7 Wonders Rules

How do you play 7 Wonders?

7 Wonders is a civilization-building board game where everyone chooses and plays cards at the same time. You develop an ancient city, trade with your neighbors, strengthen your army, and construct stages of your Wonder.

The central mechanic is card drafting: choose one card from your hand, use it, and pass the remaining cards to another player. Your choices shape your city, but the cards you pass can help your opponents.

After three Ages, the player with the most victory points wins. Completing your Wonder is optional, and military strength is only one way to score.

These 7 Wonders rules cover the second-edition base game for 3–7 players.

Before the first Age

Each player needs a Wonder board, starting coins, and enough table space to display their city.

1. Distribute the Wonder boards. Give each player one board and choose its Day or Night side. The Day sides are a good starting point.
2. Give everyone 3 coins. Place the remaining money and military tokens within reach.
3. Separate the cards by Age. Make individual decks for Ages I, II, and III.
4. Check the player-count markings. Keep cards marked for your player count or lower. With four players, for example, use the 3+ and 4+ cards.
5. Prepare the Guilds separately. Randomly select purple Guild cards equal to the number of players plus two. Shuffle them into the prepared Age III deck.
6. Deal seven Age I cards to each player. Keep your hand hidden.

Your Wonder’s starting resource is available immediately. You do not need to construct a stage to unlock it.

What the card colors mean

Each color contributes something different to your city.

Choose, play, pass: the flow of an Age

Each Age normally contains six turns, with all players following the same sequence.

1. Choose one card. Select it secretly from your current hand.
2. Use it for one action. Construct its building, build a Wonder stage, or sell it.
3. Resolve everyone’s actions. Pay costs and apply effects.
4. Pass the remaining hand. Pass left in Ages I and III, and right in Age II.
5. Repeat with your new hand.

On the sixth turn, you have two cards left. Choose one to use and discard the other face down without receiving coins for it.

Resolve military conflicts, then deal seven cards from the next Age’s deck. Your existing city, coins, and constructed Wonder stages remain in play.

Three ways to use your chosen card

Your chosen card always serves one purpose that turn.

You cannot construct two buildings with the same name. However, you may use a duplicate card to build a Wonder stage or sell it.

Paying for buildings and trading resources

A building may be free, cost coins, require resources, or offer free construction through a chain.

Resources are reusable production, not items you spend and discard. If your city produces one stone, that stone is available again on your next turn. It does not accumulate into a stockpile.

A building costing two stone requires access to two stone on that turn.

Buying what you are missing

You may buy resources from the players immediately to your left and right.

• The normal price is 2 coins per resource.
• Certain yellow cards reduce the relevant price to 1 coin.
• You may buy from both neighbors during the same turn.
• Neighbors cannot refuse a valid purchase.
• Buying their production does not prevent them from using it themselves.

You can purchase resources shown on a neighbor’s starting resource, brown cards, and gray cards. Resources supplied by their yellow cards or constructed Wonder stages are not available for purchase.

Example: A building requires two wood and one glass. Your city produces one wood and one glass, so you pay a neighbor 2 coins for the missing wood.

You must already have the necessary money. Coins received from another player during the current turn become available on your next turn.

Free construction through chains

Some buildings display a chain symbol that matches a symbol on an earlier building.

If you already own the matching prerequisite, you may construct the new building for free. Without it, you can still build by meeting the normal cost.

The earlier building stays in your city.

Building your Wonder

To construct a stage, use your chosen card face down beneath your board and pay the cost printed for that stage.

The sacrificed card’s name, color, cost, and effect do not apply.

Normally, stages must be built from left to right, but they are not tied to particular Ages. You can build your first stage in Age II or finish several stages during one Age, using separate turns.

Read your board’s effects carefully. Some Wonders introduce exceptions, such as allowing an additional card to be played.

Military conflicts: compare both neighbors

At the end of each Age, count your shields and compare your total separately with each immediate neighbor.

Take the appropriate tokens and keep them for final scoring.

For example, winning against one neighbor and losing against the other in Age II earns a +3 token and a −1 token: 2 points overall.

Military defeats do not destroy buildings or remove players.

Final scoring and winning

After the Age III conflicts, add your points from buildings, Wonder stages, military tokens, and remaining coins.

Science scoring explained

Green science symbols score in two ways, and you add both together:

1. Matching symbols: Square the number of each symbol you own.
2. Complete sets: Add 7 points for each set containing all three different symbols.

Suppose you have three gears, two tablets, and one compass:

• Gears: 3 × 3 = 9 points.
• Tablets: 2 × 2 = 4 points.
• Compass: 1 × 1 = 1 point.
• One complete set: 7 points.

Your science score is 21 points. The symbols used in a complete set still count toward the matching-symbol scores.

Score sheet overview

The highest total wins. If tied, the player with the most remaining coins wins. If that is also tied, share the victory.

Beginner strategy: make each draft count

Your first few games are easier when you focus on the opportunities around you rather than committing to one plan immediately.

• Check your Wonder’s costs early. Production that supports several stages can remain useful throughout the game.
• Look at neighboring resources. Cheap access through trade may save you from drafting another production card.
• Avoid an expensive military chase. Beating a neighbor by one shield earns the same reward as beating them by five.
• Calculate science before choosing. Completing a set or adding another matching symbol can make one card surprisingly valuable.
• Use Wonder construction to deny a useful card. You can bury a card an opponent wants while gaining your own stage’s benefit.
• Reassess late-game production. With few turns remaining, a building that scores immediately may be more useful than another resource.

Before passing a hand, check what the next player could gain from it. Your strongest move may also be the one that removes their best option.