We started from the bottom, now we’re here… at the top of Renaissance society! Splendor is a delightful game about increasing your renown in the 1500s (ish) and climbing that social ladder until you are known as the best merchant around.
The first thing to jump out at us? The super satisfying gem tokens. For tactile players, these poker chips with different sparkly gems are just right. The card design and the art in general are all very lovely as well.
Splendor is an easy game to learn, set up, and play. Our nine-year-old and eleven-year-old picked up how to play the game very quickly and developed their own strategies almost immediately. They also had to practice simple math, adding their different gem assets to determine what cards they could afford.
Turns move fast but take some planning ahead to figure out how many turns of gem collection you need before you can buy what you want. And that card might be snapped up by another player! This encouraged our kids to think quickly and adjust their plans as they went.
11yo: “I liked the strategy part. People can take the cards you are thinking of, so you have to be on your toes!”
This is a competitive game, and we found we got points slowly at the beginning but gained speed as the game progressed. Players who like to set up winning combinations will love that aspect of Splendor! And we found our scores at the end of the game were pretty tight—no one felt like they were way behind the other players in renown. Splendor recommends that players be ten years or older, but we feel many eight year olds would have no problem learning the rules.
9yo: “I would love to play this with my friends.”
Our kids loved this game, and since it’s for two to four players, it’s one they can easily pull out to play together or with friends. It also has a classic game feel, and we can see it being a game our family takes off the shelf for many, many years!
Helpful hints
- Impressing the nobles is a great way to get points, don’t forget about them!