The Print & Play Community is Full of People putting in the time to retheme some of the most popular games around and Splendor is no exception because sometimes when you play a game over and over all you need to liven it up is a new theme.
This is what the brilliant graphic artist Raphael Carmo has done to his copy of splendor and what a great job he has done turning this classic gem themed game into a superhero-themed Gem Heist.
So for our featured print and play game, we would love to introduce you to this re-theme of Splendor that turns the entire game into a quest for your favourite marvel characters.
This theme is a cosmetic change only to the original game so the rules of the game are exactly the same for those that have not played before Splendor is a game of chip-collecting and card development.
Players are merchants of the Renaissance (or in this change Marvel Superheroes & Villians) trying to buy gem mines, means of transportation, shops—all in order to acquire the most prestige points. If you’re wealthy enough, you might even receive a visit from a noble Hero at some point, which of course will further increase your prestige.
On your turn, you may (1) collect chips (gems), or (2) buy and build a card, or (3) reserve one card. If you collect chips, you take either three different kinds of chips or two chips of the same kind. If you buy a card, you pay its price in chips and add it to your playing area.
To reserve a card—in order to make sure you get it, or, why not, your opponents don’t get it—you place it in front of you face down for later building; this costs you a turn, but you also get gold in the form of a joker chip, which you can use as any gem.
All of the cards you buy increase your wealth as they give you a permanent gem bonus for later buys; some of the cards also give you prestige points. In order to win the game, you must reach 15 prestige points before your opponents do.
This game has become a cult classic and we recommend adding these cards to an existing deck to give it a new feel each time you play it doesn’t change much about the game but for the Marvel Fan it really provides something fun and special to an already fantastic game.
Spoilers this is a theme of the game Splendor so it will require a copy of the original game to play!
If you don’t have a copy head over to our friends at mightyape and grab yourself one and support this blog