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A review of 7 Wonders by Jesse Dean.
Asmodee had a demo copy of 7 Wonders at Gen Con, so I made sure to check it out while I was there.
7 Wonders is a drafting game with a pretty basic structure. There are three ages to the game. In each age, the players are given a hand of seven cards. On each turn, the players select a card from their hand, reveal it to the other players, place it on the appropriate spot on their player mat or discard it for money, and then pass the remaining cards to their left. This continues until each player has two cards left in their hand, at which point they pick one and place the remaining one in the center. At the end of the age, each player’s military is compared to that of adjacent players, and victory points are assigned based on the relative military position. Most points win.
The basis for the player’s initial decision making is their wonder, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Each one produces a different resource, requires different resources to build, and provides a different special benefit for building it. Building the first level of a wonder always gives 3 victory points and building the third level gives 7 victory points. The middle level gives some sort of special benefit: bonus resource production, extra victory points, and extra military are a few that I remember from my single play of the game.
Resource generation is handled mostly in an abstract manner, but in such a way that it encourages interaction. Each player has money which they can use to purchase cards that require it or to pay the player to their left or their right for access to the resources that that player produces. These resources are not represented by anything more than icons on cards (and the player board), indicating both the presence of the resource production and the limit of produced resources usable by any given player per turn. Purchasing resources from an adjacent player does not reduce the ability of that player to use the resources, so the limit is per player, rather than being a limit per turn. So it seems like it is a good idea to build resources that are both useful for you and useful for adjacent players, as getting money is a useful way to acquire further cards of your own, make your own purchases, and buy victory points at the end of the game.
Throughout the game it is also possible to purchase technology cards, each of which has one of three different technology symbols. These are another potential for victory points, as each different one is worth 1 victory point, with 7 extra victory points if all three are owned. Additionally, the quantity of identical copies of the same type is squared to provide additional victory points.
Military cards provide an increase in the player’s military value, which is relevant at the end of each of the ages. When this occurs your military is compared to that of each of your neighbors. If you exceed their military value then you get 1, 3, or 5 victory points depending on the age. If you have less than them then you lose a victory point. This can end up being a pretty sizeable advantage, if you are able to maintain a military lead throughout the game, as the 18 maximum points seems like a significant chunk of your final victory points.
Most of the other card types are fairly simple and straight forward. Trade cards provide you with either money or the ability to purchase resources from neighboring players at a reduced rate. There are also a number of cards that become available only in the third age which give victory points based on the number of cards of a type that your neighbors have, or other similar conditions.
Many cards list another building type either in the upper left hand corner near the cost, or in the lower right hand corner. If it is in the upper left hand corner that indicates that if you have already built the named building, you can place this card without playing the cost. Similarly, if you have building(s) named on the lower right hand corner that indicates that by playing this card, you will be able to play that card for free.
The result of all of this is a number of fun little interactions that make the game share some of the same engaging qualities of other combo-building games like Race for the Galaxy or Glory to Rome with very different mechanics and the ability to scale up to 7 people. In fact, while I prefer both Race For the Galaxy and Glory To Rome with smaller player numbers, I suspect that I will like 7 Wonders with more players as it will result in more deliciously tense decisions regarding what to keep and what to pass.
I was pretty satisfied with my play of 7 Wonders. I had heard some of the previous hype about the game coming out of the Gathering, but had largely ignored it, and decided that I wanted to try the game for myself. I am glad I did because it moved the game from a "Maybe Buy" to a "Definite Buy." It’s just such a delicious little bit of brain candy that I can’t wait to explore it some more.
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