How to Play

7 Wonders (Second Edition)

3-7 players 30-30 min 7.8 Board Game Geek Rating

Players simultaneously draft cards over three ages to build ancient civilizations and construct wonders. Each round, select building cards representing military, scientific, commercial, or civic structures, then pass remaining cards to neighbors. After each age, fight adjacent players militarily. Victory comes from accumulating the most points through buildings, wonders, military success, and wealth.

Published 2020

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

Prepare age decks

From each age deck (I, II, III), remove cards that don't match your player count based on the number shown at the bottom of each card

Prepare Age III guilds

Remove all 10 guild cards from Age III deck, randomly select cards equal to players plus 2, shuffle selected guilds into Age III deck, return unused guilds to box unseen

Distribute wonder cards

Shuffle the 7 wonder cards and deal one face-down to each player to determine their wonder board and which side to use

Choose wonder side

For first games, use side A of wonder boards; later games may allow players to choose their own wonders by agreement

Give starting coins

Each player receives 3 coins worth 1 value each and places them on their wonder board

Create the bank

Place remaining coins near the play area to form the bank; players may exchange coins for different denominations at any time

Prepare conflict tokens

Place all conflict tokens (victory: +1, +3, +5 and defeat: -1) near the bank

Deal starting hands

At the beginning of each age, deal 7 cards to each player from that age's deck

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Select a card

Secretly examine your hand, choose one card, and place it face-down in front of you while other players do the same

Reveal simultaneously

Once all players have chosen, everyone reveals and resolves their chosen cards at the same time

Build a structure

Pay the resource cost shown on the card's upper left corner to add the structure to your city

Purchase resources

Buy resources from neighboring cities (left and right players only) for 2 coins per resource paid to that player

Build a wonder stage

Use any card face-down to mark completion of a wonder stage by paying the cost shown on your wonder board

Discard for coins

Discard any card face-down to the discard pile and receive 3 coins from the bank

Pass remaining cards

After all players act, pass your remaining hand to your neighbor

Final turn of age

When receiving only 2 cards, choose one to play and discard the other face-down without gaining coins

Resolve military conflicts

At the end of each age, compare military strength (shield symbols on red cards) with each neighbor

Card placement

Place brown and grey cards overlapping in upper left to show all resources; stack other cards by color showing names and symbols

Winning

How to claim victory.

End game trigger

The game ends after resolving military conflicts at the end of Age III

Calculate conflict points

Sum all conflict token values; this total may be negative

Calculate coin points

Score 1 victory point for every 3 coins; leftover coins score nothing

Calculate wonder points

Add victory points shown on completed wonder stages

Calculate civilian points

Sum victory points on all blue civilian structure cards

Calculate science points

Score points for identical symbols (1 symbol = 1 point, 2 = 4 points, 3 = 9 points, 4 = 16 points) plus 7 points for each complete set of three different symbols

Calculate commercial points

Some yellow commercial cards from Age III provide victory points

Calculate guild points

Purple guild cards score points based on specific conditions involving your city and/or neighbors' cities

Determine the winner

The player with the highest total victory points wins

Break ties

If players are tied, the player with the most coins wins

Shared victory

If still tied after comparing coins, all tied players share the victory