No Need to Wonder--this Game is Great

The Review Crew's Take on
Seven Wonders

 
# Players . . . 2-7
Game time . . . . . . . . 30 minutes
Set up . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 minutes
Luck . . . . . . . 7. . . . Strategy
*Interplay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Visual Appeal . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Component Quality . .. . . . . 7
*Replayability . . . . . . . . . . . 9

*See "How we Rate" for a definition.

 The game of Seven Wonders really is a wonder. An up-to-seven-person game that plays in about 30 minutes is nearly unheard of. The reason for the speed of the game is the unique way it's played. Each player has a hand of cards. Each chooses one card to build, then all players build at once. No more waiting for Mr. Slowpoke (who shall remain nameless) to take his forever long turn before you get your chance.
After each build, the cards are then passed to either the left or right neighbor. By the time the hand circles the table and diminishes down to one, an Age has passed. The game lasts three Ages. By the end of the last Age, you want to have built all the stages of your wonder and any other point-making structures you can.
Here's what we like about the game.
       The theme: you're the leader of an ancient civilization and the builder of one of Seven Wonders of the World. If that doesn't appeal to you then I don't know what would.
       The illustrations: beautiful.
       The play: The how of it is simple. The what of it is not. There are so many possibilities of things to build and ways to score that finding the strategy that works for you is a challenge. And with the passing of the cards, luck always changes things up.
Something else to think about.
       Interplay is fairly low, so if you like that, you'll like this game. There is some interaction with your right and left neighbor, but if, say, Leslie is sitting across the table from you. there's not a whole lot you can do to keep her from winning. (And she does tend to win quite often. Her strategy: build the blues.) There are expansions, and one of them, Cities, reportedly adds more interaction.
 Seven Wonders will no doubt be coming out of our closet during the holiday season.


 
       

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