Wonderful
7 WONDERS SECOND EDITION
Designer: Antoine Bauza | Publisher: Repos Production
Nobody builds Wonders anymore. The closest we get to anything as awe inspiring as the Pyramids or the Colosseum are pointy skyscrapers built by rich jerks having a tower measuring contest. There's something about those legendary structures, build by civilizations who were just getting the hang of wheels and scaffolding, that continues to marvel countless generations.
It's no wonder (pun intended) that so many board games are inspired by these historical landmarks, with endless strategy titles that see players spending hours to recreate the rise and fall of these great kingdoms. But what makes 7 Wonders brilliant is how well it captures centuries of history in a half hour, using one of the most succinct drafting mechanics in any board game.
In 7 Wonders, three to seven people play as one of seven different cultures, drafting from a hand of seven cards over three rounds. Whilst players begin with a single resource and blueprints for a multi-tiered Ancient Wonder, each turn they'll select one card and pass the rest to their neighbour, until everyone has played six cards in each age. After three rounds of drafting, points and achievements are totalled to decide the winner.
From the first hand of cards, you immediately see the various possibilities available to you. For guaranteed points you'll want to build blue society cards, but equally as inviting are red military cards that gain you ever more valuable glory tokens whilst dropping a smattering of negative loss markers to your opponents, or green science cards that increase in value quadratically (i.e. two symbols are with four points in total, but three symbols are worth nine) encouraging you to commit hard to gain a bucket load of points.
However, In order to get any of these cards (or to build stages of your wonder) you'll need resource cards. While not worth points by themselves, these cards are the fuel for your civilization engine. If a card or wonder section has symbols on the top left, you must have access to exactly these types and quantities of resources to build it, either through owning matching resource cards or by paying money to any neighbour who does.
This balance between getting the resources you need for the buildings you want is where the game shines. Very rarely will you start a round and know exactly which of the seven cards are best for you, leaving you to consider what you need to grab now and what might come back your way. Seeing which cards your neighbours prioritise is also key, as if one of them seems to be grabbing a lot of resources, it might be worth getting one of the yellow economic cards to gain discounted rates on their goods, or to gather the coins necessary to fund your development.
As more and more cards are chosen in a round, the game speeds up proportionally, as with fewer options in hand turns go quicker, whilst players congratulate or commiserate their forward thinking skills. The satisfaction of gathering just the right number of resources to power your empire, having just enough strength to conquer your opponents or denying someone a card they desperately need to develop your wonder, is such the quintessential feeling of accomplishment that makes board games great.
This second edition release is a beatific joy to behold. The design overhaul and use of minimalist symbols (first seen in 7 Wonders Duel) grants more room for the phenomenal illustrations, the quality of the components is just the right touch of luxury without being overindulgent and the game now has a colourblind symbol system to make it more accessible. Add to that a few balance tweaks that gently cool off some of the more hostile cards and you have a re-envisioned masterpiece.
After a decade since its original release, this cherished gaming icon still proves to be one of the best drafting games ever made.
MATTHEW VERNALL
WE SAY
The gorgeous redesign and ease of life changes adds another layer of polish to this fantastic Classical Era themed classic. If you don't already own it, rectify this now.
WHAT'S IN THE BOX?
► 7 Wonder boards
► 148 Age cards
► 78 Cardboard coins
► 48 Military conflict tokens
► Score pad
► 4 Player aids
TRY THIS IF YOU LIKED SUSHI GO!…
Grabbing Japanese snacks makes for a fun, breezy experience that's a great introduction to drafting, but if you have the money and want a less random experience there's never been a better time to buy 7 Wonders.