Splendor
Publisher: Space Cowboys (distributed in the US by Asmodee)
Designer: Marc André
Release Date: March, 2013
MSRP: $39.99
Number of Players: 2 to 4
Playing Time: About 30 minutes
Age Rating: 10 and up
Product #: SCSPL01US
ICv2 Rating: 3 Stars out of 5
 
The theme of Splendor suggests master jewel crafters competing for contracts with wealthy nobles of the Renaissance for wealth and fame.  Though this theme is just a thinly-pasted foil, at the least it inspired some excellent artwork from Pascal Quidault.  What we have in reality is a fairly abstract set-collecting and resource management game that plays quickly for two to four players.
 
Summary:  The "development" cards are laid out in a tableau of three rows, with four cards in each row.  Each card shows a specific combination of gems that a player must spend to purchase them.  In exchange, he earns a number of victory points (more expensive cards naturally award more points) and a credit of one gem towards all future purchases.  Collecting these credits is the cornerstone of the game's strategy.
 
The mechanics are simple enough:  On your turn take three different gems from the supply, take two matching gems, claim a card and take a "gold" (wild gem), or purchase one card.  If the purchase earns you enough gem credits to match the desires of one of the four "nobles," you immediately earn bonus points.  The game ends once a player has collected 15 points.  After a final round, the player with most points wins.
 
Originality:  It can best be said that the new concept behind Splendor is distilling the essence of its game system down to the purest and simplest form.  The idea of the game--collecting sets of resources to purchase cards that give you bonuses towards collecting future sets--is certainly nothing new.  The theme of artisans in the Renaissance certainly isn't either.  But in some way, breaking those concepts down to their smallest core is refreshing.  Much the way a simple, home-cooked meal is a delight after eating out too many days in a row.
 
Presentation:  As mentioned above, Quidault's artwork is very nice.  It is evocative of the theme, presenting various resources such as mines and trading ships, specialist gem cutters, and lovely scenes from great Renaissance cities such as Venice.  When you first open the box, do take a moment to look through the cards and enjoy much better-than-average game art.  The gem tokens are also very well presented.  You can almost believe that you could reach down and pick up the diamonds, rubies, or emeralds depicted.
 
The box itself has a striking cover with an easy to read title.  Player and game length information is prominent on all faces, and the description of the back does a very good job of presenting the core concepts of the game.  Thanks to the fabulous gem tokens, the game also has remarkable heft, despite the large amount of air inside.
 
Quality:  Asmodee continues to prove that it can find and deliver games with excellent component quality.  The gem tokens are very heavy, much like professional poker chips, which my playing group found extremely satisfying.  The cards are nice and thick, but perhaps just a little bit stiff--but that's not a worry since they are only shuffled at the beginning of the game.  My one quibble with the game’s quality is its rulebook.  I found the language to be inexact, with at least one rule being contradicted in two places.  The rulebook is very short and full of excellent color graphics, however.  I just wish it had a more thorough editorial treatment.
 
Marketability:  Splendor is sort of a tough game to classify.  On the one hand, it promises to be a very light filler game:  small group, half hour playing time, very simple rules.  On the other hand, playing it requires quite a bit of strategic thinking and a lot of planning ahead, particularly if you are going to try to outpace your opponents for the valuable and lucrative noble bonuses.  This "too heavy for a filler but too light for a strategy game" could prove to be an excellent bridge title.  On the other hand, the $40 price point and scant game components (regardless of their quality) could really hold it back.
 
Overall:  Splendor is a solid and well-designed game supported by excellent graphics and artwork.  But is it (dare I say) splendid?  The rest of my playing group enjoyed it more than I did.  To me it felt that it would have benefited from a more extensive play testing cycle, and the turns were too repetitive for me to welcome repeated plays back-to-back.  And the tacked-on nature of the theme did little to entice me either.
 
In the end, Splendor is good for what it is, and one that I wouldn’t mind revisiting every once in a while.  So I'll give this game 3 out of 5.
 
--William Niebling