Thoughts on… Splendor
Wearily, you drop your pack at your feet and slump to the forest floor. It has been many hours since you broke camp and you’re exhausted. 5 days out from the last village, and you’re beginning to give up hope of finding the source of the small glittering stones the locals wear. The river is where they find them, but you know they are merely a shadow of what might be buried inland, if only you could find them! There are still a few hours before nightfall, so you begrudgingly get to your feet, then freeze. There! Beside your pack! Something caught the sunlight. You scrabble at the dirt to excavate your prize. An emerald! You found the source! Laughing, you raise the stone to the sunlight. As the green light plays across your face, you see within the refracting crystal edifices glimpses of your glorious future. This stone is just the beginning.
Some games take you on a journey. Splendor will take you from frigid mountaintops, across arid deserts and into the depths of jungles in pursuit of the gemstones you covet. You will start out with nothing but the clothes on your back. But as you collect gemstones, you will be able to buy mines, giving you a regular stream of income. You will then hire experts, ships and caravans to transport your gems around the world. Eventually, you will be able to open stores in the grandest cities of the world, brushing shoulders with the richest nobles in the land. Look how far you’ve come in an hour’s game!
You start the game by picking up the amazing gem stone tokens from the market. These poker chip-like tokens are an absolute joy to hold and you will spend the game fondling them as you contemplate your next move. They give the game weight in a very real sense, and are a fantastic inclusion! But as the game progresses, your eyes will be slowly drawn away from these tokens, and focused instead on the long climb up the rows of cards to the lord and lady tiles above.
Each card in Splendor is beautifully illustrated and simple to understand. To buy the card, you need to spend the gems shown in the bottom left corner. From then on, that card will give you a permanent bonus. If you buy a sapphire mine, for every card you buy from then on, you will need to pay one less sapphire. Every time. From then on, the game accelerates relentlessly. Each purchase powering up your engine and bringing the next purchase closer. The first time you purchase a card without having to hand in a single one of your tokens is an amazing feeling. You’ve really made it!
But there’s always more to strive for. That first row of cards will only get you gems, but to win the game you need influence, victory points. The second row of cards will start to bring in those precious points, a few at a time. But of course, the cards cost more to buy. When do you make the transition between rows? Go too soon and you’ll be burning resources. Go too late and your opponents will have stolen the game from you! Once you’re there, it’s not long before you’re eyeing up the fine properties on the top row, giving huge piles of victory points but for a substantial price.
Initially, the game is very tactical. Grabbing whatever you can and making sure you are able to keep purchasing cards. But throughout the game you must keep in mind the demands of the noble tiles across the very top of the tableau. Each of these is a one shot bonus for having a set of cards that match their demands. These are unchanging throughout the game, and give everyone something to build towards. Or, to compete for.
You see, I haven’t yet mentioned your primary weapon in screwing your opponents over. Reserving cards. As your turn, you may choose to reserve a card, taking it from the tableau and effectively promising to build it later. You even get a bonus gold token when you do! Do you see something your opponents are just about to buy? Oh that would look great in my tableau I’ll just reserve that! This will nicely set them back a turn or twos gem collecting, but rarely causes too much damage. All those gems will be useful somewhere down the line!
I said Splendor was like a journey. The game has a wonderful pace and arc. You are always driven onwards and upwards and are rewarded with a real sense of progress and achievement. Putting together the pieces you need you buy that 5 point shop, and at the same time earning you a noble card, catapulting you towards your 15 point target, will elicit gasps of admiration (or frustration!) from your opponents.
A night in with Splendor is like… being slowly dipped in a bath of warmed honey. It will utterly absorb you. Then stay with you long after you’ve climbed out. And it is utterly, ludicrously luxurious. But it also leaves you with an underlying sense that maybe you should have done something better with your time.
You see, it is, without any shadow of a doubt, a magnificent puzzle. But you will each be trying to solve it alone. Indeed, your friends might as well not be there, as Splendor holds the centre of attention, each player in silent contemplation of the tableau of cards in front of them. That’s not to say there is no player interaction, indeed you should always be aware of the buying power of your opponents, lest they unexpectedly grab one of the coveted noble tiles or high scoring cards. You can take or reserve cards that they need, skim the choice gemstones from the market. That may even trigger a brief grunt of frustration, but everyone is soon back with their eyes on the table in silent concentration.
The very best games are facilitators for social interaction, providing both an intriguing puzzle for the player but lifting the action above the table top, creating a night you remember for the people you played with. Splendor fails on this level. And yet! The puzzle is so good, so intriguing that you will keep coming back again and again to try and master it. We just can’t not recommend such a magnificently crafted game, and indeed, experience.
So buy Splendor! Relish the puzzle in front of you. But remember that a life spent obsessed with the allure of gold and jewels will always leave you unfulfilled…
Leave a Reply