Splendor Duel rules: how to play and how to win

Splendor Duel quick rules

The goal

Each player leads a guild of jewelers and buys Jewel cards with tokens. These cards earn Prestige points and Crowns. There are three ways to win: 20 Prestige points, 10 Crowns, or 10 Prestige points on cards of the same color. The first to meet one at the end of their turn wins at once.

Your turn

First, you may take two optional actions, in this order: use Privileges, then replenish the board. Then take exactly one mandatory action: take up to three tokens, take a Gold token to reserve a card, or purchase a Jewel card. If none is possible, you must replenish the board first.

Privileges and the board

Each Privilege you spend lets you take one token of your choice from the board, except Gold; it then goes back above the board. Replenishing means mixing the tokens in the bag and placing them on the empty spaces, from the center along the spiral: your opponent then takes a Privilege. If none are left above the board, take it from your opponent.

Taking tokens

Take up to three adjacent Gem or Pearl tokens in a line, a column or a diagonal, with no empty space or Gold token between them. You can take just two, or one. If you take three tokens of the same color, or both Pearls, your opponent takes a Privilege.

Reserving a card

Take a Gold token from the board, then a card from the pyramid or the top card of one of the three decks. It stays hidden from your opponent, and only you can purchase it later. Three reserved cards at most. It’s the only way to get a Gold token, and the action is impossible if none are left on the board.

Purchasing a card

Purchase a card from the pyramid or one of your reserved cards, spending the tokens shown at the bottom; a Gold token is wild. Spent tokens go into the bag, not onto the board. The card’s bonus, at the top right, lowers by one token of its color the cost of your future cards.

Abilities and Crowns

Some cards have an ability, applied on purchase: take another turn, take a Privilege, take a token of the card’s color, take a token from your opponent (except Gold), or copy a bonus color. At your third Crown, take a Royal card and apply its ability; at your sixth, a second one. Royal cards earn Prestige points.

The end of the turn and victory

At the end of your turn, you can’t keep more than ten tokens: return the rest to the bag. Then check the three conditions: 20 Prestige points (Jewel and Royal cards), 10 Crowns, or 10 Prestige points in a single bonus color. If you meet one, you win at once, and your opponent gets no final turn.

Beginner traps

Taking three tokens of the same color without thinking gives your opponent a Privilege, and so does replenishing the board. Don’t just watch Prestige: Crowns and color win too, so keep an eye on your opponent’s. Spent tokens go into the bag, not onto the board. And don’t forget the ten-token limit.

The Counterfeiters

Four purple Glassware tokens are taken like Gems or Pearls and count toward the ten-token limit; taking three gives a Privilege. Purchasing one of the three face-up Counterfeiter cards becomes a fourth action: it always costs at least one Glassware token, can’t be reserved, and its ability is used once per turn. Two of the twelve Royal cards lower a victory threshold to 9.

How to win Splendor Duel

Prestige points

The total of your Jewel cards and Royal cards. 20 or more at the end of your turn: immediate victory.

Crowns

The Crowns on your Jewel cards. 10 or more: immediate victory. They don’t count as Prestige.

Prestige on cards of the same color

The Prestige points of your best bonus color. 10 or more: immediate victory.

Victory by

The winner doesn’t always have the most Prestige: by Crowns or by color, they’re marked by hand. With The Counterfeiters, a Royal card can lower a threshold to 9.

Example ending

At the end of her turn, Emma has 14 Prestige points on her Jewel cards and 3 on a Royal card: 14 + 3 = 17, not yet 20. But her blue cards total 4 + 3 + 3 = 10 Prestige points: she wins by color, even though Jake has 18 points.

Common mistakes

• Watching only the 20 points: 10 Crowns or 10 points in a single color win too.
• Leaving Royal cards out of your Prestige total: they count.
• Giving your opponent a final turn: the victory is immediate, at the end of your turn.
• With The Counterfeiters, forgetting that a Royal card lowers a threshold to 9 Crowns or 9 points in one color.

How to set up Splendor Duel

Setup takes about 3 minutes. Add The Counterfeiters steps if you play with the expansion.