Do you like shiny things? Is your gem collection missing
that one beautiful stone to pull it all together? In Splendor, you lead a
Merchant Guild competing to produce gems and win the attention of Nobles in
your town. Show them you’ve got the most beautiful – and valuable – collection
of gems in the province, and you’ll win their hearts – and purses!
This recent release from Space Cowboys combines
resource-management and set-collection in a Renaissance-themed game for 2-4
players. Splendor provides a pleasant number of tough choices, particularly for
a game purposely designed to be easy to learn and with only a few available
actions each turn. If the Merchant in you is already counting coins, read on!
In Splendor, players are competing to score the most points
before the game ends. The first player to score 15 points triggers the final
round, after which the player with the most points is the winner. Points are
scored by collecting locations that produce gems, and by earning visits from Nobles
who are swayed by the beauty and value of your collection.
Splendor is set up in three distinct parts. First, the “gem
tokens” and the yellow gold tokens are stacked by color. In 2- and 3-player
games, some gem tokens are removed from play. Second, the “Developments” are
built by separating and shuffling the three distinct development decks, then
dealing 4 cards from each deck face-up on the table next to their deck. Third,
a number of “Nobles” equal to the number of players plus one are randomly
selected and placed face up on the table.
Play starts with the first player, and moves clockwise. Each
turn, the active player chooses from one of four actions:
1) Take 3 gem tokens of different colors (1 of each
color).
2) Take 2 gem tokens of the same color (if there
are at least 4 of that color available).
3) Build a development card by spending gem tokens.
4) Reserve a development card, and then take a gold
token if one is available.
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| The starting setup, from a fancy angle. |
Players take turns performing actions until a player scores at least 15 points, which signals the last round of the game. Most development cards are worth victory points, and represent the main way players score points during the game. Players may buy face-up development cards from any of the three decks. Though the high costs of the cards in the second and third deck typically preclude their being built early in the game, these cards are worth the most victory points.
Additionally, Nobles are worth a set number of victory points, and can be claimed by the first player to build specific numbers of different colored developments. Each Noble requires a different mix of developments to be scored, and can only be scored at the end of a player’s turn if the required developments have been built. Nobles typically provide a substantial boost to the winning player, and represent a communal goal that players pursue.
Because each player starts with no gem tokens and no
developments, the first few rounds of play are typically devoted to collecting
gem tokens and purchasing low-cost development cards. Every development card
has a cost in gem tokens and a gem it produces, and acquiring these development
cards is the key to victory.
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| Note the gems on the top-right corner of each development card. |
Every development card already built by a player lends its
gem to the available total for buying more development cards. For instance, if
a development card in the market costs a red gem token and a white gem token,
and a player has already built a development card that produces a red gem, then
the new development card will only require the player spend the single white
gem token.
In this way, players can build an “economy” of gem tokens,
with an eye towards purchasing the more expensive development cards in the
second and third decks. No player may have more than 10 combined gold and gem
tokens, and many of the development cards cost more than 10 gems to build, so
it’s necessary to acquire low-cost development cards to be competitive later in
the game.
Also, Nobles are
scored only when players have built a certain number of development cards that
produce specific colors of gems. Building development cards is the main pursuit
of Splendor, and all strategies for victory revolve around efficiently
acquiring then capitalizing on them.
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| Today on Mauri: Nobles, and the developments that attract them. |
Though it’s impossible to build expensive development cards
early in the game, it is possible for a player to “claim” them by spending the
turn’s action to take any un-acquired development card into their hand. The
claimed development card can be built for a turn’s action at any point later in
the game, provided that the player spends the appropriate gem tokens. Players
may only have, at most, three reserved cards at one time, and may never discard
them.
When a player reserves a development card, that player also
gains a gold token (if any are available). These gold tokens are “wild cards”
that can be spent as any color gem. The combination of reserving cards and
acquiring gold tokens is, in my experience, incredibly important. At the start
of the game, only four development cards are revealed from each deck, and are
replaced one-at-a-time from the appropriate deck as cards are built. This means
it’s difficult to build towards expensive development cards, as all players
have the ability to build any unclaimed card on their turn. Claiming a card
allows a player to build towards a certain goal, and removes some of the risk
of being stymied by other players’ actions. Also, the gold tokens are
incredibly useful as wild cards, and allow for significant flexibility during
the game.
I thoroughly enjoyed the first game of Splendor I played, and palled at the second. I’ve given considerable thought to this, and the best explanation I have is that Splendor feels like a really interesting mechanic that’s looking for a great game to be built around it. I enjoyed managing my economy of gems (much like managing factories in Power Grid, on a much simpler scale), and I found it interesting to plan around other players’ choices.
On the flip side, once I realized that the development cards
were perfectly symmetrical - meaning that there are equal numbers of cards of
each color, with identical distributions of gem costs – I lost interest in
playing. It feels somehow solved,
like it’s possible to calculate a “best” move given a specific game state. I’m
not sure it’s actually possible to do, and I certainly couldn’t do it during
the flow of a game, but that feeling makes me enjoy the decision-making process
much less than I otherwise would. It’s not an indictment of the game design by
any measure, but it does feel like Splendor lacks the depth that an additional
layer of design could add.
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| Boros, Dimir, Grixis, oh my! |
On the bright side, Splendor fits into a very important
niche in my game library – games that can be taught quickly and offer players a
small set of choices each turn, but that require long-term strategy to win.
Ticket to Ride is the flagship game in this genre, and Splendor is another
excellent selection. I recommend Splendor to those game groups looking for a
quick, sleek game (the components are of FANTASTIC quality) with moderate strategy
that’s easy to teach.
I would recommend that fans of “heavier” games give Splendor
a few plays before making a purchasing decision. As I mentioned above, I was
initially enamored with the game, but that faded as I realized the game was
effectively randomly decided if all players played reasonably well. Still, I
think Splendor is a worthwhile game, and I commend Space Cowboys for bringing
another “staple” game to the market that isn’t derivative of any game I’m aware
of. Also, the game gets bonus points because the five colors of gems are the
same as the five colors in Magic: The Gathering, which means that I can say the
names of all the guilds when I collect tokens!
--
JR Honeycutt is a full-time husband and game-player, and co-host of The Nerd Nighters. You can find him on Twitter at @JayAhre or at a Friendly Local Game Store in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas.
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