What are the basic rules and mechanics of 7 Wonders?

"7 Wonders" is a popular card-drafting board game designed by Antoine Bauza. It offers a rich and engaging gaming experience centered around building ancient civilizations. To understand the basic rules and mechanics of the game, let's break them down step by step:

Objective: The primary objective of "7 Wonders" is to accumulate victory points through the construction of buildings, monuments, and wonders while guiding your civilization from its ancient beginnings to a prosperous empire.

Setup:

  1. Game Components: "7 Wonders" includes a variety of components, such as cards representing buildings, resource tokens, coins, wonder boards, and a scorepad.
  2. Player Count: The game can accommodate 3 to 7 players.
  3. Age Decks: There are three age decks in the game, each corresponding to a different historical era: Age I, Age II, and Age III. These decks are shuffled separately.

Gameplay Overview: The game is played over three ages, with each age consisting of six turns. Players take simultaneous turns, and each turn involves several key steps:

  1. Card Drafting: At the start of each age, players receive a hand of cards from the corresponding age deck. They select one card to add to their civilization and then pass the remaining cards to their neighbors, alternating the direction each age. This continues until all cards have been chosen.
  2. Resource Management: Many cards require resources to build. Resources include raw materials like wood, stone, clay, and ore. Players can obtain these resources through their own built structures, trade with neighbors, or purchase them using coins.
  3. Construction: Players can use their resources to construct buildings from their hand of cards. Each building has a cost in terms of resources, which must be paid to build it. Some buildings have prerequisites that need to be met before they can be constructed.
  4. Science Symbols: Certain buildings feature science symbols (compass, tablet, and gear). These symbols can be collected to earn scientific progress points, with specific combinations of symbols providing bonuses.
  5. Military Conflicts: At the end of each age, players compare military strength with their neighbors. Winning a military conflict grants victory points, while losing results in negative points.
  6. Economic Activities: Commercial structures generate coins, which can be used to pay for resources or contribute to victory points at the end of the game.
  7. Wonders: Players have wonder boards with stages that can be built over the course of the game. Completing wonder stages grants various benefits, including victory points and special abilities.
  8. Victory Points: Victory points are earned through various means, including constructing buildings, completing wonders, winning military conflicts, collecting science symbols, and, in some cases, through certain guild cards.

End of Age and End of Game: After the third age, players tally their victory points, including those from constructed buildings, completed wonders, and any other sources. The player with the most victory points wins the game.

Advanced Concepts: "7 Wonders" offers advanced concepts that enhance gameplay. These include guild cards, which provide unique scoring opportunities, and leaders, which offer special abilities to players. Additionally, expansions like "Leaders," "Cities," and "Babel" introduce even more depth and complexity to the game.

In summary, "7 Wonders" is a card-drafting board game that combines strategy, resource management, and building to create an immersive experience. The game's basic mechanics involve card drafting, resource management, constructing buildings and wonders, earning victory points, and managing military conflicts. Its adaptability to various player counts and the strategic depth it offers have made it a beloved choice for board gamers worldwide.