Expert
Alter
DEVELOP CIVILIZATIONS
7 Wonders
Build a wonder or a military barrack?
Every year in Essen there
is a game that stirs up the world of gamers, throwing them into a sort of
spasmodic expectations, sparking curious phenomena of fanatic pre-show frenzy:
disproportionate numbers of preorders, a rush to grab the last copy, preview
acclaims that "This is the new Puerto Rico". Often this pre-show
madness results in a flash in the pan as was the case for Duck Dealer or
Khronos, titles soon forgotten or sailing in the great group of games good but
not exceptional. Other times you are faced with evidence of originality and
strength as was the case for Dominion or Agricola.
This year, the "collective madness" has broken out around 7 Wonders
from Repos Productions. The special edition of 777 copies was sold out ia
preorders, as usual.
Personally I find 7 Wonders very interesting and original, with a unique mechanism offering many interesting facets. I do not consider it to be an absolute masterpiece, but it is certainly one of the best games in the category where it should be ranked in. But what is the category where 7 Wonders should be ranked? Reading the rules and taking into account the theme and the setting you are confronted by a game of civilization development; and we all know that these games rarely can be played within a reasonable time frame. In strong contrast to this, 7 Wonders can be easily played in 30-45 minutes maximum, even in a round of 6-7 players (among experienced players you can play really fast). In fact, we can therefore classify it as a "filler" of class "A" and I think in this niche the game really excels.
In over twenty games which I have played so far (with 3, 4, 5 and 6 players) I
never had the feeling of boredom or repetitiveness and often, at the end of the
game, we were ready to immediately play again.
The players are tasked with building a civilization that must be developed
through three ages. Each civilization is represented by one of the 7 Wonders of
the World, each one equipped with specific powers. In every age players are
dealt seven cards. The flow of the game is fast and practically only comprises
the simultaneous choice of which card to play. After having chosen and played
this one card, the rest of the cards are passed to the player on your left (in
age I and age III) or on your right (age II). Before your neighbor picks up
your cards, all players simultaneously implement the action determined by your
choice of card, the action can be: Build a structure, build a stage of the
Wonder of the World or discard the card to immediately receive 3 coins. The
costs for the action taken must be paid. When all actions have been taken
players pick up the cards.
The game continues with a repetition of this sequence until all players have played
six of their seven cards. The seventh card of each age was discarded. At the
end of each age a phase of score taking in relation to the wars is implemented
: Each player compares the number of shields on their military barracks with
those of his neighboring cities to his left and right: If your number is higher
you receive a victory point marker for the current age, if your number is lower
you must take a defeat marker, markers are placed on your wonder board. After
all three ages are played and scored you simply total up the points, the winner
is the player with the highest total.
The game excels in my opinion due to two reasons: The speed of the game and the game mechanics related to "proximity". The speed, of course, is maintained thanks to the mechanism of simultaneous choices. Each player chooses a card that can be played in three different ways: for its actual value as featured on the card, discarded to receive 3 gold or used as a stage marker to build one of the three stages of the Wonder of the World.
7 Wonders is a game heavily influenced by
the position of a player around the table: What in other games is usually seen
as a failure of mechanics is here exalted as an important feature of the game.
Your neighborhood is made up of three different aspects: the passage of the
cards, the use of resources and the wars. Obviously the fact of passing and
receiving cards each turn requires consideration and evaluation of your
neighbor’s strategies:
"Which cards can I give to him?"
"That cards I'm sure are useless to him and he will pass to me?"
Even more interesting is the mechanism of
resources: to build structures, developments or technologies you often need
resources. Each player has an initial resource at the start of the game and
then in the course of the game the resources resulting from cards played, but
can use some of the resources of his neighbors by paying for them; if the
player on my right has wood, I can get by without wasting a turn and a card and
pay for the wood as needed, if I can make better use of my card by using it for
another purpose. The wars in 7 Wonders are resolved at the end of each age as
players compare their military value with that of their neighbors to their left
and right and earn or lose victory points if they are stronger or weaker,
respectively.
In the deck here are resources (brown), processed materials (gray), scientific
structures (green), civic buildings (blue), commercial buildings (yellow),
military barracks (red) and finally guilds (purple). The resources dominate in
the cards during the first age and are still present in the cards for the
second age; the guilds are present only in the third age. Military facilities
as well as commercial and civil buildings confer better abilities in the
proceeding of the ages.
Let's see in detail how the game develops. 7 wonders is a card game and apart
from the small boards (one small board for each player, actually featuring one
of the seven Wonders of the World), gold coins and tokens win/lose for the
outcome of the wars), all the rest is done with the building cards.
A player in the game will play 18 cards (6 per age) and must make the best of
them: At the beginning it is helpful and important to play resources that will
be useful when playing structures and guilds in due course during game. But, do
not overdo it and always keep in mind that resources can be acquired from the
neighbors! Many cards require resources as a payment for playing them; the
player must own them himself or buy them from one of his neighbors. The
resources are never actually lost/used up and in the same turn the same
resource card can be used three times: once by his owner, and once for each of
its neighbors. The commercial structures often provide economic benefits, for
instance money, or allow you to obtain resources from your neighbors at reduced
prices. Civil buildings yield victory points at the end of the game and the
military barracks only serve to determine supremacy at the end of each age.
Winning a war against a neighbor gives you 1, 3 or 5 points respectively in ages
I, II and III. Winning all the wars (2 for each age) earns you the maximum of
18 victory points, certainly not enough to win a game, as 7 Wonders is a game
where you will often win with more than 40 points.
Some facilities are "preliminary" to the development of other facilities
(in a kind of graph of technological development) that, in terms of play,
results in the possibility to play a card without providing / paying the
necessary resources. Technologies (green cards of three different types) give
you victory points at the end of the game end by a special mechanism: with 1,
2, 3 or 4 cards of the same technology you earn 1, 4, 9 or 16 victory points
and you receive a bonus of 7 victory points for each set of three different
technologies. It’s clear that in this game there is so much to take into
account in terms of game mechanisms and small details: the resources, the
interaction with neighbors, the graph of development, the race for military
supremacy race; such a lot for a game that develops and ends in 30-45 minutes.
A last glimpse at the Wonders of the World: Each of them in the base game has
three stages of development which must or can be built: The first and third stage
are the same for everyone, earning you 3 victory points and 7 victory points,
respectively, but the second stage is different, adding variety. Each Wonder of
the World also brings different abilities into play which render the game a bit
more complex. I consider 7 Wonders to be a great game with a mechanism that I
hope will be implemented in other games, for sure.
Spieler : 3-7
Alter : ages 13 and up
Dauer : ca. 30 min
Autor : Antoine Bauza
Grafik : Miguel Coimbra
Titel englisch : ident
Preis : ca. 35,00 Euro
Verlag : Repos / Asmodee 2010
www.rprod.com
Genre : Development and resource management with cards
Zielgruppe : For experts
Mechanismen : Use cards to their best advantage
Kommentar:
Wonderful graphics and components
Enormous depth and variety with short playing time
Seating order as a positive mechanism in the game
Vergleichbar:
First game of this kind; some parts of the mechanisms are known from other games, like the multiple use of cards, e.g, in San Juan
Atmosphäre: 6
Andrea Ligabue:
A filler from the duration of the game, a great game in all other aspects, what a fantastic combination!
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