Two-player version of the well-known board game Splendor, Splendor Duel is a game of collecting cards and tokens combining financial strategy, in a way, and planning according to the actions of your opponents. All in a very interesting setting.
Eager to win over his opponent and be named jeweler par excellence, each player will have to go in search of prestige points and crowns, two winning conditions that can be achieved by buying cards, cards which can be acquired using various colored tokens, but also thanks to the advantages conferred by certain cards, as the game progresses.
The thing may seem complex, at first, since we are offered three winning conditions, up to three different actions per turn, five (or rather) six colors of token… Well, all this is probably nothing to the eyes tough guys, those who willingly dive into the busiest games, but for a title whose games should last an average of 30 minutes, there was reason to fear a deleterious difficulty.
Fortunately, this is not the case: for the first part, reading the (short) rules, setting up and completing the various game rounds will have taken barely 45 minutes. But these 45 minutes will have been frankly pleasant, with a fairly high pace of play to avoid getting lost in the examination of the different possibilities, and without the need to constantly refer to the rules.
With cards, a board and quality tokens – said tokens have a very pleasant weight –, Splendor Duel is quite suitable for a short and very pleasant session of play. There is frankly nothing to reproach with this title which testifies to a complete success when the time comes to transform a title to draw a game intended for two players.
