I got Michael 7 Wonders for his birthday this year. I really had no idea what it was about but I knew it was one of the games he wanted so I picked it. Now it is one of my top 10 games!
It is actually a fun game (not because I win almost every time, lol) because everyone takes their turn at the same time. This cuts down on waiting times and helps to keep attention spans of all ranges. Seven Wonders plays 2-7 players which makes it even more appealing because most games only play up to 5.
7 Wonders is a game about the 7 wonders of the world, go figure. Each player has a different wonder that can get them special abilities. The point of the game is to build up your wonder. How do you do this?
Game play:
1. Everyone starts with a hand of 7 cards.
2. Everyone picks a card they want to add to their wonder and places it in front of them face down. Then passes their hand to the player on their left or right, depending on what round it is (there are 3 rounds).
3. When everyone has picked their card, they are flipped over and any immediate effects are resolved now.
4. Then everyone picks up their new hand and starts all over. When your hand has 2 cards left, you pick one and discard the other.
After the 3rd round the points are counted. Whoever has the most victory points wins! Here's some examples of how you get points:
*The blue cards only give you points at the end of the game. The upper middle number is your points for the end of the game.
*The green cards are worth 7 if you get all 3 symbols and worth how many of the same symbol you have squared (if you have 3 of the same symbol it would be 3 x 3 = 9).
*Some of the yellow cards get you victory points based on different color cards you (or sometimes your neighbor) have.
*Red cards get you points if you beat your neighbors amount of red cards. The 1st round you would get 1 VP, the 2nd round you would get 3 VP, and the 3rd round you would get 5 VP. If you don't beat your neighbor you get a -1.
*Purple cards only come out in round 3 and get you different VP for all sorts of different things. They are pretty cool cards.
If during game play everything is confusing, it will all make sense once you score. So you'll have to play at least 2 times in a row....and you'll want to!!
**Note: There is more to this game that I am not talking about so you'll have to read the directions.