7 WONDERS

2010 2-7 Players (4) 30 Mins. Ancient / Card Game / Civilization

Object
Players work to build one of the great cities of the Ancient world. You will get a chance to gather
resources, build temples and structures, increase your military might, and of course, build one of the
great Seven Wonders! The game takes places over three ages. The player who best develops their
civilization in those three ages will receive the most victory and become the winner!

Setup
Take out all three Ages decks. For each of the three decks, return to the box all cards which are not
being used, based on the number of players. For example, if 4 players are playing, use only the 3+
and 4+ cards. If all 7 players are playing use all the 3+ to 7+ cards.
For the Age III deck, gather the 10 Guilds (purple cards) and randomly (and secretly) draw only the
number required based on the number of players. Keep only a number of Guild cards that equals
the number of players, plus 2. For example, for a 5-player game, keep 7 Guild cards. Then, shuffle
the Guild cards back into the Age III deck without looking at the Guild cards.
Shuffle the 7 Wonders cards face down and hand one to each player. The card and its facing
determine the Wonders board given to each player as well as the side to be used during the game.
(Note: first time players should use only side A as it is simpler to understand.) Players may wish in
later games to choose their Wonders instead of randomly assigning them.
Each player begins with 3 value 1 coins, which they place on their board. The remaining coins
form a bank. Players may make change any time they need.
Place the Conflict Tokens in a supply pile next to the coin bank.

Rules of Play
Structures
7 Wonders is played through the playing of 'structures'. Structures are represented by the cards that
can be purchased throughout the game. There are 7 different types of structures, which can be
recognized by the colour of their borders. Depending on the structure, it may offer resources,
produce victory points, produce coins or increase military might.
The area in the upper left of each card shows its construction cost (in either coins or resources).
Some cards show no cost and are therefore free to build.
Starting in Age II, some structures can be built by paying the cost shown or can be built for free if the
player has already built a prerequisite card in the previous Age. These prerequisite buildings are
listed on the card beside the usual cost. Cards also show what buildings in future Ages can be built
for free if the one currently held is constructed. These names are found on the lower-right corner of
each structure.
Resource Cost
Some cards cost money. To build them, the player must return the required amount of money to the
bank. Most cards cost resources to play. The player must either produce the required resources to
pay for the structure and/or they can buy the required resources from his two neighbouring players.
Resources are produced by Wonder boards, brown cards, grey cards, and some yellow cards. Note
that resources are not spent during construction. They can be used each turn, for the entire game.
Resources are never reduced as these cards are not normally discarded.
If a player does not have the right resources to build a structure, they may buy the resources from
one of their neighbours (either to the left or right of them). You may purchase any resource from a
neighbour that they produce.
 Note that you cannot purchase resources produced by yellow cards or Wonders (more later). For
each resource bought, you must pay 2 coins to the owner of that resource.
Players that sell their resources can still use them on their turn. You may buy one or more resources
from either or both of your neighbouring players. Players can never refuse to sell their resources.
You must use the resources you bought from neighbouring players on your current turn. You may
always choose which player to buy from if both have the resource(s) you need. Note that you must
have the money to buy these resources at the beginning of your turn. That is, you cannot use the
effects of a card to earn money and then spend that money on the costs for the card.
Remember that if you have the prerequisite building already constructed in your city, you may build
the current structure you are holding for free.
Wonder Boards
Each board represents the Wonder that the player can build and the resource that it produces at the
start of the game. Each Wonder consists of two, three or four stages, representing the building of
the Wonder. Each stage has a construction cost and gives a bonus when finished.
Overview of an Age
The game has three Ages. At the end of Age III, victory points are counted and a winner is
determined.
At the beginning of an Age, each player receives a hand of 7 cards, dealt randomly, from the
corresponding deck. Each Age is made up of 7 game turns. During each turn the players put into
play a single card, simultaneously. In each game turn you must: 1) Choose a card; 2) Action; and 3)
Rotate hand of cards to the next player.
Phase 1: Choose A Card
Each player secretly looks at their hand. Select a card and place it face down in front of you. The
remaining cards are placed between either their left-hand or right-hand neighbour and themselves
(depending on what Age the game is currently in).
Phase 2: Action
Once every player has selected a card, they perform their actions simultaneously. The three actions
that are possible are: a) build the structure; b) build a stage of their Wonder; c) Discard the card to
gain 3 coins. You might want to follow the actions of your fellow players in your first game so that
everybody becomes familiar with the actions.
Action a) Build the Structure: Build the structure, paying the cost of the structure as explained
before. Note that you can never build two or more identical structures (same name/illustration.)
Players will sort their cards by colour in front of them, making sure each card's name and icons are
left visible. See page 5 of the rulebook for an example on how cards should be organized around the
Wonder board.
Action b) Build a Stage of the Wonder: To build a stage of your Wonder, use a card of your choice as a
'marker' of the construction. To do that, the player must pay the price shown on the Wonder board
(not the cost shown on the card being used as the marker). The player then places the card, face
down, half hidden under the Wonder board to show that this stage of their Wonder is now built.
This marker card has no other effect and is not considered a structure.
Stages of a Wonder must be built from left to right. It is never mandatory to build your Wonder. You
can build multiple Stages of your Wonder (if possible) during your turn. When selecting your Marker
card, you may wish to choose a card that you do not want your opponents to have.
Action c) Discard the Card to Gain 3 Coins: You may discard your card to take 3 coins from the bank.
The card discarded remain face down and form a discard pile in the centre of the table. It might be
best to discard a card that you do not wish one of your opponents to take.
You must always take an action. If you cannot build, then you must discard a card for 3 coins.
Phase 3: Move on to the next hand
Each player takes the hand of cards handed from his or her neighbour. Depending on the current
Age, the cards will either rotate clockwise or counter-clockwise. (Age I = Clockwise; Age II = Counter-
Clockwise; Age III = Clockwise.)
In the sixth turn of each Age, each player will receive only two cards from their neighbour. They will
choose one (like in previous turns) and discard the other face down. The selected card is played as
normally. Then the Age ends.
End of an Age
Each Age ends after the sixth game turn. Players must first resolve any military conflicts. Compare
the total number of shields on your military (red) cards with the total of each of the two
neighbouring cities.
If you have higher total than a neighbouring city, you take a Victory token corresponding to the Age
you just played in (Age I = +1; Age II = +3; Age III = +5)
If you have a lower total than that of a neighbouring city, you take one defeat token (-1 VP).
If you equal the military points of a neighbouring city, you gain neither token.
End of the Game
The game ends at the end of the Third Age, after the Conflict tokens have been handed out. Each
player totals their civilization (victory) points. The player with the highest total is the winner. Ties
are broken by the player who has the most coins in their treasury.
Count the Victory Points in this order:
1. Military Conflicts: add your Victory and Defeat tokens together (this number can be a
negative.)
2. Treasury Contents: 1 VP for every 3 coins you possess. Leftover coins count for nothing.
3. Wonders: total VPs depending on the number of Stages of your Wonder you built.
4. Civilian Structures: total VPs depicted on your Civilian Structures.
5. Scientific Structures: this is the most complex scoring part of the game. You score points for
sets of identical symbols and sets of 3 different symbols. These points are cumulative. For each
identical symbol you have you earn 1, 4, 9, or 16 points, respectively. (Note that the number of
identical symbols you have is squared to determine points.) For each group of 3 different
symbols, each player scores 7 victory points. For example, 2 of each symbol would earn 26
points.
6. Commercial Structures: some Age III commercial structures grant VPs.
7. Guilds: each Guild is worth a number of VPs depending on the configuration of the player's
city and/or their two neighbouring cities. (See page 12 for specifics on Guilds.)
Note that a score sheet is included to keep track of all the scores in the game.

See page 6 for 'Strategic Advice'

See page 7 for a 2-player variant
See pages 8-9 for a Description of the Wonders
See pages 10-11 for a Cards list and Chains
See page 12 for a description of the symbols
Expansion: Leaders (2001)

Setup
Include the new Wonder Board (Rome) and its respective Wonder card to the base game when
choosing Wonders during setup. Note that this board can only be used with this expansion.
Add the new Guild (purple) cards to the Age III deck from the base game.
Keep the Courtesan Token to the side of the game.
Use the new score booklet as it has room to score for the Leaders.
Each player receives 6 coins before the game begins (instead of 3 coins as normal).

Rules of Play
There are two new phases in the game: the Leader Phase happens at the start of the game and the
Recruitment Phase happens before each new Age.
Leader Phase
Each player is dealt a hand of four face-down Leader cards. Any cards not used are returned to the
box.
Each player secretly chooses one of the four cards in their hand and then passes the remaining 3
cards to the right. As soon as all players have passed their remaining hand of cards, each player now
takes another card from the three cards that they have, adding this new card to the last Leaders card
they took. Again, players pass the remaining two cards to the right. Lastly, each player takes one of
the two cards from the cards just received and then hands their remaining card to the player on the
right. As such, each player should have four cards; three which they chose and one which was given
to them by the person on their left. Age 1 now begins.
Recruitment Phase
Each turn now starts with a Recruitment Phase (before the Age is played).
During this phase, each player will play one of their Leader cards. These cards are chosen
simultaneously and placed face down. When all players have chosen a Leader card they are all
revealed at the same time.
When your Leader card is revealed, you may: a) Recruit the Leader; b) Build a stage of the Wonder;
c) Discard the card to gain 3 coins.
Action a) Recruit the Leader: you must pay the amount of coins as shown on the Leader card to the
bank. You then place the Leader card beside your Wonder Board. (Note that Leader cards that add
to Military or Science strength should be placed in those areas of your tableau to simplify
calculations.)
Action b) Build a Stage of a Wonder:, use the Leader card as a construction marker, placing it face
down under the next step of your Wonder. You must pay the cost of that stage of the Wonder (as
per the normal rules of the game).
Action c) Gain 3 coins for the card: discard the card to the box face down and take 3 coins from the
bank.
Remaining Leader cards are used in the subsequent Ages. You may store your remaining Leader
cards facedown underneath your already revealed Leader card. Once this phase is finished,
continue playing 7 Wonders as usual.
As there are 4 Leader cards in each players hand and only 3 Ages, as soon as you play your third
Leader card the last remaining Leader card is discarded face down into the box.
End of game
The game ends at the end of the third Age, as normal.

See page 5 for an Expert Variant for two players.

See pages 6-8 for descriptions of the Leaders.
See page 9 for a description of the Guild cards and a FAQ.
See page 12 for a description of the Wonder.

Expansion: Cities (2001)

Setup
Add to each of the three corresponding Age decks as many Black cards as there are players. Like
purple Guild cards, these Black cards are chosen randomly, with the remaining Black cards put back
unseen into the box.
There are 3 new Guild cards. These can be added to the mix of Guild cards. However, the same
number of Guild cards are still added to the Age III.
There are 6 new Leaders cards. If playing with the Leaders expansion, add these cards to the deck.
Keep the Debt and Diplomacy tokens near the reach of all players.

Rules of Play
During each Age, each player receives 8 cards instead of the normal 7. As such, players will play one
extra card than normal.
Debts
A card with the 'broken coin' symbol causes a loss of coins to all the opponents of the player who
played this card. Each opponent must pay the cost shown on the card to the supply or take a Debt
token for each unpaid coin.
Players may pay some coins and take some debt, if possible. Players are never required to lose their
coins first and may decide to take debt tokens instead.
Monetary losses are always determined at the end of the turn, after players have resolved all effects
from played cards.
At the end of the game, a player loses -1 VP for each point of Debt they have taken.
Diplomacy
A player who plays a card with the 'dove and shield' symbol takes a Diplomacy token from the supply
and places it onto their Wonder board.
If a player has a Diplomacy token on their board, they will not take part in the next Conflict. This
player is considered absent from the Conflict phase and receives no Conflict tokens. After Conflict,
they return this token to the supply.
The player's two neighbouring cities are considered adjacent to each other instead (for the current
Conflict only) and face off as per the normal rules.
If a player has more than one Diplomacy token, they discard one during the next Conflict and use
their remaining Diplomacy token for the Conflict after that. Players must always use their Conflict
token during the next Conflict.
If there are only ever two players in Conflict after other players have used their Diplomacy tokens,
these two players only face off once and take only one of the appropriate Conflict tokens afterwards
(if any were gained).
End of Game
The game ends at the end of Age III after the Conflict phase. The player with the highest VP wins the
game.
See pages 6-7 for description of the Black cards.
See page 8 for a description of the Leaders.
See page 9 for a description of the Guilds and Wonders.
Expansion: Babel (2014)

Module 1: Tower of Babel

Setup
Place the Babel board in the middle of the table on the side that is appropriate for the number of
players (2-4 or 5-8).
Shuffle the Babel tiles face down.
After players have received their Wonder Board and coins, deal 3 Babel tiles to each player. Each
player chooses one, places it faces down near them and then passes the remaining two to their
right.
Players then choose one of the two Babel tiles they just received, place the one face down with their
first one and then passes the final tile to their right. Players keep this final tile that is passed to
them. They now have three Babel tiles to start the game.

Rules of Play
There is one additional possible action that is added to the regular set of three actions: 4) Discard a
card to build a Babel tile.
When a player chooses to build a Babel tile, they choose a tile from their hand and keep it face down
near them. It is not yet placed on the board. When all players have finished their turns for the
current round and have resolved them completely the Babel tiles are then placed.
If more than one Babel tile is being built in this turn they are placed on the Babel board starting with
the lowest number and place the rest clockwise in increasing order.
The first tile to be placed can be placed anywhere on the board. Subsequent tiles must be built
adjacent to the last-placed tile. If the board is already full, then the next tile to be placed is placed
on top of first tile that was placed on that ring of the tower. Thus, only 3 or 4 Babel tiles will be
showing at any one time (depending on the number of players).
Each Babel tile affects one rule of the game for all of the players in the game, as long as the tile is
showing, until it is covered by another tile.
At the end of the game, players earn Victory Points for each tile from their set of 3 that they built: 1
Babel tile built: 2 VP; 2 tiles built: 5 VP; 3 tiles built: 10 VP. (These VP are recorded on the score
sheet.)

See pages 4-5 for descriptions of the iconography on the Babel tiles.
See page 5 for 2-player game rules.
See page 5 for Playing with Leaders and Cities.

Module 2: Great Projects

Setup
At the beginning of each Age, before players get their hands of cards, randomly choose a Great
Project card for the current Age and place it face-up in the middle of the table.
Place as many Participation tokens (brown wooden tokens) on the Great Project card as there are
players, minus one.
Make a pile of any required reward or penalty tokens needed for the current Great Project card.

Rules of Play
When a player builds a card of the same color as the Great Project in play, that player has the option
to participate in the construction of the Great Project. To do so, the player pays the participation
cost (shown as a coin symbol and/or resource symbol in the upper-left side of the card) in addition
to any cost for the card they just built.
 In return, they take one of the Participation tokens from the Great Project card. Coins are paid to
the bank while resources may be produced or purchased as normal.
If there are no Participation markers left on the Great Project at the beginning of a turn, players can
no longer contribute to its construction. If more players wish to contribute to building it on a
current turn than there are Participation tokens, the remaining tokens can be taken from the supply.
Players may be able to get more than one Participation token in each Age, but they can only take
one (at most) per turn.
The free construction of a card does not prevent a player from being able to contribute to a Great
Project (if possible).
At the end of an Age, before military conflicts take place, the players must resolve the construction
of the Great Project.
If the Project was a success (all Participation tokens were taken) all players who participated gain as
many Reward tokens as they have Participation tokens in their possession. Players who did not
contribute are not penalized.
If the Project was a failure (one or more Participation tokens remain) then all players who did not
participate in the Project receive the indicated penalty. Players who have at least one Participation
marker do not receive the penalty, but they receive no rewards either.
If a player is unable to pay the indicated penalty, they must take a Penalty token equal to the
number of the corresponding Age (either -1, -2, or -3 VP).
At the end of each Age, players return their Participation tokens to the supply. A new Great Project
card is chosen in the same way that the card for Age 1 was chosen and set up during Setup.
At the end of the game, players add up (or deduct) any points gained (or penalized) during the game.
For ease of scoring, these points can be tallied alongside blue or red cards (as appropriate).

See page 7 for description of iconography used on the Great Project boards.
See page 7 for 2-player and 8-player rules.
See page 7 for rules regarding playing with other expansions or both modules of Babel.

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