7 Wonders is a card drafting game from Belgium publisher Repos Production. The game is suited for players from two to seven. When the game was first released in 2010 the hype surrounding it was huge. Seven years down the line 7 Wonders remains a board game staple on many shelves, but is it still worth taking down to play today?
How to play?
The aim of the game in 7 Wonders is to build the most successful ancient city using various cards throughout the game. Players start by randomly choosing an ancient wonder from various boards that depict them. These boards are the base for player’s cities and where they build their civilisation. The game takes place over three ages. Each age, players have a small hand of cards to choose from and will be taking cards to place a card in front of them, ‘building’ the structure on the card. Cards are placed simultaneously and then the hand is passed on to another player, so with everyone taking their turn at once the game moves quickly. Once all but one card from each hand has been placed, the age ends.
To win the game you need to have the most amount of victory points, these are amassed via many different aspects of the game. Science structures add up depending on how many of the same symbol you have collected. Civilian structures - things like statues and baths - are just straight up victory points. Guild cards are added in the third age and offer victory points dependant on cards you have already placed. Military cards work slightly differently – they come with a set number of shields, and at the end of each age if you have more shields than your immediate opponents sitting near you, you’ll win victory tokens. If you are on the losing side of the military, you lose one victory point for each person who defeated you.