When legendary designer Bruno Cathala (the mastermind behind 7 Wonders Duel) sets out to transform a beloved classic into a dedicated two-player experience, expectations run high. Splendor Duel takes the accessible engine-building gameplay of the 2014 hit Splendor and reimagines it with deeper strategic layers, tighter competition, and more meaningful decisions. The result? A perfect 2 player board game that improves on the original.
Does this jewel-merchant showdown deserve a place in your collection, or is it merely a sparkly distraction? After extensive plays, I can confidently say that Splendor Duel represents one of the finest two-player games available today.
What Is Splendor Duel?
In Splendor Duel, you are a master jeweller, collecting gems to increase your prestige higher and quicker than your rival. Designed by Marc André (original Splendor creator) and Bruno Cathala, this 2022 release transforms the multiplayer gem-collecting experience into an intense head-to-head strategic puzzle for exactly two players.
Over 20-30 minutes, players draft gem tokens from a shared board, purchase jewel cards that provide permanent bonuses, and race toward one of three distinct victory conditions. The compact box belies the substantial strategic depth within.
Components: Premium Quality in a Small Package
The chips have the same “clink” as the larger Splendor gems, but are just the right size to rapidly roll a stack off your palm onto the board with your thumb. Speaking of the components, they’re fantastic. Let’s break down what makes this production so impressive:
Poker Chip Gem Tokens – Thick, satisfying plastic chips in six different colors (including the new pearl gems) that feel substantial and make a delightful sound when handling. These aren’t cheap cardboard tokens—they’re weighty, tactile pieces that enhance the entire experience.
Jewel Cards – Three tiers of beautifully illustrated cards featuring various gemstones and jewelry. The art is also a huge improvement over the original game, which had too many pictures of empty caves. The cartoony art in this one is quite enjoyable; every single art piece drew my attention.
Gem Board – A compact fold-out board with a spiral pattern where tokens are placed for drafting. This simple addition creates enormous strategic depth.
Privilege Scrolls – These are beautifully designed plastic pieces and a great addition to the game. Three ornate plastic scrolls that players earn and spend for tactical advantages.
Royal Cards – Special bonus cards featuring crowns and additional abilities that provide mid-game objectives and scoring opportunities.
Custom Insert – Functional organization keeps everything tidy and makes setup lightning-fast.
The presentation punches well above the game’s modest price point, creating a premium feel that matches high-end releases costing twice as much.
Setup: Ready to Play in Seconds
The three decks of jewel cards are shuffled and some of each deck are revealed in the purchase area. Setup involves:
- Unfold the gem board and place it between players
- Draw gem tokens randomly from the bag to fill the board
- Shuffle each deck of jewel cards and reveal 5 Level I, 4 Level II, and 3 Level III cards
- Place 4 royal cards face-up
- Give one privilege scroll to the second player as compensation
- Place remaining scrolls nearby
Total setup time: approximately 60 seconds. You’ll spend more time deciding who goes first than actually preparing the game.
Gameplay: Familiar Foundations with Strategic Depth
The Core Turn Structure
On your turn, you can do one of three things. First, you’re able to take some gem tokens from a selection of different colours. Second, you can exchange some of the tokens you’ve got for gem cards from a face-up selection, which then count as permanent tokens from that point on. Or, third, you can reserve one of the gem cards to buy on a future turn and also take a gold token which can be spent as any gem colour.
However, Splendor Duel adds crucial layers of complexity to this familiar structure:
1. The Gem Board: Spatial Strategy
Rather than just having an indiscriminate pile of gemstones on the table that you can choose from every turn, you instead fill out a spiral-patterned board and must select tokens in a straight line. Taking gems is as simple and claiming up to three adjacent non-gold gems (horizontal, vertical or diagonal).
This geometric constraint transforms gem collection from a simple resource-gathering action into a spatial puzzle. Do you take the three gems you need but can’t quite reach, or grab what’s available and hope better options appear? The board state constantly shifts, creating dynamic tactical decisions.
2. Privilege Scrolls: The Push-Your-Luck Mechanism
Every time a player does something that might put them at an advantage, the other player gets to take a privilege token. For example, if you take two pearl tokens, I get a privilege token. If I replenish the board, you get one. If you manage to pick up three tokens of the same colour, I get one. And that privilege token means that before my turn, I can spend the token to pick up a gem of any colour from the board.
This brilliant mechanism creates constant tension. The card market and scrolls turn Splendor Duel into a giant game of chicken where players try to delay needing to refill the market as much as possible. I’ve found myself multiple times where I was looking for something, anything to do such that my opponent would be forced to refill instead of me.
3. Pearl Gems: The Wild Card
The pearl gem is a new type of gem and it is an outstanding addition to Splendor Duel. Since there are no pearl cards and only two gem tokens, the pearl is rare and highly sought after. Because of the pearls, even if you have a massive collection of cards covered in bonuses, you’ll always eventually have to take a token off the board, or refill it once it’s out of pearls and gold. This is a really clever addition that keeps the game unpredictable and exciting as it approaches its end.
4. Special Abilities and Royal Cards
Some of the jewel cards have special icons on them that provide the player with special abilities or crowns. When a card is purchased with an icon, the player gets to perform the associated action immediately. The abilities that are on some of the jewel cards create deeper tactics and a larger decision space. Getting to steal a gem from your opponent, claim a privilege scroll, or even take another turn, are just some examples of these abilities, and they can have a massive impact on the game.
Some of the jewel cards have crowns on them and once three and six crowns have been acquired, the player is able to claim one of the four royal cards. These cards give extra prestige points and some also have an ability on them.
Three Victory Conditions
Unlike the original Splendor’s single path to victory, Splendor Duel offers three ways to win:
- Prestige Victory – Reach 20 prestige points from cards and tokens
- Crowns Victory – Collect 10 crowns across your cards
- Color Victory – Accumulate 10 points in gems of a single color
These alternative win conditions force players to monitor multiple threats simultaneously, preventing autopilot gameplay and keeping both players engaged throughout.
Strategic Depth: The Chess-Like Experience
Splendor Duel is almost comparable to chess, a great and extremely well-designed game but one that isn’t the most exciting, at least to those who aren’t already in love with the game.
Suddenly, Splendor Duel becomes a war of attrition — sure, you could use your turn to turn in your gems for that card you’ve been eyeing, but maybe you want to snap up those pieces from the board before your opponent gets the chance to do so.
The game rewards:
- Forward planning – Tracking which gems remain in the bag and anticipating board states
- Opponent reading – Identifying which victory condition your rival pursues
- Resource denial – Taking gems or cards primarily to block your opponent
- Privilege management – Deciding when giving your opponent a scroll is worthwhile
- Engine building – Creating efficient card combinations that provide needed bonuses
You may have taken the gems that I want, preventing me from getting a full row of three that I wanted – but I’m going to use my privilege tokens to be able to take what I need, and I’m going to steal a token from you using a bonus on a card I subsequently buy.
Comparison to Original Splendor
Splendor Duel has a lot in common with 7 Wonders Duel in that both are based on popular, entry-level board games that strip the experience down to a two-player experience and, in my opinion, vastly improve upon it.
What’s Better in Splendor Duel:
- More interactive with direct player confrontation
- Deeper strategic decision space
- Better pacing with faster gameplay
- Multiple victory conditions prevent repetitive strategies
- Privilege system creates meaningful push-your-luck moments
- Spatial element adds puzzle-solving layer
- More satisfying at two players specifically
What Original Splendor Does Differently:
- Scales to 3-4 players
- More relaxed, less confrontational
- Simpler rules for gateway audiences
- Broader appeal for casual family gaming
By introducing multiple new chokepoints, this is dialled up a notch and adds that little bit of spice that original Splendor was lacking on repeated plays.
Comparison to 7 Wonders Duel
Both games share designer Bruno Cathala and similar design philosophies, but they offer distinct experiences:
7 Wonders Duel addresses many of the issues that Splendor Duel has that we have gone over in this review. Where Splendor Duel feels the same from game to game, 7 Wonders Duel has various wonders to make each game and the strategy you pursue feel a little different. Where Splendor Duel lacks tension, 7 Wonders Duel has hidden cards that players reveal for their opponents that can greatly shift the game. Where Splendor Duel has no excitement, twist and turns, or dare we say “fun”, 7 Wonders Duel has Science Tokens with bonuses that feel dramatic and different, military victories that are dramatic and exciting, and science victories that are even more shocking and unlikely.
However, Splendor Duel offers advantages too:
- Faster gameplay (20-30 min vs 30-45 min)
- Simpler rules and faster to teach
- More portable and travel-friendly
- Better as a warm-up or filler game
- More elegant, streamlined design
I’m quite happy to have an amazing filler game to begin or end a night on. In fact, playing this both before and after a few games of 7 Wonders Duel sounds like a perfect game night to me.
Pros and Cons
Strengths:
- I cannot find a single flaw with this game
- Premium components with satisfying poker chip tokens
- All of this is an incredible amount of “crunch” for the successor to a simple family game, and it all happens in 30 minutes at the most
- Lightning-fast setup and teardown
- Perfect travel size without sacrificing table presence
- Three victory conditions prevent stale strategies
- Privilege system creates meaningful strategic tension
- Pearl gems keep endgame exciting and unpredictable
- Improves upon original Splendor in almost every way
- Accessible enough for gateway gamers, deep enough for enthusiasts
- Special abilities create exciting combo opportunities
- Beautiful artwork upgrade from original
- Excellent value at $25-30 price point
- High replayability despite consistent rules
Potential Drawbacks:
- Two players only (not expandable to more)
- Every game feels the same. This is great for this category of game but may leave some players wanting more
- Less dramatic than 7 Wonders Duel for players seeking bigger swings
- Refilling the board can feel tedious after multiple plays
- More confrontational than original may disappoint players seeking cooperative vibes
- Limited narrative or thematic integration
- Abstract gameplay won’t appeal to thematic gamers
- Can feel like solving the same puzzle repeatedly for some players
Who Should Buy Splendor Duel?
Perfect For:
- Couples seeking a dedicated two-player game for regular play
- Fans of original Splendor wanting deeper strategic experience
- Players who love 7 Wonders Duel and want similar design philosophy
- Gateway gamers ready to graduate to slightly heavier games
- Anyone seeking premium components in a small box
- Travelers wanting portable games with substance
- Competitive players who enjoy head-to-head tactical battles
- Coffee shop gamers needing compact, quick-playing options
- Abstract strategy enthusiasts who appreciate elegant design
- Fans of engine-building mechanics
- Players seeking games in the 20-30 minute range
Consider Alternatives If:
- You need games for 3+ players
- You strongly prefer original Splendor’s relaxed vibe
- Thematic integration is essential to your enjoyment
- You want dramatic swings and surprise victories
- Setup and refilling feel too fiddly for your preferences
- You already own 7 Wonders Duel and want something meaningfully different
- Abstract resource conversion doesn’t engage you
- You find repetitive gameplay structures boring
Learning Curve and Accessibility
If you can get the hang of explaining it easily, it’s a great gateway game too, because you don’t realise how much you’ve learnt and enjoyed until the game ends and you realise you want to play again.
The rules explanation takes approximately 5-7 minutes for someone familiar with Splendor, or 10-15 minutes for complete newcomers. The rulebook is clear and well-organized, though the multiple new mechanisms might initially overwhelm players expecting original Splendor’s simplicity.
First games typically run 35-40 minutes as players process decisions. By game three or four, experienced players will complete matches in 20-25 minutes.
Price and Value
At approximately $25-30 retail, Splendor Duel delivers exceptional value. The component quality alone justifies the price, and the replayability ensures strong cost-per-play ratios. It’s frequently available at discounts, making it even more accessible.
Compared to other premium two-player games like Patchwork ($30), Jaipur ($25), or 7 Wonders Duel ($35), Splendor Duel sits comfortably in the middle while offering arguably the best component quality in its price range.
The Verdict
I still love Splendor almost a decade later, and this retains everything that makes Splendor fun while improving upon it in every way. Splendor Duel has the benefit of time. It knows the bits we like about Splendor, it knows the bits that could be a bit more focussed, and it acts accordingly.
Splendor Duel represents what happens when talented designers refine a beloved classic specifically for two players. The result isn’t just a good two-player variant—it’s a superior game that makes the original feel incomplete by comparison. Just as 7 Wonders Duel managed to make 7 Wonders even better, Splendor Duel is a real… gem.
The combination of accessible rules, premium components, quick gameplay, and genuine strategic depth creates an experience that works beautifully for both casual and experienced gamers. Whether you’re introducing someone to modern board gaming or seeking a quick tactical showdown between heavier games, Splendor Duel delivers consistently satisfying experiences.
Obviously my rating for this is glowing – you should absolutely play it. Especially if you’ve played Splendor before, but if not, if you like something like Azul or Patchwork, you’ll enjoy this.
Final Score: 9.5/10 – One of the finest two-player games available, and a worthy successor that outshines its predecessor.
Where to Buy
Amazon Link: Buy Splendor Duel on Amazon
Splendor Duel is widely available at local game stores, Amazon, and online retailers. Published by Space Cowboys (an Asmodee studio), availability is generally reliable. The game makes an excellent gift for couples, gamers, or anyone seeking a premium small-box experience.
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