Board Games
How to play 7 Wonders
Draft a city over three Ages, building production, commerce, military, science and your wonder.
What you need
Wonder boards, Age decks, coins, military tokens and score pad
Set up the game
- Give each player a board and three coins. Prepare decks by player-count labels and the specified Age III guild count. Deal seven cards each per Age.
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Playing 7 Wonders
- Choose secretly and reveal simultaneously: build the card, bury it under your next wonder stage and pay that stage, or discard it for three coins.
- Production is reusable, not spent. Buy missing eligible production from immediate neighbors for two coins each unless discounted. Matching chains permit free builds; duplicate building names are forbidden.
- Pass left in Ages I/III, right in II. Make six choices; discard the seventh card.
- After each Age compare shields separately with each neighbor: defeat minus one, victory one/three/five by Age, tie zero.
- After III score wonders, one point per three coins, military, buildings, commerce, guilds and science. Science adds squared counts of each symbol plus seven per three-different set. Most points wins, then most coins.
Science adds both calculations
Three tablets and one compass score nine plus one: ten. Adding a cog contributes one and completes a set for seven more, giving eighteen. Do not choose between squared symbols and sets; add both.
Avoid disconnected production
List accessible resources before drafting an expensive building. Missing a basic resource can force you to pass several useful cards. Conversely, late production with no future use contributes little unless its effect says otherwise. Look ahead to costs you can plausibly meet rather than selecting a promising color in isolation.
Reveal together
Do not wait to see a neighbor’s choice before deciding yours. Keep simultaneous choices facedown until all are ready. Money received from another player in that same choice cannot fund your current purchase; ensure you can pay before cards are revealed.
Beginner decisions
- Compare neighbors’ shields before buying more. One extra shield can change two comparisons; several may add nothing against an already weak city.
- Watch pass direction. The neighbor receiving a card changes in Age II.
Common rule mix-ups
- Buying a neighbor’s yellow-card or wonder-stage production, which is not tradable.
- Taking effects of a card buried under a wonder.
Questions about this game
Can a neighbor refuse a sale?
No. Eligible production remains available to them too.
Must I complete my wonder?
No; it is one scoring route.
Sources and edition notes
7 Wonders second edition (2020), base game for three to seven. First-edition two-player rules and standalone Duel excluded.
Sources and stated format checked October 14, 2026. This records a document check, not a claim of hands-on testing.
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