How to Play

Splendor

2-4 players 30-30 min 7.4 Board Game Geek Rating

Renaissance merchants compete to accumulate prestige by acquiring gem mines, transportation, and shops. Players collect colored chips representing gems, then spend them to purchase development cards. Each card provides permanent gem bonuses for future purchases and potentially prestige points. Players can also reserve cards for later acquisition. Victory goes to whoever reaches fifteen prestige points first.

Published 2014

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

Organize Development cards

Shuffle each Development card deck separately, then place them facedown in a column in the middle of the table in increasing order from bottom to top (Level 1, Level 2, Level 3)

Reveal card rows

Reveal 4 cards from each level deck, placing them in a row to the right of their respective decks

Prepare Noble tiles

Shuffle the Noble tiles and reveal the appropriate number based on player count, lining them in a row above the cards

Set up gem supply

Sort the pieces by color and place them within reach of all players to form the supply, creating 6 distinct stacks

Keep all Gold pieces

All 5 Gold pieces remain in supply regardless of player count

Determine first player

The youngest player takes the First Player marker

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Perform one action

On your turn, you must perform exactly 1 of four possible actions

Take 3 different gems

Take 3 Gem pieces of different colors from the supply; if fewer are available, you may take 2 or 1; Gold pieces cannot be taken with this action

Take 2 same-color gems

Take 2 Gem pieces of the same color, but only if at least 4 pieces of that color are available before taking; Gold pieces cannot be taken with this action

Reserve a card

Take a faceup Development card from the table or draw the top card from any deck without showing others, then take 1 Gold piece if available

Purchase a card

Buy 1 faceup Development card from the table or 1 of your reserved cards by spending the required gem pieces

Replace purchased/reserved cards

Draw the top card from the corresponding deck to refill to 4 faceup cards per level

Check piece limit

At the end of your turn, if you have more than 10 pieces, return excess pieces of your choice to the supply

Acquire Noble tiles

At the end of your turn, if you meet a Noble's swaying requirements (matching bonuses from owned cards), take that Noble tile; this is not an action