This post is just about two years late. Yep. That’s how long it took me to finally grab a copy of 7 Wonders, easily one of the most epic board games in recent history. Released last year, 7 Wonders has already won a Cannes Jury Prize alongside 28 other awards. I’ve been playing this card development game a couple of months after its release but it was only recently I was able to acquire it as I live on the other side of the pond.
7 Wonders is a card development game for 2 to 7 players. It is set in ancient times and each player controls his own civilization that must fight for economic, military or scientific victory. Since there is no one clear path to victory, winning the game entails amassing the most number of points based on the cards that you played. The game is divided into 3 different ages each with 6 turns for a total of 18 in-game turns. A turn consists of playing different cards by paying the resource cost. Your city has the option of buying resources from other adjacent players and rewards are given for building structures, markets, military or contributing to science.
At the end of three ages, all the player points are tallied and the one with the most points win. For instance, a player may decide to take the route of building structures which give him direct influence points that add up at the end of the game. Or, a player can focus on investing in science where every green card adds up exponentially and can really rack up points as you get more combinations. There’s also military conquest which grants victory points at the end of every age. The strategy to 7 Wonders is endless as it highly depends on your choice of city, who are the civilizations adjacent to you and what cards are passed around during the game. Note that you don’t keep cards — your hand is passed around every turn after choosing a single card to play.
7 Wonders is no doubt one of those games with very high replay value and after several games, I still can’t figure out a “best” strategy to winning as there are just too many factors to consider, just like running your own city.
7 Wonders retails between ~USD $30.00 to ~USD $35.00 from Amazon.com.