The Ludarium · Teach sheet
Teach Splendor in ten minutes
2 to 4 players · 30 minutes · Ages 10 and up
The goal: Score the most prestige points by buying development cards and attracting nobles; reaching 15 starts the end.
On your turn
- Do exactly 1 action.
- Take 3 gems of different colors. Never Gold.
- Or take 2 gems of one color, only if 4 or more are in the supply.
- Or reserve 1 card, face up or from a deck top, and take 1 Gold.
- Or buy 1 card from the table or your hand; spent pieces go back.
- Refill the table from the matching deck.
- End of turn: return pieces down to 10, and take 1 noble if you qualify.
Three tips for your first game
- Buy cheap level 1 cards early; bonuses beat points in the first turns.
- Build two or three colors that the nobles and level 3 cards want.
- Before you reach 15, check what everyone after you can score.
Setup
- Shuffle each level's deck. Stack them face down in a column, level 1 at the bottom.
- Reveal 4 cards from each deck in a row beside it.
- Reveal nobles, one more than the number of players, in a row above the cards.
- Sort the pieces into 6 stacks: five gem colors and Gold.
- 3 players: remove 2 of each gem. 2 players: remove 3 of each. Gold stays at 5.
- The youngest player takes the First Player marker. Play goes clockwise.
Scoring
- Each card shows its prestige points in the top left corner.
- Each card gives a permanent bonus: 1 gem of its color off future purchases.
- Gold is wild and stands in for any gem.
- Each noble is worth 3 points. Only card bonuses count toward nobles.
- Hold at most 3 reserved cards. They score nothing until bought.
Game end: When a player ends a turn with 15 or more points, finish the round so everyone has equal turns. Most points wins; ties go to fewest cards.