Splendor

Splendor (2014) is a trading-up strategy game where you play a global trader during the European Renaissance. Nobles once content with large castles and fur robes, now seek dark sapphires and glittering diamonds. You must balance accruing currency or investing in assets to maximise your wealth faster than other players. It's unusual because it offers the race-to-riches of Monopoly without having to deal with other players taking your wealth.

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Play involves deciding whether to draw specific types of gems from the bank or spend them on the card assets on the table. As you build a collection of these cards they provide gems of their own to reduce the cost of your next purchases. This creates an exciting snowballing of wealth which you must leverage to buy cards worth 15 points to win the game.

As you progress, the super expensive items that seemed out of reach to begin with, become possible to attain. There's a thrill in how you build your economic world because each and every decision can tip things in your favour as long as you look ahead at what asset cards fit with your resources.

The result is a board game that's quick to learn but with a depth that requires you to think ahead. Strategies develop where you laser focus on a single currency, race to the larger commodities or foil other players by hoarding currency or reserving cards they may want.

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Our examiner, Andy Robertson, first checked Splendor 2 years ago. It was re-examined by Ellen Robertson and updated 6 months ago.