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.

What I love most is how Splendor balances luck and strategy. The randomness of card draws keeps things fresh, but smart decision-making always shines through. It scales well with 2–4 players and never feels stale. If you’re looking for a game that’s easy to teach, fun to play repeatedly, and genuinely rewarding to master, this one delivers. Highly recommend for family game nights, casual players, and strategy lovers alike!

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.

This is one of my favorite board games! It’s designed for 4 players, making it great for smaller groups. It’s also easy to teach new players. Most people pick up the rules and gameplay after just one round. The goal of the game is to reach a specific number of points before the other players. You achieve this by acquiring gem cards and merchants. Cards are purchased using gems, which you collect on your turn. Each turn, you can take one of three actions: collect gems, reserve a card, or buy a card. The game itself doesn’t take too long to play, typically around 30–60 minutes. The artwork is stunning, and the quality of the game pieces is excellent.

I’ve played these games before! (Meme and unironically) Worth the money, easy to learn and setup, quick clean up. Good replayability cards were crisp and well made. Highly recommend for game nights.

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.

Very good game. Easy to learn and play - tougher to use a strong strategy. Ours came damaged (box had been dropped or something heavy on it at least twice - but game was in good shape. I'd recommend it!

Here's how this went down. My friend brought this game over to play with my girlfriend and I. He explained the rules to us in about 5 minutes, which for any hardcore gamers out there, you'll understand just how short that is; the rulebook is a one-pager with cover art and story, so you can rightfully assume that the game mechanics are NOT complicated like some other games. We then played a full round; I don't remember who won, but the very next thing I did (before my friend finished packing up the game and left) was buy this game. Immediately. After one game. That's all it took - it's superficially simple enough to master the mechanics instantly, and the strategy has an unexpected depth that has made this an immediate favorite of mine. The manufacturing quality is a really nice touch. The chips are satisfyingly weighty, and the cards have a nice finish and feel pretty durable. The box interior is a nice layout too, where all of the pieces fit in after you've unpacked everything and stay where they belong even when lugging the box around to get more people addicted. I'd say the packaging is second only to Smallworld, which (for those of you who know) has the most fantastic box organization of any game I've ever seen. This game is incredibly addictive, and appeals to a large audience. It's got enough strategy that hardcore players like me can enjoy it, and is simple enough that casual players can come in and pick it up without getting overwhelmed. It's less complicated in terms of rules than Settlers, which is arguably the upper bound on casual player difficulty. Each game runs about 30 minutes. Seriously, just shut up and buy it. It's a great game. Well worth the money.

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 ^^

We love this game! The game takes about 30 minutes to play, which is perfect for maintaining interest. It is a game of luck and strategy. Our grandchildren (aged 9 to 11) can play - and win - so it can be enjoyed by the whole family. It is easy to play but once you have played it a few times, you begin to develop diabolical strategies to beat your opponents. Beware, as it can become addictive and it can leave you seething with resentment when your opponent snatches victory just as you thought you had it in the bag!

Terrible quality of materials, the cards and chips are made of cheap and thin paper. But it's enough to play neatly