Splendor retails for $17.99 at Amazon, no Prime membership required

Beautiful board game

2

Splendor takes you back to the Renaissance era, where you and your opponents play as merchants trying to build your own individual empires. Your job is to collect gems, build shops and form partnerships with wealthy citizens on your way to commercial dominance. It’s an engine-building game (in fact, it’s on our list of the very best engine-building board games), so you’ll be building various money-making programs that will keep chugging away if you don’t pay attention to them. Next step: taking over the world.

It’s not one of those heavyweight games when it comes to systems that take forever to learn how to play. It is more beginner friendly. If you have older kids, you can even play it as a family board game.

Splendor is consistently one of the most popular board games for the IGN audience, and for good reason. If you’re looking for a game with a bit of strategy that a wide range of players can play, this is a rock solid choice. And now it’s available cheaply, so pick it up before the deal ends. Amazon’s sale event only lasts two days, and even though this deal isn’t explicitly part of it (you don’t need Prime to take advantage), that doesn’t mean it will last.

Chris Reed is a trade editor and deals expert for IGN. He also manages IGN’s board game and LEGO coverage. You can follow him Wires.