Splendor - Tips & Strategies

The cards on the first row vary greatly in their “chip cost”. I try and look for “bargain” cards (cards obtained with the fewest number of chips). For example, one card in the first row may cost three chips (say two red and one white). That card has the same value as another card that may cost four or five chips. Buying a card that requires three chips is a 25% savings over one that requires four, and a 40% savings over one that needs five chips. Saved chips can be used in conjunction with purchased cards for bigger purchases as the game progresses. First row cards that cost four chips of the same color are worth one point, which is worth considering in a game that only requires 15 points to win.

We have noticed that the people who go 1st or second usually win. This is not the only game that has a problem like this. Our solution we are trying is to give the 3rd and 4th player their choice of 1 chip each just before the game starts. This gives them the chance at a resource card by the 2nd round also.

There is a “Over looked Rules tip” in this section that says there is only one 1 noble per player (3 for 3 players). That is not true.

From the rule book:
“Shuffle the noble tiles and reveal as many of them as there are players
plus one (example: 5 tiles for a 4 player game).”

Take a moment to look at what other players have purchased. Then look at what they can get, both nobles and higher value cards. Reserve a card that a player needs to win. Even if you don’t need the card you force the opponent’s plans to change.

After last night’s defeat, I certainly learned something about Splendor. One of the keys to winning is to not let yourself become so engrossed with building the perfect engine that you forget about gaining points. I had a really awesome engine going, but my wife was grabbing point resource cards more often than I was. Even at my final turn, an 8 point turn, I still came up short.

So, strategy – get as many point resources as you can as often as you can. This is how you win.

After many 2-player plays we have noticed a few factors that caused us to try a variant:
1) The number of 2nd and 3rd row cards taken is very low. The predominant strategy is to go for the Nobles.
2) If the nobles are all looking for a common gem/color, one player can pretty much control that gem and run the table of nobles. This is not uncommon for two players.
3) Reserving a card is too costly for 2 players. (There is no gold in the game).
4) These are much less likely with more players.
Try this simple variant for 2 players.
Set out only 2 nobles instead of 3.
In a few plays this seems to mitigate the runaway leader and makes the game a little different with players going for the 2nd and 3rd row more.
There is nothing wrong with the game the way it is, but this changes it up a bit for those of us who have played it a lot.

If you don’t know about it there is a set of four promo nobles for the game. The company gives these out at conventions and through tournaments.

Lately we have been starting play with the Nobles face down so no one know what cards they need to have to collect them. Now for your turn you or anyone can turn over one card to see what it is. This is a great catch up mechanic, because the people who think they are getting close to maybe getting a Noble use a turn to see a Noble and find out if they are close or not. Everyone seems to enjoy this tactic. We then had our first game go to 15 with out anyone getting a Noble, which was funny because people would turn a Noble over only to find out they are not even close to it. So every once in a while we make it so you must have at least one Noble to win. Just a few simple House Rules we use but none are really need to get this game out on the table.

The recipe colors on the cards are in the same order: white, blue, green, red, black. Set out the draw gem stacks and keep your personal stacks in the same order. This makes it easy to see if you have what you need and to find the gems you want. This makes play go a little faster.
Unfortunately, the recipes for the nobles are in a different order. Maybe that’s an oversight that will get changed in a future edition.

Don’t forget:
3 card hand limit, for reserved cards

10 gem token limit at end of turn, must discard

You can only take 2 of the same kind if there are at least 4 of that color in supply. 3 or less in supply can only be acquired in a “take 3 different gems action.

There are only 1 noble available per player. So a 3 player game has 3 nobles.

You can reserve a card even if there are no Gold Tokens available.

You can “try your luck” and reserve a card stright from the top of a deck to your hand.