Rather, think of it more as a sort of definitive edition of the core game, which tweaks balance and improves presentation in as many ways as it can, but without losing almost any of the original game’s essence or flow. The new edition of 7 Wonders isn’t a dramatic overhaul of systems or mechanics. On more than one occasion, players I’ve enjoyed the game with are ready to dive immediately back in to try again, no matter how their ancient society fared in the final standings. And just when things really start humming, the game accelerates to a final cycle of cards around the table, and it’s time to count up your score.
Thematically, I love the way this concept echoes the nature of conflict in these societies from thousands of years ago everyone is forced to deal with their neighbor, but any one society might have a dearth of understanding or direct interaction with a nation much farther away.Īcross three ages of play, each player gradually builds out a civilization focused on different technologies and capabilities. While there’s one winner across the entire table, you’re regularly interacting with your direct neighbor, so it behooves you to pay close attention to their machinations, and respond accordingly. That’s because you’re always competing with your direct neighbors at the left and right of the table, thanks to the way trading and warfare is handled. A winning approach one round may simply not meet the needs of a subsequent round, so you’re forced to think on your feet. The strategy you play in a given round can rarely be static or repeated verbatim. That’s because of some very astute balance work on the part of the designer, but also because of the variety of winning strategies. My favorite thing about 7 Wonders is how each playthrough inevitably feels so dramatically different from the last. In this way, the resources and options presented in any given hand get spread around the table, and there’s always an intriguing choice between what you need, and denying your neighbor what they are chasing. In brief, 7 Wonders demands that players pass individual hands of cards around the table, with each player pulling one card before passing the entire hand on, and then receiving another hand of cards with which you do the same.
While card drafting has had a variety of incarnations, 7 Wonders’ original release certainly helped to further popularize the concept, which sees much broader use today in a variety of board games. As such, I’ve often found 7 Wonders acts as a uniting game that invites a broad array of players with differing levels of experience to the table. And, of course, there’s the game’s name you can gradually build up your civilization’s Wonder, from the Pyramids of Giza to the Colossus of Rhodes.Ĭonceptually, the game (in both its editions) hits a wonderful sweet spot between accessibility and strategic depth, with mechanics that are easy to learn, and a playtime of under an hour once you know the basics. Each player strives to gather victory points for a variety of ventures, including building up a culture of science, establishing military might, or finding success as a trading superpower. 7 Wonders is a card-drafting and resource management game about competing ancient civilizations.
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