How to Play Splendor Rules
Learn how to play Splendor with our fast and easy to reference Splendor Rules
Players: 2 to 4 | Game duration from: 20 mins | Game Complexity: EASY Splendor rules pdf / rulebook | Play Splendor Online Link 1
What is the goal of Splendor?
Use your resources to acquire mines, transportation methods and artisans who will allow you to turn raw gems into beautiful jewels
Game Setup
- Shuffle each development card deck separately, then arrange them in increasing order from bottom to top in a column
- Reveal 4 cards from each level
- Shuffle noble tiles, revealing as many of them as there are players plus one
- Remove remaining tiles from the game (they will not be used)
- Place tokens in 6 distinct piles (sort them by colour) within reach of the players
2 player game
- Remove 3 tokens of each gem colour (only 4 should remain of each)
- Don’t touch gold
- Reveal 3 noble tiles
3 player game
- Remove 2 tokens of each gem colour
- Don’t touch gold
- Reveal 4 noble tiles
The Development Cards
- Purchasing development cards allows players to win prestige points
- They are visible in the middle of the table and can be purchased by everyone during the game
- Players reserve development cards during the game in their hands
- Developments in hand can only be purchased by players holding them
The Noble Tiles
- These tiles are visible in the middle of the table.
- Players automatically receive a visit from a noble at the end of their turn if they have the amount of bonuses required. They also receive a corresponding tile
- You cannot refuse a visit from a noble
- Receiving a noble is not considered as an action
- Each noble tile is worth 3 prestige points however, you can only get a single one per turn
Gameplay
Youngest player begins, with play proceeding clockwise
On your turn: You must choose to perform only one of the following actions:
- Take 3 gem tokens of different colours
- Take 2 gem tokens of the same colour (Only possible if there are 4 or more tokens available of that colour left when the player takes them)
- Reserve 1 development card and take 1 gold token (Joker)
- Purchase 1 face-up development card from the middle of the table or a previously reserved one
Selecting Tokens
- You can never have more than 10 tokens at the end of your turn (including jokers). You must return any excess tokens until you have 10 left
- A player can return all or some of the tokens they just drew
- Tokens owned by a player must be visible to everyone at all times
Reserve a development card
- Reserve a card by taking a face-up development or drawing the first card from one of the three decks without showing it to other players
- Reserved cards are kept in hand and may not be discarded
- You cannot have more than three reserved cards in hand and you can only get rid of a card by buying it
- You can only get a gold token (joker) by reserving a card
- If there is no gold left you can still reserve the card however, you won’t receive any gold
Buying a development card
- Purchase the card by spending the indicated amount of tokens on the card
- A joker token replaces any colour
- These tokens (including joker) are returned to the middle of the table
- You may purchase one of the face-up development cards or a reserved card in your hand
- Each player makes distinct rows with their acquired development cards. These are sorted by colour and stagger vertically to allow bonuses and prestige point values to be visible
- Bonuses and prestige points granted by each card must remain risible at all times
- Development cards acquired or reserved from the middle of the table must be immediately replaced by cards of the same level. All levels must have 4 face-up cards at all times (unless the deck is empty, in which case the empty spaces remain empty too).
The Bonuses
- Bonuses acquired from development cards provide discounts when purchasing new cards
- Each bonus of a given colour is equivalent to the token of that colour
- Is a player has 2 blue bonuses and wants to purchase a card which costs 2 blue tokens and 1 green token, the player only needs to spend 1 green token
- You can purchase a card without spending any tokens if you have enough development cards
The Nobles
- Each player checks the noble tiles at the end of their turn to see if one is visiting them
- A player can be visited if they have the quantity and bonuses indicated on the noble tile
- You cannot refuse a visit from a noble
- If you have enough bonuses to be visited by more than one noble, you can choose with one to be received
- The noble tile obtained is placed face up in front of you
How do you win in Splendor?
- Complete the current round and end the game when a player reaches 15 prestige points
- The player with the highest number of prestige points wins (make sure to count your nobles)
- If there is a tie, the player who purchased the least amount of development cards wins.