Looking for specific Splendor rules? | Setup | Development Cards | Playing the Game | Taking Gems | Reserving a Development Card | Purchasing a Development Card | End of Turn | Winning the Game |
Setup
- Sort the development cards based on the back of the cards. Shuffle each deck separately. Place the decks so the one circle deck is on the bottom, followed by the two circle, and three circle decks.
- Take the top four cards from each development pile, and place them face up to the right of the draw piles.
- Shuffle the noble tiles and reveal as many of them as the number of players plus one. These tiles are placed above the development cards. The rest of the noble tiles are returned to the box.
- Place the tokens on the table in six piles based on their color. If there are only two players, remove three tokens of each gem color. If there are only three players, remove two tokens of each gem color. No matter how many players there are, you will place all of the gold tokens on the table.
- The youngest player starts the game. Play moves clockwise during the game.
Development Cards
In order to win Splendor, you need to acquire development cards. Each development card has three pieces of information that are relevant to the game.
The number in the top left corner is the number of prestige points that the card is worth. You need to acquire prestige points in order to win the game.
The gem in the top right corner is the gem bonus that the card provides. When you purchase a development card, this bonus counts as the associated gem for the rest of the game. It can be used when purchasing other development cards. When you use this gem bonus to acquire a development card, you will keep the card. Development cards are never discarded after you acquire them.
Finally the number and gems in the bottom left corner indicate the cost to purchase the development card. In order to purchase a card you must pay tokens or have gem bonuses equal to all of the gems shown.
Playing the Game
On a player’s turn they will take one of four actions:
- Take One Gem of Three Different Colors
- Take Two Gems of the Same Color
- Reserve A Development Card
- Purchase A Development Card
Taking Gems
If you would like to take gem tokens, you have two options. When you choose one of these two options, you can take tokens of any color except for the gold tokens.
First you may take one gem token from three different colors. If there aren’t enough tokens left to take tokens from three different colors, you can take one token from two different colors. It is possible that you may only be able to take a token from one color.
Otherwise you may choose two gem tokens of the same color. In order to take two gem tokens from the same color, there needs to be at least four tokens of that color available.
At the end of each of your turns, you need to count how many tokens you have. This includes your gold tokens. If you have more than ten tokens, you must discard tokens until you have ten tokens left. You can choose which tokens you want to get rid of. Any tokens you get rid of are returned to their corresponding piles.
Reserving A Development Card
If there is a development card that you really want but can’t currently afford, you can choose to reserve it. This is a good idea if you think another player will take the card before you can purchase it. To reserve a card you will take the card you want, and add it to your hand. A player may never have more than three development cards in their hand at any time. You may never discard a development card from your hand. To get a card out of your hand, you need to purchase it on a future turn.
Usually you will want to reserve one of the face up cards from the table. You could also choose to reserve the top face down card from one of the three decks. If you take a face down card, you won’t show it to the other players until you purchase it.
The card that was taken is replaced by a card from the same deck. Take the card, and place it face up in the now empty space.
Whenever you reserve a development card, you get to take a gold token. Gold tokens are wild and can be used as a token of any other color. If there are no gold tokens left, you can still reserve a card but you won’t get a gold token.
Purchasing A Development Card
If you would like to purchase a development card, you can either buy one of the development cards on the table or one of the cards in your hand.
To purchase a development card you must spend the tokens or use gem bonuses (see the Development Card section above) equal to the gems shown in the bottom left corner of the card. A gold token may replace one of the tokens required to purchase the card. Any tokens you use are returned to the piles on the table. You keep any cards you used for their gem bonuses.
Once you purchase a development card, you will place it face up in front of yourself. The development cards should be sorted into piles based on the gem in the top right corner. The cards should be displayed so all of the gems and prestige points are visible.
If you purchased one of the cards from the table, you will draw a card from the corresponding deck. Turn the card face up, and place it in the now empty space on the table.
End of Turn
After you have taken an action, you will check to see if you can acquire one of the tiles. Each noble token has a number in the top left corner. This number is the amount of prestige points it is worth once you acquire it. Below that number is a series of different gems with numbers next to them. This is what a player needs in order to acquire the noble tile.
To acquire a noble tile, you need to have purchased development cards that have the required gems on them. If you meet the requirements for more than one of the noble tiles, you will choose which tile you prefer. You can only take one noble tile each turn. When you take a noble tile, you will place it in front of you. It will be worth prestige points equal to the number in the top left corner.
You should also check to make sure that you don’t have more than ten tokens. If you have more than ten tokens, you will have to discard tokens until you are down to ten tokens.
Play will then pass to the next player clockwise.
Winning Splendor
When one of the players reach 15 prestige points between their development cards and noble tiles, the game will enter its final round. Each player who hasn’t had a turn yet this round will get to take one more turn so all of the players have had the same number of turns.
Players will then count up how many prestige points they have acquired. The player who acquired the most prestige points wins Splendor. If there is a tie, the tied player with the least development cards wins the game.
Components
- 7 Emerald Tokens
- 7 Sapphire Tokens
- 7 Ruby Tokens
- 7 Diamond Tokens
- 7 Onyx Tokens
- 5 Gold Tokens
- 90 Development Cards
- 10 Noble Tiles
- Instructions
Year: 2014 | Publisher: Space Cowboys | Designer: Marc André | Artist: Pascal Quidault, Paul Vérité
Genres: Card Drafting, Engine Building, Set Collection
Ages: 10+ | Number of Players: 2-4 | Length of Game: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Light-Moderate | Strategy: Moderate | Luck: Light-Moderate
For more board and card game rules/how to plays, check out our complete alphabetical list of card and board game rules posts.