Splendor Duel Rules

Game Overview

The players take turns, one after another, until the end of the game is triggered. On your turn, you take tokens from the board or use those in your possession to buy Jewel cards, which award you the Prestige points and Crowns you require to win. These cards also offer special abilities and bonuses, which reduce the cost of acquiring future Jewel cards. To win, you must fulfill one of the three conditions indicated on the Victory tile.

Contents

• 1 Victory tile
• 67 Jewel cards divided into 3 levels (30 Level 1, 24 Level 2, 13 Level 3)
• 1 Bag
• 3 Privilege scrolls
• 25 Tokens: 4 in each of the 5 gem colors (blue, white, green, black, and red), 2 Pearls, and 3 Gold
• 1 Board
• 4 Royal cards

Setup

1. Shuffle the 3 decks of Jewel cards separately, then place them in a column, with the deck of Level 3 cards at the bottom.
2. Reveal 3 Level 3 cards, 4 Level 2 cards, and 5 Level 1 cards to form a pyramid below the Victory tile.
3. Place the board below the pyramid and randomly place the 25 tokens on it, starting with the central space and following the printed spiral.
4. Place the 3 Privilege scrolls above the board.
5. Place the 4 Royal cards below the board.
6. Choose the first player randomly. Their opponent takes 1 Privilege and places it in front of themselves.

Player Turn

On your turn, you first perform none, one, or both of the optional actions in order. Then, you must perform one mandatory action.

Optional Actions

1 — Use a Privilege

Return 1 or more Privileges to their place above the board. For each Privilege returned, take 1 Gem or Pearl token of your choice from the board. This action cannot be used to take a Gold token. Your tokens must be visible to your opponent at all times.

2 — Replenish the Game Board

You cannot perform this action if the bag is empty. Mix the tokens in the bag and place them on empty spaces, starting with the central space and following the printed spiral until the bag is empty. Then, your opponent takes 1 Privilege.

Important: When you must take a Privilege and there are none left above the board, take 1 from your opponent. If you already have all 3 Privileges, nothing happens.

Mandatory Actions

You must perform one of the following three actions. If you cannot perform any of them, you must perform the “Replenish the Game Board” optional action before choosing your mandatory action.

Take Up to 3 Tokens

Take up to 3 adjacent Gem and/or Pearl tokens from the board. The tokens must be in an uninterrupted horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line. You can take 2 adjacent tokens or even a single token. This action cannot be used to take a Gold token.

If you use this action to take 3 tokens of the same color or 2 Pearls, your opponent takes 1 Privilege.

Take 1 Gold Token and Reserve 1 Jewel Card

You cannot perform this action if there are no Gold tokens on the board, or if you already have 3 reserved cards.

First, take 1 Gold token of your choice from the board. Then, you must either:

• Take 1 Jewel card of your choice from the pyramid, OR
• Draw the top card from one of the 3 decks

You cannot have more than 3 reserved cards. Keep your reserved cards secret from your opponent (either facedown in front of you, or in your hand). You may look at your reserved cards at any time.

This action is the only way to take a Gold token. Reserved cards, like cards in the pyramid, have no effect until they are purchased. There is no penalty for having reserved cards at the end of the game.

When you reserve a card from the pyramid, replace it with a new card from the corresponding deck, placing it faceup in the pyramid. If the corresponding deck is empty, the card is not replaced.

Purchase 1 Jewel Card

Choose a card from the pyramid or your reserve, pay its cost in tokens (as depicted on the bottom left of the card), and place that card faceup in front of you. Place spent tokens in the bag. Gold tokens are wild and can be used in place of any Gem or Pearl token.

Once purchased, a Jewel card grants you its bonus(es), depicted on the top right. Each bonus decreases the cost of future card purchases. For example, purchasing a card with a green bonus reduces the green gem cost of all future purchases by 1.

Some Jewel cards have 2 bonuses, thereby granting a 2-token cost reduction. It is possible to have enough bonuses to reduce the cost of a card to 0 tokens. The cost of a card may not be reduced below 0 (meaning you cannot gain tokens when purchasing cards).

Organize the cards you purchase in front of you, sorted by bonus color. Cards may be overlapped to save space. However, the top of the card (bonus, points, Crowns, and bonuses) must remain visible.

Card Abilities

If the card you just purchased has an ability, resolve that effect now:

• Take another turn immediately after this one ends.
• Associate with another card — Place this card so that it overlaps a Jewel card with a bonus. Treat this card's bonus as though it were the same color of the card it is placed on top of. If you do not have a card with a bonus, you cannot purchase this card.
• Take 1 token matching the color of this card from the board. If there are no such tokens left, ignore the effect. OR take 1 Gem or Pearl token from your opponent. If your opponent has no such tokens, ignore this effect. You cannot take a Gold token from your opponent.

Crowns & Royal Cards

The top of some Jewel cards depict 1 or more Crowns.

• Upon acquiring your 3rd Crown, take 1 of the available Royal cards and resolve its ability.
• Upon acquiring your 6th Crown, take 1 of the available Royal cards and resolve its ability.

Taking a Royal card is not an action. Place your Royal cards next to your Jewel cards.

End of Player Turn

Once you have completed your mandatory action, count your tokens (Gems, Pearls, and Gold). If you have more than 10 tokens in total, you must discard down to 10 tokens. Choose which ones to discard and return them to the bag. Finally, check if you have fulfilled any of the three victory conditions. If you have, you win! If not, your opponent's turn begins.

Victory Conditions

If you fulfill one or more of the victory conditions at the end of your turn, the game ends immediately:

1. Prestige Victory: If you have 20 or more Prestige points, you win!
2. Crown Victory: If you have 10 or more Crowns, you win!
3. Color Victory: If you have 10 or more Prestige points on cards of the same color, you win! A card is considered to be of the same color as the card it is grouped with (using the associate ability).

Quick Reference