Meeples Overboard

Tag: Splendor

Our Favourite Board Games 2019
Board games are important to our family as a way of spending quality time with each other, and friends. One thing I particularly like is that there are so many different games, so many different mechanisms that everyone can find one they enjoy. And everyone gets a chance to win because they are better at some types; trust me there is no need to allow the kids to win in our house. Just a few days ago, my 8 year old son beat us all at Splendor and my 11 year old daughter regularly beats me at Hero Realms and Villagers.

Our favourite board games

We have six favourite board games, each with votes from two different family members. It is an interesting list as Hero Realms is an old favourite and four of them were new to us last year. It is also interesting that we didn’t play them that many times e.g. I only played Tiny Towers three times and Wingspan twice.

Hero Realms

This is a fantasy deck building game for 2-4 players where you buy and discard cards to build a deck that you hope is stronger than your opponents. My son started playing Hero Realms* when he was 6 but it is really in the last year that he really got into it. It is interesting to play because the balance of power can quickly change; all you need is one good hand to turn the balance your way.

Read my full Hero Realms review

Scrawl

I was given a copy of Scrawl* at a conference and I absolutely love playing it. However, be aware, out of the box, it is not child friendly. Our children are really keen to play it as they hear us laughing so much, so we find the “clean” clue cards for them to use.

Everyone starts with a saying which they draw, the next person writes a description of the drawing, which the next person draws and so on until it gets back to the original person. Think Chinese Whispers / Telephone but using drawing and writing instead of whispering. If you want a child friendly version try Telestrations*.

Splendor

We were given Splendor* last year and it was a huge success with all of us. It is a card drafting and set collection which involves engine building (buying cards that help you buy more cards in future rounds). It is based on gems and jewellery, although our son was disappointed it didn’t include real rubies and diamonds!

Read my full Splendor review

Tiny Towns

We were introduced to Tiny Towns* by friends, and our daughter requested we got a copy for our own collection. You are building a town on a 4 x 4 grid using coloured blocks in specific patterns. The game play is simple, but can be frustrating as you try and work out where to place each coloured block to help you later in the game.

Villagers

We supported Villagers* on Kickstarter, it is another card drafting and set collection card game. You want to develop a thriving village which produces food and uses its skills to develop a profit. You do this by enticing people with different skills to join your village. I’ve played this as a 1, 2, 3 and 4 player game with adults and children and it works will in all options.

Wingspan

My husband wanted Wingspan* after playing it at a gaming weekend in Bristol, and I was happy to get it because it looks so pretty. But it is also a great game to play. It is another engine building game involving card drafting and set collection. The components are beautiful and include a bird house dice tower, scientifically accurate bird cards and even eggs.

Selected games by each person

My favourite games (female adult)*
- Scrawl*
- Splendor*
- Tiny Towns*
- Villagers*
- Wingspan*
Ed’s favourite games (male adult)*
- Hero Realms*
- Pandemic*
- The Faceless*
- Villagers*
- Wingspan*
B’s favourite games (female 11 year old)*
- Celestia*
- Century (both Spice Road* and Golem* variations)
- Chocolate Factory
- Sushi go*
- Tiny Towns*
M’s favourite games (male 8 year old)*
- Hero Realms*
- Just one*
- Santorini
- Scrawl* – note this is a 17+ game (see description above) if you want a child friendly version try Telestrations*.
- Splendor*
Do you play board games as a family? What are your favourites? Which do you recommend? What games do you plan to play in 2020?

*Disclosure – I was given some of these board games free. This post also includes affiliate links which means if you buy something after following a link I will earn a percentage of the sale but it will not cost you more. These games are genuine choices by me and my family.
January 22, 2020
2019 Board games played wrap up
Here’s a look back on my gaming year, and the first thing to note is I played more games than 2018.

Number of games played: 94

Total plays: 266

Games played at least 10 times: 6
- Tsuro
- Sushi Go Party
- Splendor
- Santorini
- Timeshock
- Drop-It (gifted)
Month I played the most: May

Games I played that we didn’t own: 36

Games we acquired after trying someone else’s copy: 3
- Beyond Baker Street
- Just One
- Tiny Towns
Change in our game collection: +11 to 75

Games we removed: 19

New Games: 30
- Bargain Quest
- Beyond Baker Street
- Blue Lagoon (gifted)
- Carcassonne
- Catan
- Century Golem
- Chocolate Factory
- Concept
- Dream Home
- Just One
- Love Letter
- Papillon
- Root
- Rubik’s Cage (gifted)
- Rubik’s Match (gifted)
- Santorini
- Scythe
- Splendor (gifted)
- Takenoko (gifted)
- Terraforming Mars
- The Faceless
- Ticket to Ride
- Tichu
- Tiny Towns
- Topiary
- Ultra Dash (gifted)
- Vadoran Gardens
- Villagers
- Wingspan
During the year we owned a total of 94 games and I played 53 of them 56%

Full list of games I played in 2019
- Rummikub 2
- Sushi Go Party 10
- Azul 3
- My first Carcassonne 2
- Ice Cool 2
- Drop-It 10 (gifted)
- Queen Domino 2
- Linkee 1
- Hero Realms 5
- Tsuro 10
- Dream Home 5
- Grabolo 9
- Timeshock 10
- Code Names 1
- Scrawl 5 (goodie bag game)
- Staccups 4 (game I won)
- Photosynthesis 2
- Pursuit of Happiness 1
- Magic maze 1
- Grimm Forest 1
- Scythe 1
- Exit the secret lab 1
- Rising 5 1
- Pandemic 5
- Rhino Hero 4
- Kingdomino 2
- Dobble 9
- Playing cards 8
- Animal upon animal 3
- 5 second rule Jr 1
- Sagrada 6
- The magic labyrinth 2
- Reef 1
- Tokaido 1
- Architects of the west kingdom 1
- The Faceless 3
- Cluedo 1
- Patchwork 2
- Clank! 2
- Gizmos 2
- Colt Express 1
- Beyond baker street 2
- Jenga 1
- Dino Hunt Dice 2
- Phase 10 2
- Villagers 8
- Dixit 2
- Pandemic Legacy 1 6
- Slam it 1
- Just One 6
- Adventure Mart 1
- Victorian Masterminds 1
- Shadow Amsterdam 1
- Sushi Roll 2
- Team3 1
- Maiden’s quest 6
- Vadoran Garden 2
- Concept 3
- Carcassonne 2
- Yeti in my spaghetti 1
- Harry Potter trivial pursuit 1
- Blue Lagoon 2 (gifted)
- Takenoko 3 (gifted)
- Splendor 10 (gifted)
- Topiary 7
- Castle panic 2
- Tsuro of the seas 1
- Century 3
- Passtally 1
- Santorini 10
- Throw Throw Burrito 1
- Tiny Towns 3
- Dinosaur Island 1
- Kana Gawi 1
- Wingspan 2
- Abyss 1
- Love letter 1
- Ultra Dash 1
- Chocolate factory 3
- Ticket to ride 2
- Rubik’s Cage 3 (gifted)
- Rubik’s Match 2 (gifted)
- Celestia 1
- Lotus 1
- Code name pictures 1
- Dead of Winter 1
- Forbidden Island 1
- Champions of Midgard 1
- council of four 1
- Grimm Masquerade 1
- Quadropolis 1
- Mission: Red Planet 1
- Papillon 1
- Articulate 1
*Disclosure – this post includes affiliate links which means if you buy something after using it I will earn some money from the seller for suggesting you visit them. However, it will not cost you anything extra.
January 1, 2020
Splendor board game review – a game we love
Splendor* has been a big hit with everyone in our family. We all love it. You lead a merchant guild and you’re trying to gain prestige by building the best network of mines, transport, craft people and jewellery stores.

I knew this classic game by name, but had not seen or played it before we were sent a copy to review. I’m always excited to try well-known games that are missing from my playing history, and I was not disappointed by this one.

Splendor involves jewels, buying and making money. And there are royal people in it.

M – 7 year old boy

Splendor Board Game Overview

Game Type – It is a card selection and set collection game. It also involves engine building (buying cards help you buy more cards in future rounds).

Aim – The aim is to be the person with the most points at the end of the game.

Players – 2-4 players
The suggested age is 10+, but my 7 year old son enjoys playing, he develops his own strategy and does well at scoring points.

Time to Play – The suggested time is 30 minutes, which feels right, although it can take longer with children particularly if they struggle to focus.

Components

Depending on how you store your games, this could be a great box or very disappointing. We tend to keep our games on their side, either on the shelves or when we’re taking them to play with friends, and there is a lot of movement inside the box. But if you keep the box flat then you may be pleased with the segregation of the components, particularly the cards, which are easy to locate in the box. One thing you’ll notice when you open the box is it bigger than necessary.

There are five types of gems; rubies, sapphires, emeralds, onyx, and diamond. There is also gold, which acts as a wild card. My son was disappointed that the game didn’t include actual gems, or even fake gems. However, the gem tokens are great to play with. These tokens could easily have been made from cardboard disks, but instead they are similar to poker chips and have a presence when you play them. The gems are used a lot in the game, so making them from plastic means they will have good longevity.

How to play Splendor

Objectives

The aim of the game is to get the most prestige points. You get prestige points in two ways, buying development cards (not all have points) and being visited by a noble.

Game play

On your turn you can do one of three actions:
- Collect gems
- Buy a card
- Reserve a card and get a piece of gold (wild card)
When you buy a card it adds a permanent gem to your wealth, which means you need fewer gem tokens future rounds. There are three levels of cards, with the highest needing more gems to buy them, but having more prestige points on them. As there are a limited number of each type of gem it can be useful to buy the lower level cards, even though they rarely have prestige points, as they help you get the higher cards. You build an engine where you collect gems, and exchange them for bonus cards that help you get more bonus cards. Although my son likes to play a different game and often successfully goes for the highest level cards first.

You may also get prestige from nobles visiting. The nobles are randomly selected in each game and will visit the first person to get the specified combination of bonus gems (the ones shown on cards). Each noble that visits gives you three points.

Ending the game and winning

The end of the game is triggered when somebody gets 15 points. Assuming that person is not the last player, the round continues until everyone has had the same number of turns. The person with the most prestige points wins, this may not be the person who got 15 points first.

Why I’ve played it on ten different days

This is the third game I’ve played ten times this year, as part of my 10×10 game challenge. At under two months it is the quickest to get to ten plays; which shows how much we love this game. A big reason is it is a good game for both children and adults, or any combination. And a small reason is my son loves gems and making money (or in this game getting more gems).

Splendor makes you think logically about what’s going to happen, and you have to think about what gems you’re going to need in the future.

B – 10 year old girl

Do I recommend Splendor?

Absolutely. We have loved playing Splendor*; it’s going to be a game that we continue playing. I think it will stay in our collection for a very long time, and we may investigate the expansion sets*.
- Simple to learn
- Quick turns – just one action each turn
- Different strategies to get points
- Gem tokens feel great
- Introduces engine building
- Box insert is not great at holding components in place
- I’d prefer an extra line on the score pad
Other games you may want to consider*

Set Collection
Engine Building Games
- Wingspan
- Century
- Steampunk Rally
- Gizmos
* Disclaimer – I received this game through the Asmodee Blogger Board Game Club. This was a free game in exchange for an honest review. All comments are my own. This post contains affiliate links which means if you buy something I may earn a percentage of the value. However it does not cost you any more.
September 27, 2019