concept. Overall, it's a great game that I can play over and over without getting bored.

Overview Splendor is a quick strategy game where you assume the role of a wealthy merchant tasked with acquiring precious stones. I came across Splendor in my search for a good game to play with my wife, and it did not disappoint. With 2 people you can finish a game within 30 minutes, so we usually end up playing a few rounds. Components There are 3 decks of cards (going from most affordable/least valuable to most expensive/most valuable), a set of nobles cards, and 6 types of gem chips. The cards feel sturdy and are beautifully illustrated. They card designs look different (in a good way) than what is pictured on Amazon. The nobles cards are nice and thick. The chips feel very solid and have a nice weight to them. They do not feel cheap. Gameplay Splendor is deceptively easy to learn and plays fairly quickly - if people are paying attention. Paying attention is key, because everyone’s cards/tokens are available for all to see at all times. Setup involves shuffling the 3 separate decks of cards (labelled I, II, and III on the back) and laying out 4 cards from each deck next to the decks. There are also nobel cards that will be shuffled and placed on the table for everyone to see. Amazon’s picture shows how the playing area is set up. The last component are the chips which are stacked up and placed in view of all players. Players take turns deciding if they want to take 2 chips of the same color, 3 chips of different colors, buying a card with chips they already have, or reserving a card. Once you buy a card, it’s value can be put toward the purchase of other cards, and you do not lose any cards you’ve purchased. Some of the cards have numbers on them which represent victory points. The first to 15 victory points wins. The nobles can be earned by obtaining the number of cards listed on the noble’s card (ex 3 blue cards, 3 red cards, 2 white cards). Whoever is the first to obtain the required cards automatically gets the noble card and the victory points along with it. While the idea of collecting chips to buy cards is simple enough, there is a bit of strategy needed if you want to win. If you don’t have a plan to buy certain colors, in order to buy other colors, in order to finally acquire a certain noble, you may very well end up losing. And even when you have a plan, sometimes the chips you want or the card you want are no longer available, and you have to make a plan B. Part of the fun comes in when you figure out what your opponent is trying to do, and reserve or buy the card they needed, just to cut them down a peg. Some might think its a jerk move (AKA my wife) but I’m playing to win! If people are paying attention and thinking about what they want to do on their turn, then turns, and games can go by pretty quickly. 15 points is not a lot once you figure out how to play the game. But if you have that person that you always have to say “hey it's your turn” then the game will take a bit longer. The game plays great with just 2 people up to the max of 4 people. There is plenty of replayability and you will have to adjust your strategy a little each time depending on the cards and nobles in play. Summary I own a number of board games (such as Dominion, Smash Up, Munchkin, 7 Wonders, Citadels, Love Letter), most of which are more complex than Splendor. Whenever I want to relax and play a game with my wife, Splendor is one of my first choices. It’s quick enough that we can easily fit in a game or two, yet has enough strategy to make it an enjoyable game to come back to again and again. I paid around $30 for the game, which I felt was a fair price. It is a great for light gaming but people who have played heavier board games can also enjoy it.

Great for board game nights. Easy to teach new players, but enough depth in the game to replay many times. Weight of the tokens are good and they feel high quality. Highly recommend as part of your main board game rotation

Very quick to learn and quick to play, but takes some serious observation of what you can do and what your opponents have done to develop a (flexible) winning strategy. Good for both beginners and experienced gamers, and shouldn't take more than 30-40 minutes to play. I recommend getting sleeves for the cards (2.5"x3.5" "poker" sized) because they will get used a lot. I'm not a big fan of the chips, but most people seem to like them and they are certainly much better than the cardboard chits you would have expected to get with most boardgames. The artwork is nice, but the theme feels pasted on. They could have made this with no artwork at all and it would have played exactly the same (and been just as much fun). The mechanics are relatively simple: you have a tableau of cards laid out, 4 each from 3 different decks. The cards from the I deck are the cheapest to buy and the least valuable, worth 0 or 1 point for victory; the cards from the II deck cost more and are worth 1-3 points; and the cards from the III deck are the most expensive to buy and the most valuable, worth 3-5 points each. Cards you purchase are played face up in front of you and give you a permanent discount thereafter, so purchasing a white diamond card (for example) gives you a permanent discount of 1 white for all future purchases. The price of a card is in the lower left, and cards are purchased with any combination of the right color cards and gem tokens. Thus, if a card costs 5 green to purchase, you could purchase it with 5 green tokens, the discount from 5 previously purchased green cards, 3 tokens and the discount from 2 previously purchased cards, etc. A gold joker token is "wild" and can be used in place of any color in the price on a one-to-one basis, so in the above example you could buy the card with 2 green gem tokens, discount from 2 previously purchased green cards, and a gold joker token. Purchased cards are replaced immediately from the appropriate deck, and gem tokens used to purchase a card are returned immediately to the supply/bank. If you purchase cards of the appropriate colors, either 4 each of 2 specific colors or 3 each of 3 specific colors, you get a "visit" from a "noble." This simply means you collect the appropriate noble tile. Nobles are worth 3 points each. On each turn, you take one of three actions: purchase a card that is face up or that you have previously reserved; reserve a card to your hand so that only you may purchase it on a later turn; or collect gem tokens. You may only reserve a card up to a total of 3 in hand, and the only way to clear a reserved card out of your hand is to purchase it on a later turn. If there are any gold jokers available, you get one when you reserve a card; this is the only way to get a gold joker token. To collect gem tokens, you may take 2 of a same color if at least 2 of that color would be left in the supply after you take yours (at least 4 present before you take your 2), or you can take 1 each of 3 different colors. If you have more than 10 tokens (gems and jokers) at the end of your turn, you must immediately discard down to 10 total. (There are a few edge cases to read up on, but that's the basic gameplay.) The game is played until at least 1 player reaches 15 points. When that happens, the current round is finished out so that everyone has had an equal number of turns, then the player with the most points wins. In a tie, whomever purchased the fewest cards wins the tiebreaker. The strategy lies in planning out how to get the cards and/or tokens you need for future purchases, identifying the cards your opponent is hoping to purchase, and controlling the very limited supply of tokens and visible cards by buying/collecting/reserving what your opponent wants or needs. You cannot directly attack an opponent; once a card is purchased, she has it permanently; once she collects gem tokens, she has them until she chooses to spend them. It is all a matter of forward thinking, preparing for your future card purchases and impeding or obstructing your opponent's intended future card purchases. The deck III cards have a uniform distribution of costs and values among the 5 card colors; the deck II and I cards do not. It's simple to understand, quick to set up, quick to play, fun to look at, fun to handle the tokens (chips), and most importantly, fun to play. The only random element is shuffling the 3 decks and the nobles before set up; it's basically all decisions after that. Bottom line: does it play well? Yes it does. Can you teach and play quickly? Yes you can. Will it still be as fun on the 50th play? Yes it will (is). Does it give good value for your entertainment dollar? Yes it does. Some people have called it a "filler" game, which is a special term among gamers meaning you can set up and play fairly quickly, without major strategy time/planning required, and still have fun. I also like to describe it as a "gateway" game, which means it can draw people who who usually don't think of themselves as gamers into the scene. It hits that sweet spot of affordable, quick, fun, non-cutthroat, with meaningful decisions, for many people. Edit: I personally don't like the tokens. They are better than the cardboard you would usually expect in a boardgame, but I find it's a little more fun for us to use "pirate" coins Pirate Dubloons, Set of 5 Replica Coins for the gold joker tokens, and acrylic "pirate" gems Jumbo Adhesive Jewels (100 pc) for the gem tokens. I am not 100% satisfied with the acrylic gems for this purpose, but the coins are perfect.

The game is simple, collect enough points to win. The strategy is ever evolving, collect what you need, while obstructing your opponent from gathering what they need. Since purchasing Splendor, my wife requests to play it most nights. It's easy to set up and 2-player games can be had in 20 minutes or so. We play it often enough that we have yet to put it with the other games, it just remains on the table day after day. I'm not saying you will get that much play out of it, but finding a game that plays well as at 2-player can be tricky sometimes. Game play is simple, you do one of the following actions: take gem tokens (2 of the same color if 2 will also remain, or 3 of any 3 different colors), purchase a card, reserve a card and take a gold token (wild), or pay for a card previously reserved. The general idea is to purchase enough lower level cards (they have color coded gems on them too) to be able to purchase upper level cards later on. When purchasing, you give the bank back all token chips you use, but not the cards you use to make the purchase. So if you end up with one of each 5 types (Onyx, Diamond, Ruby, Emerald, and Sapphire) and another card comes up that requires one token of each color, you have the ability to pay nothing for the card and place it in your pile. Reserving a card is what I really enjoy about the game. If you are just one token shy of building the card you want or you think your opponent may want (or really need) a specific card, you can reserve it. Take the card, place it face down and take a gold token. On a later turn, when you have satisfied the cost of the card, you can pay the price and place that card in your inventory. The reservation of a card is limited to three (3) cards in reserve at any given time. This can be a useful strategy when trying to thwart your opponent because they may build the card they need to achieve a "Noble" card. Noble cards are placed at the top of the card draw area. The number of nobles is always the number of players plus one. Each noble is worth 3 points. So for a 2 player game, 9 points is sitting up there for the taking. Each noble has a requirement that must be satisfied before it can be won. These goals are in the number and type of specific cards you have acquired (such as 3-ruby cards, 3-onyx cards, and 3-diamond cards). If your opponent is only 1 card away from a noble and you are trying to achieve the same one, you can reserve the card they need, and on your next turn try and build the card you need to win it. Overall, we typically play 3 rounds before my eyes hurt from studying the requirements of all the cards and my brain refuses to take any more (a little more than an hour). At that point, I call it quits (until the next night). We have owned the game for 11 days now and have played it on 9 nights. I've got to find another 2-player game before we burn ourselves out.

This is a great addition to game night! It's easy to learn and fun to play. It doesn't take all night to play, either. Highly recommend

We've been playing this game regularly over the past couple years with friends and family. It's fairly easy to learn for newbies, and you can play through a game in around 45 minutes or so. It is a resource building game, where you obtain coins to purchase resource cards and the resource cards you accumulate count as coins to buy more expensive and more valuable cards. Some of the resource cards have victory points (you need 15 to win) and the more expensive cards have the most victory points. If you have enough resource cards of the necessary colors, you obtain noble cards that are worth 3 victory points each. Strategy involves attempting to monopolize certain resource colors, while at the same time building a resource base and depriving opponents of resources they need, building up resources to obtain nobles, while at the same time obtaining victory points as fast as possible. And it is the noble cards that make the game replayable. You don't have to get nobles to win, but it helps a lot. Each game features a different set of noble cards being displayed, and these control demand for certain resources. For example, if 4 of the 5 nobles displayed require 3 or 4 red resource cards to obtain, and none of the nobles require a blue resource card, then players are going to vie for the red resource cards because without them, your chance of getting a noble is limited. OTOH, the blue resource cards will be less in demand. Other games may feature a greater balance of resources needed to obtain nobles, and your strategy will be to build a more balanced resource base while obtaining victory points. Every game is a bit different in this way, making replay much more fun.

Good game. Fun to play. Good quality cards and pieces. Easy to learn this game.

Entretenido y dinamico Fácil de comprender

Wir sind absolut begeistert von Splendor! Dieses Spiel ist ein echter Gewinner, der sowohl Gelegenheitsspieler als auch erfahrene Brettspielenthusiasten gleichermaßen anspricht. Die Mischung aus strategischem Denken und einfachen Regeln macht es uns leicht zugänglich, während die Tiefe der Entscheidungen und das Streben nach Prestige und Reichtum für anhaltende Spannung sorgen. Die Qualität der Spielkomponenten, insbesondere die wunderschön gestalteten Edelsteine, verleiht dem Spiel eine taktile Freude. Die Mechanik des Kartenkaufs und -aufbaus ist faszinierend und eröffnet uns vielfältige Wege zum Sieg. Ein weiterer Pluspunkt ist die kurze Spieldauer, die es ideal für schnelle Partien oder auch längere Spielabende macht. Splendor fördert strategisches Denken, Wettbewerbsgeist und Interaktion zwischen den Spielern, was zu unvergesslichen Spielerlebnissen führt. Insgesamt sind wir der Meinung, dass Splendor ein Juwel in der Welt der Brettspiele ist - ein echter Klassiker, der immer wieder auf den Tisch kommt und uns Freude bereitet.

easy to pick up. fun game bought only for $34 when on sale

J'ai vu une vidéo de présentation du jeu sur internet je me suis dis, tiens un jeu simple à expliquer et qui se joue rapidement ^^ ça change :) Je l'ai donc acheté et présenté à mes amis ! On est tous devenu accro ! Le système est très simple mais les stratégies multiples ! Après plus de 20-30 parties effectuées (à coup de 5-6 dans la soirée) j'en suis peut etre a 40-50 même et je ne m'en lasse toujours pas ! je pers je gagne (quelle fierté de gagner tellement j'ai ramé au début) ! Les jeton ressemble a des jetons de casino c'est agréable de sentir le poid des jetons quand on les manipule ! Les cartes (meme si on oublie de les regarder) sont de très bonnes qualité avec des illustrations vraiment jolies ! Je le recommande pour passer de très bonne soirées ^^