I have wanted to play Splendor since I heard it was nominated
for the prestigious 2014 Spiel de Jahres award, and had the opportunity at last
week’s game night. I enjoyed it. It’s a quick one to learn and a good one to
play when you don’t want to devote too much time to a game.
This one is all about gemstones. The gems are represented by very sturdy “poker”
chips. These chips are used to buy cards
that give you points to win the game. It
takes 15 points to win the game.
Each turn consists of one of the following moves:
a.
Take 3 different color gemstones from the gem
pool
b.
Select 2 of the same color gemstones (if at
least 4 are available)
c.
Reserve a card from the board so that no one
else has the opportunity to purchase it until you have enough gems to afford
purchasing it yourself. You also get a wild gemstone when you do this
d.
Purchase a card
There are 3 value tiers of cards available for purchase – the
currency used to buy the cards is gemstones.
The higher the tier, the more gemstones are needed for purchase.
·
Tier I cards generally do not provide victory
points, instead these cards have a gemstone printed in the top corner which
will provide a discount of that gemstone on all future purchases. These help
you build up gemstones so that you can afford more expensive cards.
·
Tier II cards provide victory points as well as
providing permanent gemstones.
·
Tier III cards provide the most victory points
and also provide permanent gemstones.
A bonus can be earned with “Noble” tiles. These have a printed gemstone requirement on
them. The first player to meet these
requirements will collect the noble tile and earn additional victory points. These
tiles are not replenished and can really sway the game in someone’s favor.
Overall, this game is interesting but not super exciting.
There isn’t a lot of variety in the game because there aren’t that many unique
actions.
Positives
- Rules are simple to learn and teach
- The gem chips are well made
- Artwork is very pretty
Negatives
- It is hard for a new player to compete with a more experienced player
- If a player falls behind, it can be very difficult to catch up
- Not enough unique things to do in the game
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