Designer(s) Marc André Players 2 to 4 Playing time | Publisher(s) Space Cowboys Age range 10 and up Skill(s) required Resource management | |
Splendor is a multiplayer board game designed by Marc André and first published 2014 by Space Cowboy. Players are gem merchants of the Renaissance buying gem mines, transportation, and shops. The game was nominated for the 2014 Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year).
Contents
Gameplay
Splendor is a resource management game in which two to four players compete to collect the most prestige points. The game uses the following:
Each development card falls into one of three levels (•, ••, •••) indicating the difficulty of obtaining the gems required to purchase that card. Additionally, each development card has a particular gem (emerald, sapphire, ruby, diamond, or onyx), which when purchased, may be used for future development card purchases and obtaining Noble tiles. The Noble tiles and most development cards are worth a certain number of prestige points, which are added to the player's score when obtained or purchased.
Before the game begins, N+1 Noble tiles are dealt in the center, visible to the players, where N is the number of players. The remaining Nobles are removed from the game. Four cards from each level (•, ••, •••) are dealt face up visible to the players, and the rest are kept in a separate deck.
A players' turn consists of a single action, which must be one of the following:
If a player has enough development card gems, that player is "visited" by the Noble, and takes that Noble tile, after their action.
End of game
When one player reaches 15 prestige points, the players continue playing the current round until each player has taken the same number of turns. Once this occurs, the game ends.
Scoring
Once the game ends, whoever has the most prestige points wins; in case of a tie, whoever purchased the fewest number of development cards wins.