⚡Quick Start Guide

New to 7 Wonders? Here's all you need to start playing in 2 minutes.

GOAL

Score the most Victory Points across 7 categories: military, treasury, wonders, civilian buildings, commerce, guilds, and science.

FLOW

3 Ages, each with 6 rounds. Everyone plays at the same time — pick a card, reveal, build/wonder/sell, pass your hand. Repeat.

TURN

Each round you must do exactly one of three things: build the card (pay its cost), build a Wonder stage (slide the card face-down under your board), or sell it for 3 coins.

PASS

After playing, pass your remaining hand: left in Age I, right in Age II, left again in Age III.

WAR

After each Age, compare your shields

Shields with each neighbour. Win = +1/+3/+5 VP, Lose = −1 VP, Tie = 0.

TRADE

Missing a resource? Buy it from a neighbour for 2 coins. You pay the bank; your neighbour gets nothing. Some yellow cards reduce this to 1 coin.

WIN

After Age III, tally all 7 categories. Most VP wins. Tied? Most coins wins. Game takes about 30 minutes.

🏛️ Overview

7 Wonders is a card-drafting game for 2–7 players spanning three Ages of ancient history. Each player leads a great civilisation and its Wonder, simultaneously developing their city by choosing cards from a shared hand and passing the rest to their neighbour.

The game takes around 30 minutes regardless of player count, because all players act at the same time.

      Goal
      Build the most powerful civilisation by the end of Age III — earning Victory Points through military might, scientific discovery, trade, civil construction, and the stages of your Wonder.
    

⚙️ Setup

Give each player a Wonder board (chosen randomly or by preference) and place it Resource side up.
Each player takes 3 coins from the bank.
Separate the cards into three Age decks (I, II, III).
Remove cards from each Age deck according to player count, then add the appropriate Guild cards to the Age III deck and shuffle:
Deal 7 cards face-down to each player (plus the Gaïa hand — see below). Players look at their own hand privately.
The player who most recently visited a museum goes first (or choose randomly). They will be the starting player for card-passing direction.

⚡ 2-Player Special Rule — The Gaïa Hand

Deal a third 7-card hand face-down as the Gaïa (dummy player). At the start of each turn, before players choose their cards, flip the top card of the Gaïa hand face-up and place it in the discard pile. Then both players simultaneously choose and play their card as normal. The remaining Gaïa cards are passed along with the other hands.

Gaïa cards are never built — they are simply removed from the game each round. This keeps the draft balanced and unpredictable for two players.

🃏 Card Types

Every card belongs to one of seven colour-coded types. A card's colour tells you what it does and how it scores.

🪵

Brown — Raw Resources

Produce Wood, Stone, Ore, or Clay. Essential for building structures and Wonder stages.

⚗️

Grey — Manufactured Goods

Produce Glass, Loom, or Papyrus. Required for advanced buildings and Wonder stages.

Blue — Civilian Structures

Score flat Victory Points. No special effects — purely additive scoring.

Yellow — Commercial

Generate coins, reduce trade costs with neighbours, or score VP based on structures built.

Red — Military

Add Shield symbols. More shields than your neighbour in each Age means Victory Points.

Green — Scientific

Show Compass, Tablet, or Gear symbols. Scoring is exponential — sets are powerful.

🔮

Purple — Guilds

Score VP based on what you or your neighbours have built. Only in Age III.

🔄 Turn Structure

The game is played over 3 Ages. Each Age has 6 rounds. In every round, all players act simultaneously:

1

Choose a Card — Each player secretly selects one card from their hand and places it face-down in front of them.

2

Reveal — All players reveal their chosen cards simultaneously.

3

Apply the Card — Each player does one of three things with their card:

Build it — Pay costs (resources or coins) and add it to your city.
Build a Wonder Stage — Place the card face-down under your Wonder board and advance one stage.
Sell it — Discard the card and take 3 coins from the bank.

4

Pass the Hand — Each player passes their remaining cards to the next player. In Ages I & III pass left; in Age II pass right.

After 6 rounds, only 1 card remains in each hand — this card is discarded face-down.

Then Military Conflict is resolved before moving to the next Age.

      💡 Free Buildings
      Some cards have a free chain symbol. If you have previously built the listed card, you may build its successor for free, without paying any resources or coins.
    

      💡 Trading Resources
      If you lack a resource, you may buy it from a neighbouring city for 2 coins (default), or 1 coin if you have a commercial card that reduces the cost. You cannot buy from the bank directly — only from your left or right neighbour.
    

Military Conflicts

At the end of each Age, each player compares their total Shield count with each of their two neighbours (left and right) separately.

Age	Win vs. neighbour	Loss vs. neighbour
Age I	+1 VP	−1 VP
Age II	+3 VP	−1 VP
Age III	+5 VP	−1 VP

Military tokens are kept face-up in front of each player and count toward the final score. A player can earn a maximum of +18 VP and a minimum of −6 VP from military (two neighbours × three ages).

      ⚠️ Note
      Every player fights both neighbours each Age independently. You can win one conflict and lose the other in the same Age.
    

⚡ 2-Player Military

With 2 players each player has only one neighbour, so you compare shields with that single opponent. Maximum military VP becomes +9 VP and minimum is −3 VP.

Building Your Wonder

Each Wonder board has 3 stages (some expansions have 4). To build a stage, place any card face-down beneath your board and pay the listed resources — the card's own effect is ignored.

I

Usually grants VP or a special power.

II

Often provides a strong resource, coin bonus, or VP.

III

Typically the most powerful reward: high VP or a unique ability.

Wonder stages can be built in any Age and always in order (I → II → III). You are not required to complete your Wonder.

      Strategy
      Some Wonder stages give you extra turns, let you play discarded cards for free, or copy a Guild. These abilities are often game-changing — consider planning your Wonder build early.
    

🏆 Scoring

At the end of Age III, players tally all seven scoring categories. The player with the most Victory Points wins. Ties are broken by coins remaining.

Category	How to Score
Military	Sum all Military tokens (can be negative). Won conflicts: +1/+3/+5. Losses: −1 each.
Treasury	Every 3 coins you have at game end = 1 VP. Remainder coins are worth nothing.
Wonders	Add up the VP printed on each completed Wonder stage.
Civilian	Add up the VP printed on all blue cards in your city.
Commerce	Some yellow cards score VP based on the number of brown/grey cards in your city or neighbours' cities.
Guilds	Purple cards score VP based on conditions — e.g., structures you built, or structures your neighbours built. Read each Guild card carefully.
Science	See the Science formula below — the most complex (and rewarding) scoring system.

🔬 Science Scoring Formula

Science cards show one of three symbols: Compass Compass, Tablet Tablet, Gear Gear.

Science VP = Compass

² +

² +

² + (complete sets × 7)

A complete set is one of each symbol. Count the minimum across all three symbols to find your sets. Example: 3 Compasses, 2 Tablets, 2 Gears = 2 sets. Score = 3² + 2² + 2² + (2×7) = 9 + 4 + 4 + 14 = 31 VP.

      💡 Science Strategy
      Collecting sets is exponential. Two symbols of the same type scores 4 VP; three scores 9 VP. A single set of all three different types scores 3 + 7 = 10 VP. Mixed approaches can be very powerful — use the calculator to test scenarios!
    

📋 Quick Reference

Key numbers for 3 players:

Stat	Value
Cards dealt per Age	21
Cards per hand	7 (always)
Rounds per Age	6 (always)
Guild cards in play	5
Starting coins	3 (always)
Age I military win	+1 VP
Age II military win	+3 VP
Age III military win	+5 VP
Military loss (any Age)	−1 VP
Coins per VP (treasury)	3 coins = 1 VP
Sell a card for	3 coins
Default trade cost	2 coins / resource
Max military VP	+18 VP
Min military VP	−6 VP

Hand Pass Direction

Age I	Age II	Age III
⬅ Pass Left	Pass Right ➡	⬅ Pass Left

⚠️ Most Commonly Forgotten Rules

Even experienced players trip on these. Bookmark this section.

🔀

Hand direction flips in Age II — Most players forget that Age II passes right, not left. Ages I and III both pass left.

⚔️

Military resolves after each Age — Conflict happens 3 times total, not just at the end of the game. Losing in Age I costs you −1 VP right away.

🔗

Free chains are easy to miss — If you built the prerequisite card in a previous Age, the follow-up card costs nothing. Always scan your city before spending resources.

🏗️

Any card can build a Wonder stage — You slide it face-down under your board. The card's printed effect is completely ignored — only the Wonder stage benefit counts. Don't waste good cards this way late in the game.

🔬

Science scoring is exponential, not linear — Three Gears scores 9 VP, not 3. A complete set of all three symbols adds a bonus 7 VP on top of the squares. Use the calculator — mental maths gets tricky fast.

💰

Trade costs go to the bank, not your neighbour — Buying a resource costs you 2 coins (or 1 with a discount card). Your neighbour receives nothing. There's no "mutual benefit" in the base game.

🃏

The last card per hand is always discarded — After 6 rounds, one card is left in each hand. It goes face-down to the discard pile — nobody builds it or gets coins for it.

🔮

Guild cards score from neighbours too — Purple Guild cards often count structures in both your city and your neighbours' cities. Read the card text carefully — scouting your neighbours matters.

🏦

Treasury VP rounds down — Every 3 coins = 1 VP. Leftover coins (1 or 2) are worth nothing at scoring. Don't hoard coins needlessly late in Age III.

🥇 Winning & Tiebreakers

The player with the most Victory Points wins. If two or more players are tied:

The player with the most coins remaining wins.
If still tied, the players share the victory.

Ready to Score? Use the 7 Wonders Score Calculator to tally all seven categories automatically — including the complex science formula!

📜 History & Legacy

Origins

7 Wonders was designed by French game designer Antoine Bauza and first published in 2010 by Belgian publisher Repos Production. It debuted at Essen Spiel, the world's largest board game fair, where it immediately drew long queues and sold out its initial print run.

Bauza's core innovation was deceptively simple: instead of players taking turns one at a time, everyone chooses and plays a card simultaneously. This kept the game to a flat 30 minutes regardless of player count — a near-unheard-of feat for a strategy game at that depth.

Rise to Fame

The awards came quickly. In 2011, 7 Wonders won the prestigious Spiel des Jahres — Germany's "Game of the Year," widely considered the Oscars of the board game world — along with the International Gamers Award and several other honours. A Spiel des Jahres win typically catapults a game into mainstream retail and guarantees translations into dozens of languages.

Within a few years it became one of the best-selling hobby board games ever made, with millions of copies sold worldwide. It held a spot in BoardGameGeek's Top 10 for years and introduced card drafting to an entire generation of players.

      Why It Resonated
      Before 7 Wonders, heavy strategy games often meant 3–4 hour sessions that excluded casual players. Bauza proved you could have meaningful decisions, multiple viable strategies, and genuine depth — all in half an hour. That formula influenced virtually every "gateway" strategy game that followed.
    

Expansions & Spin-offs

The game spawned a full expansion universe:

Leaders (2011) — adds historical leader cards played at the start of each Age.
Cities (2012) — introduces a black card type and a diplomatic/espionage layer.
Babel (2014) — adds communal laws that affect all players each Age.
Armada (2018) — naval fleets and a new scoring track.
Edifice (2023) — public construction projects that players race to contribute to.

The most celebrated spin-off is 7 Wonders Duel (2015), co-designed by Bauza and Bruno Cathala. Built from the ground up as a two-player game, it won its own round of awards and is frequently recommended as one of the finest two-player card games ever made.

Antoine Bauza

Bauza went on to design other hit games — most notably Hanabi (cooperative card game, Spiel des Jahres 2013) and Takenoko — cementing his reputation as one of the most versatile designers of his generation. 7 Wonders remains his signature work and the game that defined his career.

Game Rules