7 Wonders is a board game designed by Repos Productions and the winner of over 25 awards! It is one of our family’s favorite games, and best of all it’s a game that can be played with 3-7 players. There are no games in our closet that we have played more or enjoyed more than 7 Wonders. It combines strategy, resource management, city building, and minimal aggression into a game that rarely goes longer than an hour from set-up to put-up.

Game Premise

In 7 Wonders you are the leader of one of the seven great cities of the Ancient World. You will gather resources, develop commercial routes, and pillage your neighbors using military supremacy; all while developing your city and building one of the great 7 Wonders of the ancient world.

Why We Love 7 Wonders

Our family loves this game because you remain active the entire time. There is very little waiting on other players as everyone is looking at the cards at the same time. This makes the game feel very active. Many games that support more than 4 players often have tremendous downtime where younger children can become bored or distracted (this can be true for adults as well). 7 Wonders keeps each player engaged in making decisions constantly.

Another reason we enjoy 7 Wonders is the limitation of player interactions. Each player’s primary concern is their neighbor on the left and right. For new players, this is a benefit because they don’t have to be concerned with what’s happening around the entire table. It makes a large game feel small and playable.

The third reason we really enjoy 7 Wonders is that it’s easy to learn and young people can play it and enjoy it. In general, anyone who can read without help can learn 7 Wonders. Our children started playing without much help around seven years old. This really helps when the grandparents come and visit because we can all play something together that is enjoyable.

Components

As with all games, 7 Wonders contains many components. They are not very complex, but instead are well-illustrated cards slightly larger than normal playing cards. The game also contains cardboard cutouts of coins and victory points. The final components are the double-sided individual boards representing the player’s wonder.

Game Play

The game, in its base form, lasts three ages (rounds). In each age, players receive seven cards from a particular deck, then choose one card and pass the remainder to an adjacent player. Players reveal their cards simultaneously, paying resources if needed or collecting resources, or interacting with other players in various ways. Each card is played immediately after being drafted, so you’ll know which cards your neighbor is receiving and how their choices might affect what you’ve already built up. Each board has its own unique powers and costs that encourage a unique play for the players. Cards are passed left-right-left over the three ages, so you need to keep an eye on the neighbors in both directions.

Once all the actions are completed, each player then chooses another card from the deck they were passed, and the process repeats until players have six cards in play from that age. After three Ages, the game ends and you score the accumulative points.

7 Wonders Game Mechanics

Each card in each age has its own unique power, point value, and/or resource generation. Some cards have immediate effects, while others provide bonuses or upgrades later in the game. There are also cards that provide military strength to overpower your neighbors giving them negative points and your positive points. The cards are broken into four primary types that have their own associated color.

• Military cards (red) are used to build for combat that happens at the end of each age.
• Scientific cards (green) are used to combine symbols for extra points and playing certain cards for free.
• Civic cards (blue) give points at the end of the game.
• Commercial cards (yellow) give alternative ways to access resources and coins while also giving points at the end of the game.
• Guild cards (purple) are only in the final age and change each game. These cards grant points based on meeting specific criteria of you or your neighbors.
• Resource cards (brown) only provide resources for building other structures. At each age, the cost of a building becomes greater and greater.
• Commodity cards (gray) are exactly like the resource cards except rarer and used more sparingly.

Playing 7 Wonders

Playing 7 Wonders is a simple yet delightful experience. It is one of the first games we teach people who have never played board games. The learning curve is gentle and new players will learn quickly. One aspect we love most about 7 Wonders for new players is that when they finish the game they feel accomplished.

I personally enjoy all the different strategies you can employ. There is no “One way to win.” Instead, you can employ many variants and take large risks that could lead to a great victory or more tragically a great defeat. In contrast, Christy likes the game because she can employ a consistent strategy that often takes her to victory.

Honestly, this is one of the best things about 7 Wonders, the variety! Each time you play it feels different because all the pieces and players change. Each time you play your board will be different than the last. Yet, there is some level of consistency that allows you deeper progress into the strategy of the game. We have played 7 Wonders more times than I can count and each time we get it out I’m excited to play. There are not many games I can say that about.

If you are interested in buying 7 Wonders you can find it on Amazon here.

Expansions

Another great aspect about 7 Wonders is its plethora of expansions. Over the course of seven years, the developers have released six expansions! Each of these expansions adds to the game in a substantial way. I’m going to go into details on the expansion in this article but I will mention our favorites. If you’re looking to buy the expansions I suggest you purchase Leaders and Armada. These two add a lot of value to the game. We also really enjoyed the Cities expansion. Our least favorite is the Wonder Pack and Babel.

See all the available expansions on Amazon here.

• Leaders 
• Cities 
• Wonder Pack 
• Babel 
• Leaders Anniversary Pack & Cities Anniversary Pack
• Armada 

Etsy Upgrades

As a small business, we want to encourage people to support other small businesses. One of those ways is through Etsy and the amazing things you can find there. For 7 wonders there are many options which you can see here. But the most interesting ones are these three.

• 7 Wonders Fan-Made Expansions – by LuckyPlayer – See their amazing store full of fan-made expansions here at Etsy
• Board Game Organizer for 7 Wonders – by WayfarerCreationsSP – See their store for all your favorite board game organizers here at Etsy
• Metal Coins for 7 Wonders – by TheBrokenToken – See this incredible store packed with all kinds of items to upgrade your games here at Etsy

Two-Player Version

There is also a really well-designed two-player version of 7 Wonders for the times when you don’t have many players. I would suggest purchasing this game over trying to play the 7 Wonders 2 player variant.

See 7 Wonder Dual and its expansions on Amazon here

• Duel 
• 7 Wonders: Duel – Pantheon (October 2016)

Awards and Honors

• 2012 Awards
  • MinD-Spielepreis Nominee
  • Ludoteca Ideale Winner
  • Boardgames Australia Awards Best International Game Nominee
• 2011 Awards
  • Boardgames Australia Awards Best International Game Nominee
  • Vuoden Peli Adult Game of the Year Winner
  • Spiel des Jahres Kennerspiel des Jahres Winner
  • Nederlandse Spellenprijs Nominee
  • Lys Passioné Finalist and Winner
  • Lucca Games Best Boardgame Winner
  • Juego del Año Tico Winner, Tico Nominee, and Finalist.
  • JoTa Best Light Board Game Nominee, Best Light Board Game Critic Award, Best Light Board Game Audience Award, Best Card Game Nominee, Best Card Game Critic Award, Best Card Game Audience Award, Best Artwork Nominee, and Best Artwork Critic Award
  • Japan Boardgame Prize Voters’ Selection Winner
  • International Gamers Award – General Strategy: Multi-player Winner
  • Hra roku Winner
  • Guldbrikken Best Adult Game Winner
  • Gra Roku Game of the Year Nominee
  • Gouden Ludo Winner
  • Golden Geek Most Innovative Board Game Nominee, Best Strategy Board Game Nominee, Best Party Board Game Nominee, Best Family Board Game Winner, Best Card Game Winner, Best Card Game Nominee, and Best Board Game Artwork/Presentation Nominee
  • Fairplay À la carte Winner
  • Deutscher Spiele Preis Best Family/Adult Game Winner
  • As d’Or – Jeu de l’Année Prix du Jury Winner
• 2010 Awards
  • Tric Trac Nominee
  • Tric Trac d’Or
  • Swiss Gamers Award Winner
  • Meeples’ Choice Award

Additional Information

Repos Production Official Site

7 Wonders Rules

Ideas to do with the Family

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