Splendor Rules: How do you Play Splendor?
Overview
Use your wealth to purchase developments and attract nobles to gain prestige and influence as a wealthy Renaissance merchant.
Game type: competitive, card, resource management
Number of players: 2-4
Suggested age: 10+
Game Pieces
40 tokens: 7 green emeralds, 7 blue sapphires, 7 white diamonds, 7 black onyx, 7 red rubies, and 5 gold jokers
90 development cards: 40 level 1, 30 level 2, and 20 level 3.
10 noble tiles
Pregame Setup
Separate the development deck into 3 piles; each pile represents its level by the number of circles along the bottom of the card. Place the 3 decks into the middle of the play area and draw the top 4 cards from each deck, placing each face up in the play area horizontally to the deck they were drawn from.
Shuffle the noble tiles and place up to 5 of them face up in the play area. The number of nobles is determined by the number of players plus one.
Special notes: If playing with 2 players, then reduce all token piles to 4 by removing 3 from each, but leave the gold tokens at 5.
If playing with 3 players, then reduce all token piles to 5 by removing 2 from each, but leave the gold tokens at 5.
Playing the Game
Play starts with the youngest player and then continues clockwise. Each player may perform only one of four actions per turn.
The four possible actions:
Take 3 gem tokens of different colors.
Take 2 gem tokens of the same color, but there must be at least 4 of the same color token for a player to perform this action on that chosen color.
Reserve 1 development card and take 1 gold token: You may only have 3 development cards in your hand at any one time and you cannot discard the card once you have taken it; you can only pay for it to be developed. You may draw a single card from any draw pile or take any unclaimed face-up card.
Pay the purchase price of 1 development card from the face-up cards or from a reserved card in your hand.
A player may never have more than 10 tokens at the end of their turn; if they do have more than 10 tokens then they must return any number of tokens until their pile is reduced back down to 10 tokens. A player may return any number of the tokens that they have just drawn and their tokens must always be visible to other players.
Development and noble cards are worth prestige points, of which you need fifteen prestige points to win.
There must always be 4 of each level of development card face up in the play area; if a player uses or reserves a face-up development card, then a new one must replace it unless all of those cards have been drawn.
Development cards have a cost (bottom left) which must be played before a player may ‘own’ the card and receive its resource bonus (top right) and prestige value (top left).
Resource bonuses listed on development cards are used to reduce the purchase cost of future development cards and to attract nobles to your business.
Development cards have a “difficulty” level represented by the 1, 2, or 3 circles along their bottom. This difficulty represents the cost to build these developments, as well as their potential value when purchased.
Noble tiles have a “value” that must be achieved before they are “attracted” to your business. The first player, by the end of their turn, with the correct resource bonuses (from their developments) wins the noble. Each noble is worth 3 prestige points, and only one noble may be won per turn; if a player might have won more than one in a single turn, then they may choose the noble they wish and may still win the other noble if it is not taken by the next turn.
Winning the Game
Play continues until a player reaches 15 points. The remaining players may then finish out their final turns and the player with the most points at the end of the final round wins the game.
