RuleRunner

Splendor rules

Renaissance gem merchants racing to 15 prestige.

Players
2–4
Time
about 30 min
Ages
10+
Goal
Collect gem tokens to buy development cards. Cards give prestige points and permanent gem discounts, and attract nobles. Reaching 15 prestige ends the game; most prestige wins.

Ask RuleRunner about Splendor

How to play Splendor

Setup

  1. Shuffle the three development card decks separately and stack them face down in a column, level 1 at the bottom and level 3 at the top. Reveal 4 cards from each level beside its deck, in three rows.
  2. Shuffle the nobles and reveal one more than the number of players. The rest are removed from the game.
  3. Sort the tokens into six piles: five gem colours and gold.
  4. Gem tokens: with 2 players, remove 3 tokens of each gem colour (4 left each); with 3 players, remove 2 of each (5 left); with 4, use all 7. Keep all 5 gold.
  5. The youngest player goes first; play then proceeds clockwise.

Your turn

On your turn, take exactly one of these four actions:

  1. Take 3 gems of three different colours (never gold).
  2. Take 2 gems of the same colour, only if that pile has at least 4 before you take them.
  3. Reserve a card, face up or the top of any deck, and take 1 gold if any is left.
  4. Buy a card, face up or one you reserved earlier.

Early on, cheap level 1 cards are worth buying even with no points: their bonuses make every later card cheaper.

End of your turn

  1. Token limit: over 10 tokens (gold included)? Return tokens of your choice down to 10.
  2. Nobles: if your card bonuses meet a noble's requirement, it visits you for 3 prestige, at most one per turn.

Buying cards

Example: A card costs 3 blue + 2 green and you own 2 blue-bonus cards. You pay 1 blue + 2 green, or 1 blue, 1 green and 1 gold.

Game end & winning

Expansion rules

Only needed if you play with the expansion named on each heading.

The Cities The Cities

The Cities replaces the Nobles with City tiles. Fulfilling a City's requirements starts the final round.

  1. Setup: return the Noble tiles to the box. Shuffle the City tiles and put 3 in play, each on a random side.
  2. Fulfil a City at the end of your turn if your prestige and cards meet what it shows.

The Trading Posts The Trading Posts

Trading Post tiles give you permanent powers for owning the right combination of cards.

  1. Setup: make 5 stacks of Trading Post tiles, one per power, each holding as many tiles as there are players. Put them below the Noble (or City) tiles.
  2. Gain one at the end of your turn, after Nobles, if you own the cards it needs: 1 per turn, and you keep it for good.

The Orient The Orient

The Orient adds 30 extra development cards with special effects. They sit beside the base cards in each row.

  1. Setup: shuffle each Orient deck and reveal 2 cards from it, placing them to the right of the base cards of the same level with a gap between. Each row now has 4 base cards and 2 Orient cards.
  2. Refill each bought or reserved card from its own deck, base or Orient.

The Strongholds The Strongholds

Strongholds let you claim face-up cards so no one else can buy them, and conquer a card with all three.

  1. Setup: each player takes 3 Strongholds of one colour and puts them in their play area.
  2. After each purchase you must place or move one of your Strongholds onto a face-up card without an opponent's, or send back a lone opponent Stronghold.
  3. Take them back when you buy or reserve a card holding them.

Game end with the Cities The Cities

All Splendor rules (43)

General

Actions

Clarification

Limits

Scoring

The Cities expansion

The Trading Posts expansion

The Orient expansion

The Strongholds expansion

Expansions covered

More about Splendor