9.7 KiB
Splendor: A Tutorial by Juliet
Hi! I'm Juliet. I own a flower shop downtown — Petal & Stem, if you've been by. I've been running it for three years now, which means I know a thing or two about managing cash flow, sourcing inventory on a budget, and building the kind of reputation that makes customers drive past the grocery store just to come to you.
Splendor is basically that. In gem form. Let me walk you through it.
What Is This Game?
Splendor is a 2–4 player engine-building game about becoming the most prestigious jewel merchant in Renaissance Europe. You collect gem tokens, use them to buy development cards, and use those cards to buy even better cards — all while attracting the attention of powerful Nobles who grant bonus prestige.
The first player to reach 15 prestige points triggers the end of the round. Once everyone's had an equal number of turns, the player with the most points wins.
It sounds simple. It is not simple. But it is deeply satisfying once it clicks — like the moment you realize your shop doesn't need to be the cheapest in town, just the one people trust most.
The Components
Gem Tokens
There are six types of tokens, stacked in little poker-chip piles in the center of the table:
| Token | Gem | Color |
|---|---|---|
| White | Diamond | Ivory |
| Blue | Sapphire | Deep blue |
| Green | Emerald | Green |
| Red | Ruby | Red |
| Black | Onyx | Dark |
| Gold | Wildcard | Gold |
Gold tokens are wildcards — they can substitute for any color when you're buying a card. You get them by reserving cards (more on that in a minute). Think of gold like a same-day loan from a supplier: useful, but you only get it under specific circumstances.
The number of each colored token in the bank depends on player count:
- 2 players: 4 of each color, 5 gold
- 3 players: 5 of each color, 5 gold
- 4 players: 7 of each color, 5 gold
Development Cards
There are 90 development cards across three tiers, dealt face-up in rows of four (one row per tier). The deck for each tier sits face-down next to its row.
Each card has three things:
- A cost — how many gems you spend to buy it (paid in tokens)
- A gem bonus — a permanent colored gem added to your collection once you own it
- Prestige points — 0 to 5 points, depending on tier and card
Here's how the tiers break down in general:
| Tier | Cards | Point Range | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (lowest) | 40 | 0–1 pts | Cheap; mostly 0-point engine starters |
| 2 (middle) | 30 | 1–3 pts | Where the game opens up |
| 3 (top) | 20 | 3–5 pts | Expensive; these close out a win |
The gem bonus on a card acts like a permanent free token of that color. So if you own three green cards, every future card you buy is automatically discounted 3 green tokens — even if you have zero green tokens in hand. That's the engine.
Nobles
At the start of the game, three to five Noble tiles are placed in a row (one more than the number of players). Each Noble has a requirement — a certain combination of gem bonuses across your cards — and is worth 3 prestige points.
Here's the thing about Nobles: you don't buy them. If you meet a Noble's requirements at the end of your turn, they visit you automatically. You don't choose them — if you qualify for more than one, the game picks one for you.
I always think of Nobles as the wholesale clients of the gem world. You don't chase them down. You build enough of a reputation that they come to you.
Setup
- Shuffle each tier separately. Deal 4 cards face-up from each tier into a 3×4 grid. Place the remaining cards face-down as the draw decks.
- Place the Noble tiles in a row (player count + 1 Nobles total; extras are removed from this game).
- Set out the gem token piles according to player count.
- The player who most recently visited a jewelry store goes first. (The rules suggest this. I appreciate the commitment.)
Your Turn
On your turn, you do exactly one of the following four actions:
Action 1: Take 3 Different Gem Tokens
Take one token each from any three different colored piles (not gold).
This is your bread-and-butter early move. You're stocking up on raw material. I spend a lot of time at the flower market just grabbing a bit of everything — roses, eucalyptus, ranunculus — before I know exactly what arrangements I'll need. Same energy.
Action 2: Take 2 of the Same Gem Token
Take two tokens of the same color — but only if that color's pile has at least 4 tokens in it.
This is more focused. You're loading up on a specific resource because you have a card in mind. Use this when you're close to affording something specific and you know exactly what you need.
Action 3: Reserve a Card (and Take 1 Gold Token)
Pick any face-up card from the grid (or the top card of any face-down tier deck, sight unseen) and place it in your hand. You may hold up to 3 reserved cards at a time.
You also receive 1 gold token from the bank (if any remain).
Reserved cards are only visible to you. No one else can buy them while they're in your hand.
This action does two things:
- It protects a card you want before someone else grabs it
- It gives you a gold wildcard token
The downside is that reserved cards don't score points — they just sit there until you buy them. Reserve sparingly. I've seen players hoard three cards they never buy because they kept pivoting to the next shiny thing. Don't do that.
Action 4: Buy a Card
Pay the card's cost in gem tokens (from your personal supply), then take the card.
- Cards you own permanently reduce future costs by their gem bonus color — no limit, forever.
- Your tokens go back to the bank.
- If you can't pay exactly, you can use gold tokens to cover the shortfall (one gold per missing token).
You can buy any face-up card from the grid, or any card you've previously reserved.
The 10-Token Limit
You can never hold more than 10 tokens at the end of your turn. If an action pushes you over, you must immediately return tokens to the bank until you're back at 10.
Cash flow management. I track my petal budget obsessively. You can't just keep accumulating resources — you have to move them.
Noble Visits
At the end of your turn, after buying or taking tokens, check whether you qualify for any Noble tile. If you do, one Noble automatically joins your tableau and awards you 3 prestige points. If you qualify for more than one, you take only one (the game picks for you).
Once a Noble is claimed, they're gone from the board.
Nobles are worth planning around. Early on, scan the Noble tiles and notice which gem bonuses they're asking for. If two Nobles both want green cards, someone is going to pivot hard into green. Pay attention to what your opponents are collecting — they're probably not doing it randomly.
Winning
The game ends when any player reaches 15 prestige points at the end of their turn. That player doesn't win immediately — everyone else finishes the round first, so all players get the same number of turns.
After the round completes:
- Most prestige points wins.
- If there's a tie, the player with fewer development cards wins. (Efficiency counts — I respect that rule.)
Juliet's Strategy Notes
Buy Tier 1 cards, even the zero-point ones. This is the hardest thing to get new players to do. A Tier 1 card that costs 4 red tokens and gives you a permanent green bonus feels like a waste. It is not. It's infrastructure. At Petal & Stem, I spent the first six months of business buying equipment that didn't directly make money — refrigeration, delivery bags, the good scissors. You need the foundation before you can build the thing.
Pick a Noble early and commit. Look at the Noble tiles before your first turn. Pick one that appeals to you and quietly build toward their requirements. Don't let yourself get distracted by every good card on the board. Focus wins this game. Scattered wins almost nothing.
Watch what other players are taking. If someone keeps grabbing blue tokens, they're either saving for a specific card or gunning for a blue-heavy Noble. Either way, start thinking about whether you want to grab the blue cards they need before they do. Not to be mean — just to be smart.
Don't over-reserve. Reserving a card to block an opponent is a real tactic, but only when you're actually going to buy it eventually. Holding three reserved cards you can't afford is like committing to three wholesale orders without the cash to pay for them. It locks up resources you could be spending elsewhere.
Gold tokens are late-game fuel. Early on, you don't need gold — you should be building your engine from color tokens. But in the mid-to-late game, a well-timed reserve action that nets you a gold token can make the difference between buying that Tier 3 card this turn or three turns from now. Timing matters.
The endgame is a sprint. Once someone starts collecting prestige points quickly — multiple Tier 2s and 3s, a Noble or two — the pace picks up fast. Don't fall so in love with your engine that you forget to spend it. At some point you have to stop buying roses and start making bouquets.
That's really the whole game. It's elegant once you see how the pieces fit — token to card to bonus to better card, with Nobles as the bonus objective tying it all together. It rewards patience, a little attention to what other people are doing, and knowing when to stop building and start finishing.
Good luck out there. And hey — if you're ever near downtown, stop by Petal & Stem. I'll be the one in the back doing cost analysis on peony margins.
— Juliet (Florist, Aspiring Gem Merchant, Believer in Tier 1 Infrastructure)