Board game review : Splendor

We've been reviewing several games for the Asmodee UK Blogger Board Game Club recently - you may have spotted our reviews for Pandemic and Ticket To Ride over the past few weeks - and we finished off our selection with another game that we'd never heard of before : Splendor. This is another game that targets older kids aged ten and upwards, as well as adults.

Inside the box, you get a collection of 40 gem tokens, with seven of each colour (green, blue, red, white and black), as well as 5 yellow jokers.

There are also 90 development cards classed in three different levels (40 x level 1, 30 x level 2 and 20  x level 3). It's a simple game to set up, following the instructions and you just have to lay out a combination of cards - the number of cards depends on the number of players. Two to four players can play together in any game.

The game is supposed to be set in the European Renaissance period and, as a merchant, your target is to get rich quick by collecting precious stones to trade for development cards. The rules explain that global trade routes are now a reality and nobles, once content with large castles and fur robes, now seek dark sapphires and glittering diamonds to show off their wealth. You can use the cards to accumulate more gem stones and create fantastic jewellery, which will appeaI to the nobles and help you gain the prestige you need to win.

The target is to buy the cards on offer by collecting the necessary gem stones - here, for example, you need three green, two red and two black. On each turn, you can collect the precious stones needed to trade for development cards or purchase a card from the in-play 'mining stack'. This allows you to use the gem value of your card to trade for bigger and better goods, working your way through the stacks until you reach the numbered cards. The winner is the first player to hit fifteen points, and what makes it exciting is that everyone tends to work their way through the levels at the same rate, so it's a fight for victory towards the end of the game !

The artwork on the cards is really appealing and the tokens are lovely and solid, so you really feel like you're playing a quality game. One slight negative, however, is that box seems overly big for what it contains. Once you've played a few times and picked up the basics, it's very quick and simple to play, especially as you can only do one action on each turn. You need to allow about half an hour for each game, but what makes things more complicated (and competitive) is trying to work out tactics, so I guarantee you'll want to replay to try to snatch back victory after your first game !

We love the fact that it's such a simple concept to pick up but your gameplay will evolve as you play more. It always ends up as an exciting race for victory at the end of each game and you never know who's going to win !

RRP : £25.99

Disclosure : We received the product from the Asmodee UK Blogger Board Game Club in order to share our honest review.