7 Wonders

01Discover the game

In 7 Wonders, each player runs an ancient city. The maps represent productions, prestigious buildings, discoveries, shops and armies. Each turn, you choose a card in your hand and then pass the rest to a neighbour. So you build your city while deciding which opportunities you let go.

The overall difficulty is difficult: you have to organize your resources, compare multiple points sources and observe your two neighbours. We have the second Repos Production edition of 2020, for three to seven players, without extension. This game is distinct from 7 Wonders Architects and 7 Wonders Duel. The old two-player rules of the first edition are not added to this box.

02Equipment

The second edition consists of 7 Two-sided Wonder Boards, 148 Age cards divided into 49 Age I, 49 Age II and 50 Age III, 78 coins (54 Value 1 and 24 Value 3), 48 tokens Military Conflict (24 Defeat and 24 Victory, i.e. eight for each Age), one score book and three effects sheets, with the rule.

The Marron maps produce common resources: wood, stone, clay and ore. The Greys produce rare resources: glass, fabric and papyrus. The Blues give points; the Yellows, commercial advantages; the Reds, shields; the Greens, scientific symbols; the Violettes are guilds of counting. The symbols complete the colors: it is not necessary to recognize a map by its colour alone.

03The goal

Get the greatest total of points after the three ages. Your points can come from buildings, Wonder, science, conflicts, Guilds and your remaining money. There is no immediate victory by completely building a Wonder. Conversely, an incomplete Wonder does not prevent you from winning.

04Prepare the cities and the three packages

Each player takes a Wonder board and chooses his face Day or Night. To discover the game, start with the Day faces. The resource printed on the board is available from the start. Each player receives three coins of value 1. The other coins and military tokens form a common reserve.

Prepare each Age package according to the number of players. Keep the cards with a number less than or equal to that number and put the others back in the box. On four, you play with the 3+ and 4+ cards, not with all the cards of the Age. At Age III, first remove the Guilds, mix them up and randomly add a number of Guilds equal to the number of players plus two. Unselected Guilds remain unknown in the box.

Separately mixes the packages of the three Ages. Distributes seven age I cards to each. Do not reveal your hand. Install the buildings already built in color in front of your city, the coins in your treasury and the military tokens apart. The waste will be common and face hidden.

05Choose an action and circulate the cards

A simultaneous choice among three actions

At the same time, all players choose a card from their hand and put it in front of them. When each one has chosen, one reveals and realizes one of the following three actions with this card: building the building, building a stage of his Wonder, or selling the card. Two of these actions are never done with the same card.

To build the building, pay its cost, then put it face up in your city and apply its effect. It is forbidden to build two buildings bearing exactly the same name in its city, even if their cost is free. Already built maps remain active and do not return to the hands that circulate.

To build a Wonder step, pay the printed cost on the next step, then slide the chosen card face hidden under this step. Its name, color and building cost do not matter: only the cost of the step is paid. The hidden card does not give any of its effects. The steps are built in the order indicated on the set; their effect begins when they are finished.

To sell, discard the card face down and take three coins from the reserve. This allows you to redo your treasury when you don't want or can't pay for a construction. You can't sell a card already installed in your city.

Producing does not mean spending

The resources of your buildings and your board are not tokens kept in reserve. They represent what your city can produce once for your action of the tower. They are not destroyed when you build. On the next round, they are available again.

A map offering a choice, for example wood or clay, produces only one of these elements for your action, not both. Two identical symbols mean, on the other hand, two units. You can combine the productions of several cards and your Wonder. Unused resources are neither stored nor converted automatically into parts.

Buy from neighbors

If you lack resources, buy them from the players directly to the left or right, at the normal price of two coins per resource. You can spread your purchases among them. They cannot refuse trade if their production allows, and you pay them coins; it is not the bank that receives this payment.

The starting resource of the board and the resources of the Marron and Grey cards can be purchased. Special productions of Yellow cards and Wonder stages are not sold. Commercial reductions apply only in the direction and for the types of resources indicated.

Selling a resource does not deprive its owner of using it during his own turn. The two neighbors can also buy the same production. On the other hand, you cannot buy two copies from a single production symbol: the neighbour must produce the necessary quantity. The productions built on the same tower are only available in the next turn.

Free constructions and chaining

Some maps cost nothing. Others can be built free of charge if your city already has the building allowing the indicated linkage. Then you do not need to produce or buy the resources of the cost. You must always comply with the prohibition of the same name twice.

A free construction granted by a Wonder concerns buildings in the exact conditions of its effect, not automatically a step of Wonder. For example, Olympia Day allows the first card of a color still absent from your city: this is not renewed simply because we change age. The FAQ of the publisher details these powers; keeps help with effects at hand.

Money received and order of round

The necessary pieces must be present at the beginning of the tour. You cannot finance a building thanks to the money that a neighbor pays you at the same time or with the income of the card being built. These gains will only be used in the next round. The effects counting the cards present at the end of the tour, however, take into account the buildings that the neighbors have just played when their help specifies it.

Transmit and Finish an Age

After resolution, pass the remaining cards to the left at Age I, to the right at Age II and again to the left at Age III. Take the hand received and start again. When there are two cards left, each one chooses one normally and discards the other: so there are six ordinary turns per Age. Some Wonder powers allow to play the last card, according to their text.

At the end of each Age, compare your shields separately with those of each of your two neighbours. A superiority gives a victory token of 1 point at Age I, 3 at Age II and 5 at Age III. A inferiority gives a Defeat of −1; equality does not give anything. One does not lose its military buildings after the conflict.

06A trick and a scientific score as an example

For a building costing two woods and one stone, Alice owns a wood production and one stone. She buys the missing wood from her neighbour for two pieces, built and preserves her production cards. Her neighbour can use the same wood for his own construction: the purchase does not exhaust her production. If Alice had only one piece at the beginning of the tour, the income received simultaneously from another neighbour would not suffice to authorize this purchase.

To build a stage requiring two stones, Bob can choose any card of his hand as support. He must pay for both stones, even if the hidden card is a free building. He does not receive the points or shields printed on this card: he receives only the effect of the built step.

For science, suppose you have three Gear symbols, two Compass symbols and one Tablet. Groups of identical symbols score 3² + 2² + 1² = 14 points. A set of three different symbols adds 7, giving 21 in total. A symbol can count in both its group and a set. It is not discarded after scoring.

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07Final Count and Victory

After the conflict of Age III, complete the score sheet. Add the positive and negative military tokens. The pieces give one point per complete group of three in total value. Add the points of the steps of Wonder, Blue buildings, Yellow effects and Violet Guilds.

For science, count the three symbols separately: each quantity is raised squared, then each set of three different symbols adds seven points. A scientific symbol of choice must be assigned to a family for this calculation; compares the possibilities to choose the best total. It does not count simultaneously as the three symbols.

Guild icons indicate which colors or stages to count and in which cities: yours, your neighbors or the three. A map hidden under a Wonder is not a building of its color. Read the direction of arrows before multiplying; two distant cities do not become your neighbors for a count.

Example of total: 4 soldiers, 5 coins, 10 Wonders, 18 Blues, 21 scientists, 6 Yellows and 8 Guilds give 72 points. The largest total wins. In case of equality, the largest treasury in value of coins split; a new equality is shared.

08Frequent errors

• Distribute the entire package without removing cards for more players.
• Build two buildings of the same name.
• Defuse his resource maps after using them.
• Buy from a remote city or negotiate a free rate.
• Pay for a construction with coins received during the same round.
• Automatically play the seventh card of each Age.
• Stop the game because a Wonder is complete.

09Tips for starting

At first, make sure you can pay for several families of constructions, by production or trade. A point card that cannot be paid is not useful simply because it seems strong. Observes especially the productions and armies of the two neighbours, because they directly influence your purchases and conflicts.

Compares a project to its real cost. Spending a lot to win a single more conflict can be less profitable than a civilian building available. Science rewards families and sets, but depends on the cards others let pass. Keep a plan adaptable and reread after the part the symbols that asked.