Splendor

Goal: be the first player to reach 15 prestige points by buying development cards and attracting nobles. Splendor is an engine-building game: every card you buy becomes a permanent discount that makes all future purchases cheaper.

Setup

• Three decks of development cards (level I, II, III) are shuffled separately; each row starts with 4 face-up cards.
• Flip player count + 1 noble tiles face up (3 nobles in a 2-player game, 4 with three players, 5 with four).
• Gem supply depends on the table size: each of the five colors starts with 4 tokens in a 2-player game, 5 with three players, and 7 with four. There are always 5 gold tokens.

Your turn: exactly one action

• Take 3 gems of three different colors. Each chosen pool must hold at least 1 token.
• Take 2 gems of the same color - only allowed while that color's pool still holds at least 4 tokens at the start of the action. You must take exactly 2.
• Reserve one card - either a face-up card from any row or the hidden top card of any deck - and take 1 gold token if any remain. You may hold at most 3 reserved cards, they stay hidden from other players, and the only way a reserved card leaves your hand is by being bought.
• Buy one card - any face-up card or a card from your reserve. Pay its cost in gem tokens; each development card you already own of a matching color reduces the price by 1 per card. Gold tokens substitute for any color. Paid tokens (including gold) return to the supply.

Discounts, gold and the token limit

Every purchased card shows one colored gem: that is a permanent discount of that color, valid for the rest of the game and never consumed. With enough discounts a card can be free. Reserving is the only way to obtain gold, and gold is a wildcard: it can replace any color when you pay, but it never counts as a discount. At the end of your turn you may keep at most 10 tokens in total, gold included; if you hold more, you must immediately return the excess to the supply.

Nobles

At the end of your turn, the table checks your purchased cards (discounts only - gems, gold and reserved cards do not count). If your discount cards match a noble's requirement, that noble visits you immediately: +3 prestige, the tile is removed, and it will never visit anyone else. You can attract at most one noble per turn, it does not cost you your action, and it can happen on the very turn you buy the cards that qualify.

Winning

The moment a player reaches 15 prestige, the current round is played out so that everyone takes the same number of turns. Then the player with the highest prestige wins. If players tie, the one who purchased fewer development cards wins.

Engine first, points second: early level I cards cost little and give discounts that compound. A cheap card bought on turn 2 pays for itself several times over a game; a 4-point card you cannot afford for five turns is usually a trap.

• Track which colors the current market rewards - buying discounts that match the cheapest available cards keeps your turns efficient.
• Reserve to deny: taking the exact card an opponent has been saving gems for is often worth more than the card itself. In 2-player games this interaction is especially strong.
• Gold buys flexibility: gold lets you buy off-schedule and dodge the 10-token limit pain. Reserve once or twice mid-game even without a target card in mind.
• Plan nobles two or three turns ahead: a noble is 3 points that also tells you which colors to invest in. If two players race the same noble, the discount cards left in the market decide who gets there first.
• Watch the pools: the "take 2 same color" rule needs 4 tokens in a pool. When supply runs low, the gems you leave behind matter as much as the ones you take.
• Count the decks: level I runs out first. Late game you must afford level II/III cards or nobles, so build your discounts with the endgame in mind.
• Timing the finish: reaching 15 does not end the game instantly - everyone finishes the current round, so opponents get one last chance to overtake you. Do not stop defending after you hit 15.

Splendor is a board game for 2-4 players designed by Marc André, illustrated by Pascal Quidault, and first published in 2014 by Space Cowboys. It was nominated for the 2014 Spiel des Jahres and quickly became a modern gateway classic thanks to its simple turn structure and satisfying engine-building loop: take gems, buy cards, turn cards into discounts, attract nobles. A typical session lasts around 30 minutes, which makes it an easy table to return to.

This page is a fan-made browser implementation of the base game:

• The complete official base deck of 90 development cards (40/30/20 across the three levels) and 10 noble tiles.
• Official table-size adjustments: fewer gems per color and fewer nobles with 2-3 players.
• Three AI difficulty levels and full rules enforcement (token limit, reserve limit, gold substitution, end-of-round finishing).

Note: this implementation uses original, generic graphics and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the publisher. All game rules are used for educational and entertainment purposes.