Ruling — Splendor Duel

You asked

How do I play?

Answered counted as answered

Asked with: Splendor Duelbg-364073-en-1e

To play the game, follow these steps:

**Setup**

1. Shuffle the 3 decks of Jewel cards separately, then place them in a column, with the deck of level 1 cards at the bottom.[1]

2. Reveal 3 level-3 cards, 4 level-2 cards, and 5 level-1 cards to form a pyramid below the Victory tile.[1]

3. Place the board below this pyramid and randomly place the 25 tokens on it, starting with the central space and following the printed spiral.[1]

4. Place the 3 Privilege scrolls above the board.[1]

5. Place the 4 Royal cards below the board.[1]

6. Choose the first player randomly; their opponent takes 1 Privilege and places it in front of themself.[1][2]

**Player Turn**

1. Perform none, one, or both of the optional actions in the indicated order:[3]

* Use a Privilege: Return 1 or more Privileges to their place above the board; for each Privilege returned, take 1 Gem or Pearl token of your choice from the board (this cannot be used to take a Gold token).[3][4]

* Replenish the Game Board: Mix the tokens in the bag and place them on empty spaces, starting with the central space and following the printed spiral until the bag is empty; then, your opponent takes 1 Privilege.[3] (Note: This must be performed before choosing a mandatory action if you cannot perform any mandatory actions).[3]

2. Perform one mandatory action:[3]

* Take up to 3 tokens: Take up to 3 adjacent Gem and/or Pearl tokens from the board in an uninterrupted horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line.[3] This action cannot be used to take a Gold token.[3] If you take 3 tokens of the same color or 2 Pearls, your opponent takes 1 Privilege.[3]

* Take 1 Gold token and reserve 1 Jewel card: Take 1 Gold token from the board and either take 1 Jewel card from the pyramid or draw the top card from one of the 3 decks.[5] This cannot be performed if there are no Gold tokens on the board or if you already have 3 reserved cards.[5][2]

* Purchase 1 Jewel card: Choose a card from the pyramid or your reserve and pay its cost in tokens, minus any bonuses already acquired.[5][4] When you purchase a card from the pyramid, replace it with a new card from the corresponding deck, placing it faceup in the pyramid.[5][6]

3. Resolve the effect of any card just purchased, if it has an ability.[7][4]

4. If you acquired your 3rd or 6th Crown, take 1 available Royal card and resolve its ability.[7]

5. Count your tokens (Gems, Pearls, and Gold); if you have more than 10 tokens in total, you must discard down to 10 tokens and return the excess to the bag.[3][7][2]

6. Check if you have fulfilled any of the three victory conditions.[7] If you have, you win and the game ends immediately.[7][2] If not, your opponent's turn begins.[7]

**Victory Conditions**

The game ends when a player fulfills one of these three conditions:[3][7][4]

* 20 or more Prestige points.[7][4]

* 10 or more Crowns.[7][4]

* 10 or more Prestige points on cards of the same color.[7][4]

[1] RULEBOOK Splendor Duel — Rulebook · p.2 · CONTENTS · SETUP

[2] RULEBOOK Splendor Duel — Rulebook · p.6 · REMINDERS · DAVIDE TOSELLO · (CoolMiniOrNot).

[3] RULEBOOK Splendor Duel — Rulebook · p.3 · GAME OVERVIEW · PLAYER TURN · 1 - Use a Privilege · 2 - Replenish the Game Board · Mandatory Action · Take up to 3 tokens

[4] RULEBOOK Splendor Duel — Rulebook · p.7 · 1 - Optional Actions: · 2 - One of the following Mandatory Actions · 3 - Upon gaining a new card, resolve its ability, if any.

[5] RULEBOOK Splendor Duel — Rulebook · p.4 · Take 1 Gold token and reserve 1 Jewel card · Purchase 1 Jewel card · Place spent tokens in the bag.

[6] RULEBOOK Splendor Duel — Rulebook · p.4 · There are no Pearl bonuses.

[7] RULEBOOK Splendor Duel — Rulebook · p.5 · CARD ABILITIES · END OF PLAYER TURN · VICTORY CONDITIONS

🔧 debug — where this ruling came from

outcome: ANSWERED — Answered
corpus profile: live,vps
answerer pin (deploy-frozen, attribution only): gemma4:26b think:false 5571076f3d70
timings: search 98 ms · ask 5270 ms · total 5371 ms
single-flight (PR-5): queued 0 ms · generation 5371 ms
retrieval refs (raw) — what the PASSAGE SEARCH returned, not what the answerer read: [{"page": 6, "score": 0.045805, "snippet": "I have been passionate about games since my earliest childhood, and discovered the pleasure of designing or, rather, tweaking games from the age of 14. This was the best way I found to express my creativity. However, it took me several decades to really get involved in game design. Finally, in 2014,", "headingPath": "MARC ANDRÉ · BRUNO CATHALA · HELP", "sharpsignalDocId": 363}, {"page": 3, "score": 0.032787, "snippet": "The players take turns, one after another, until the end of the game is triggered. On your turn, you take tokens from the board or use those in your possession to buy Jewel cards, which award you with the Prestige points and Crowns you require to win. These cards also offer special abilities and bon", "headingPath": "GAME OVERVIEW · PLAYER TURN · 1 - Use a Privilege · 2 - Replenish the Game Board · Mandatory Action · Take up to 3 tokens", "sharpsignalDocId": 363}, {"page": 5, "score": 0.032258, "snippet": "If the card you just purchased has an ability, resolve that effect now. : Take another turn immediately after this one ends. : Place this card so that it overlaps a Jewel card with a bonus (see on the right). Treat this card's bonus as though it were the same color of the card it is overlapping. If ", "headingPath": "CARD ABILITIES · END OF PLAYER TURN · VICTORY CONDITIONS", "sharpsignalDocId": 363}, {"page": 7, "score": 0.031746, "snippet": "Spend 1 Privilege: take 1 non-Gold token. Replenish the board's empty spaces. Your opponent takes 1 Privilege. Take up to 3 adjacent non-Gold tokens in an uninterrupted row, column, or diagonal. If the 3 tokens are identical or 2 of them are Pearls, your opponent takes 1 Privilege. Take 1 Gold token", "headingPath": "1 - Optional Actions: · 2 - One of the following Mandatory Actions · 3 - Upon gaining a new card, resolve its ability, if any.", "sharpsignalDocId": 363}, {"page": 4, "score": 0.03125, "snippet": "You cannot perform this action if there are no Gold tokens on the board, or if you already have 3 reserved cards. First, take 1 Gold token of your choice from the board. Then, you must either: Take 1 Jewel card of your choice from the pyramid OR Draw the top card from one of the 3 decks ( /thinspace", "headingPath": "Take 1 Gold token and reserve 1 Jewel card · Purchase 1 Jewel card · Place spent tokens in the bag.", "sharpsignalDocId": 363}, {"page": 6, "score": 0.030769, "snippet": "Choose the first player at random: their opponent takes 1 Privilege. When you must take a Privilege, but none are available, take 1 from your opponent instead. Gold tokens are wild and can be used in place of any Gem or Pearl token. 'Take 1 Gold token and reserve 1 Jewel card' is the only way to gai", "headingPath": "REMINDERS · DAVIDE TOSELLO · (CoolMiniOrNot).", "sharpsignalDocId": 363}, {"page": 4, "score": 0.030303, "snippet": "Organize the cards you purchase in front of you, sorted by bonus color. Cards may be overlapped to save space. However, the top of the card (where points, Crowns, and bonuses are depicted) must remain visible. Example: Julie has 6 bonuses (3 red, 2 blue, and 1 green). She wants to buy the white card", "headingPath": "There are no Pearl bonuses.", "sharpsignalDocId": 363}, {"page": 2, "score": 0.029851, "snippet": "s the master of a guild of jewelers, you create majestic adornments of the highest quality for monarchs and other powerful leaders of the Renaissance to increase your prestige and fortune. However, you have an ambitious rival, and it' s time to show your worth! A 1 Victory tile B 67 Jewel cards divi", "headingPath": "CONTENTS · SETUP", "sharpsignalDocId": 363}]
citations (raw) — what the answer cited, chosen from a retrieval this page cannot show: [{"page": 2, "quote": null, "headingPath": "CONTENTS · SETUP", "sharpsignalDocId": 363}, {"page": 6, "quote": null, "headingPath": "REMINDERS · DAVIDE TOSELLO · (CoolMiniOrNot).", "sharpsignalDocId": 363}, {"page": 3, "quote": null, "headingPath": "GAME OVERVIEW · PLAYER TURN · 1 - Use a Privilege · 2 - Replenish the Game Board · Mandatory Action · Take up to 3 tokens", "sharpsignalDocId": 363}, {"page": 7, "quote": null, "headingPath": "1 - Optional Actions: · 2 - One of the following Mandatory Actions · 3 - Upon gaining a new card, resolve its ability, if any.", "sharpsignalDocId": 363}, {"page": 4, "quote": null, "headingPath": "Take 1 Gold token and reserve 1 Jewel card · Purchase 1 Jewel card · Place spent tokens in the bag.", "sharpsignalDocId": 363}, {"page": 4, "quote": null, "headingPath": "There are no Pearl bonuses.", "sharpsignalDocId": 363}, {"page": 5, "quote": null, "headingPath": "CARD ABILITIES · END OF PLAYER TURN · VICTORY CONDITIONS", "sharpsignalDocId": 363}]
boost provenance — errata + base rulebook (E2/E3): no registered errata card matched this query; base rulebook doc 363 boosted; rulesage.errata.boost-enabled=true, rulesage.errata.supersedence-enabled=true
base rulebook doc 363 boosted
answered-before recall: this ruling was answered, so past rulings were not offered
similarity threshold in force: 0.55 (rulesage.answered-before.similarity-threshold; the exact-question tier is not gated by it)
answer fence: passed — letter density 0.88110 of 2397 non-space chars (floor 0.45); 0 glyph-index tokens (max 2)
debug row retained until: Nov 15, 2026 08:04

retrieval — what the passage search returned

what this block IS: the PASSAGE SEARCH's own results — the same search that fills this page's closest-passages list — and NOT the passages the answerer read. Answering runs its OWN retrieval: a far wider candidate pool, re-ranked down to a final handful, plus floors this search never applies — the base rulebook, surviving errata corrections, and one slot per book on a multi-book read. Each of those armed only if THIS ask sent what it needs: the boost block names the ids it forwarded, and the scope line names the books it read. A document the answer CITES that no row here names is therefore EXPECTED, not a defect: two searches, two candidate pools, two orders. The answerer's own final rows are shown in their own block below, beside these and never mixed into them.

score = the fused retrieval score (reciprocal-rank fusion over the search arms) — NOT a cosine similarity. This ruling ran the THREE-ARM fuse (full-text + vector + the doc-priority boost arm, which carried the base rulebook and/or the errata corrections this query matched), whose arithmetic ceiling is 0.04918 — all three arms ranking the same chunk #1 (ceiling = arms/(k+1) at k=60). The measured healthy band 0.016–0.033 was measured on TWO-arm asks and does not bound this one: its high end is the two-arm ceiling, and a third arm has room above it. A chunk only one arm ranked highly lands near 0.016 (that one arm's #1 vote), so 0.03 here is an excellent hit, not a 3% match.

per-arm ranks (the rank each search arm gave a chunk): NOT DISCLOSED by the gateway. Fusion happens gateway-side and only the FUSED score crosses the wire, so rulesage cannot show them without a gateway change. The rank column below is the FUSED rank (position in the returned list), which is real.

token count per chunk: NOT DISCLOSED — chunk token counts are not reported on the ask path. The character counts below are of the bounded snippet/quote rulesage actually received — a real measurement of what we hold, never an estimate of the chunk.

fused rank	document	heading	page	fused RRF score	snippet chars
#1	RULEBOOK Splendor Duel — Rulebook (corpus doc 363)	MARC ANDRÉ · BRUNO CATHALA · HELP	p.6	0.045805 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	300
#2	RULEBOOK Splendor Duel — Rulebook (corpus doc 363)	GAME OVERVIEW · PLAYER TURN · 1 - Use a Privilege · 2 - Replenish the Game Board · Mandatory Action · Take up to 3 tokens	p.3	0.032787 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	300
#3	RULEBOOK Splendor Duel — Rulebook (corpus doc 363)	CARD ABILITIES · END OF PLAYER TURN · VICTORY CONDITIONS	p.5	0.032258 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	300
#4	RULEBOOK Splendor Duel — Rulebook (corpus doc 363)	1 - Optional Actions: · 2 - One of the following Mandatory Actions · 3 - Upon gaining a new card, resolve its ability, if any.	p.7	0.031746 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	300
#5	RULEBOOK Splendor Duel — Rulebook (corpus doc 363)	Take 1 Gold token and reserve 1 Jewel card · Purchase 1 Jewel card · Place spent tokens in the bag.	p.4	0.03125 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	300
#6	RULEBOOK Splendor Duel — Rulebook (corpus doc 363)	REMINDERS · DAVIDE TOSELLO · (CoolMiniOrNot).	p.6	0.030769 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	300
#7	RULEBOOK Splendor Duel — Rulebook (corpus doc 363)	There are no Pearl bonuses.	p.4	0.030303 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	300
#8	RULEBOOK Splendor Duel — Rulebook (corpus doc 363)	CONTENTS · SETUP	p.2	0.029851 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	300

what the answerer read — the passages it actually had in front of it

what this block IS: the passages the ANSWERING read put in front of the answerer, in the order it read them — the other half of the two reads described above, and the one that decides what the answer could possibly say. Each row names the book it came from and where in that book it sits, what it scored when the search arms were fused, which arm carried it there, and whether the re-ranker chose it or a floor guaranteed it a slot. A row here that no passage-search row names is EXPECTED: a far wider pool, re-ranked, with floors the passage search never applies.

candidate pool: the answering read scored 8 passages, out of a ceiling of 80 set gateway-side. Both figures are reported by the gateway for THIS ask — measurements of what actually happened, not constants read out of anyone's source and printed here on faith.

floors armed for this ask: the base rulebook — armed · surviving errata corrections — not armed · one slot per book on a multi-book read — not armed. Every floor is stated on every ask, armed or not, so a floor that did not apply here is never mistaken for one this app does not know about.

arms fused for this ask: vector + full-text + the doc-priority boost arm. Stated separately from the rows because an arm that ran and carried nothing is a different fact from an arm that never ran.

read at	document	heading	page	fused rank	fused RRF score	carried by	how it got its slot
#1	RULEBOOK Splendor Duel — Rulebook (corpus doc 363)	GAME OVERVIEW · PLAYER TURN · 1 - Use a Privilege · 2 - Replenish the Game Board · Mandatory Action · Take up to 3 tokens	p.3	#2	0.032787 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	vector + the doc-priority boost arm	the re-ranker chose it
#2	RULEBOOK Splendor Duel — Rulebook (corpus doc 363)	CARD ABILITIES · END OF PLAYER TURN · VICTORY CONDITIONS	p.5	#3	0.032258 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	vector + the doc-priority boost arm	the re-ranker chose it
#3	RULEBOOK Splendor Duel — Rulebook (corpus doc 363)	Take 1 Gold token and reserve 1 Jewel card · Purchase 1 Jewel card · Place spent tokens in the bag.	p.4	#5	0.03125 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	vector + the doc-priority boost arm	the re-ranker chose it
#4	RULEBOOK Splendor Duel — Rulebook (corpus doc 363)	CONTENTS · SETUP	p.2	#8	0.029851 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	vector + the doc-priority boost arm	the re-ranker chose it
#5	RULEBOOK Splendor Duel — Rulebook (corpus doc 363)	MARC ANDRÉ · BRUNO CATHALA · HELP	p.6	#1	0.045805 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	vector + full-text + the doc-priority boost arm	the re-ranker chose it
#6	RULEBOOK Splendor Duel — Rulebook (corpus doc 363)	There are no Pearl bonuses.	p.4	#7	0.030303 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	vector + the doc-priority boost arm	the re-ranker chose it
#7	RULEBOOK Splendor Duel — Rulebook (corpus doc 363)	1 - Optional Actions: · 2 - One of the following Mandatory Actions · 3 - Upon gaining a new card, resolve its ability, if any.	p.7	#4	0.031746 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	vector + the doc-priority boost arm	the re-ranker chose it
#8	RULEBOOK Splendor Duel — Rulebook (corpus doc 363)	REMINDERS · DAVIDE TOSELLO · (CoolMiniOrNot).	p.6	#6	0.030769 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	vector + the doc-priority boost arm	the re-ranker chose it

chosen chunks — what the answer actually cited

#	document	heading	page	quote chars
[1]	RULEBOOK Splendor Duel — Rulebook (corpus doc 363)	CONTENTS · SETUP	p.2	no quote on the wire
[2]	RULEBOOK Splendor Duel — Rulebook (corpus doc 363)	REMINDERS · DAVIDE TOSELLO · (CoolMiniOrNot).	p.6	no quote on the wire
[3]	RULEBOOK Splendor Duel — Rulebook (corpus doc 363)	GAME OVERVIEW · PLAYER TURN · 1 - Use a Privilege · 2 - Replenish the Game Board · Mandatory Action · Take up to 3 tokens	p.3	no quote on the wire
[4]	RULEBOOK Splendor Duel — Rulebook (corpus doc 363)	1 - Optional Actions: · 2 - One of the following Mandatory Actions · 3 - Upon gaining a new card, resolve its ability, if any.	p.7	no quote on the wire
[5]	RULEBOOK Splendor Duel — Rulebook (corpus doc 363)	Take 1 Gold token and reserve 1 Jewel card · Purchase 1 Jewel card · Place spent tokens in the bag.	p.4	no quote on the wire
[6]	RULEBOOK Splendor Duel — Rulebook (corpus doc 363)	There are no Pearl bonuses.	p.4	no quote on the wire
[7]	RULEBOOK Splendor Duel — Rulebook (corpus doc 363)	CARD ABILITIES · END OF PLAYER TURN · VICTORY CONDITIONS	p.5	no quote on the wire

generation — timing and the path taken

timing split: retrieval 98 ms · first delta 1459 ms · total 5371 ms (retrieval and first-delta both measured from the START of gateway work, so first-delta INCLUDES retrieval — do not subtract)
full breakdown: queued 0 ms · retrieval 98 ms · ask 5270 ms · gateway work 5371 ms · total 5371 ms
tokens in (the prompt the answerer read): 3703
tokens out (what the answerer generated): 788
tok/sec: 204.0 tok/sec — 788 output tokens in 3.863 s of generation
live seat (read from the running child): answering — gemma4:26b think:false · num_ctx 32768 (live-verified 0s ago)
stream path: streamed — the gateway pushed at least one accumulated draft
watchdog: first-token watchdog: 30s per arming window (rulesage.table.first-token-watchdog-seconds), re-armed once by the passages frame — so the worst case before a reader falls back to polling is 60s. Whether it actually fired is a BROWSER-side decision that never reaches the server, so it is not recorded here. The stream path above is the server's half of that story: whether a delta was emitted at all.
num_ctx · think posture: both are the CHILD's settings, not rulesage's, and no ask reply carries them — an answer never states which context window or think posture produced it. The live-seat line above reads them from the running child instead, where the gateway can answer for itself; it describes the child NOW, not this ask.

disposition

outcome: ANSWERED — Answered
abstain rationale (n/a — this ruling answered): answered — no abstain rationale applies

setup-shape — why the checklist band did or didn't render

decision: NOT_SETUP_SHAPED — no setup-shape pattern matched this question

errata registry — what the gate above had to match against

this game registers NO errata cards (edition 292), so "no registered errata card matched" above could never have matched one

Errata scope: the gate above matched this ruling's own edition only. When an ask also reads an expansion, that expansion's own registered errata cards stay outside the match — a stated phase-1 limitation, not a failed lookup.