How to Play 7 Wonders: Drafting, Trading, Military & Science
7 Wonders is a simultaneous card-drafting game played over three Ages. Each turn, choose one card from your hand, use it to construct a building, build the next stage of your Wonder, or discard it for coins, then pass the remaining cards to the next player. After Age III, score your city, science, military, Wonder and remaining treasure.
Researched rules guide. Checked September 15, 2026 against Repos Production’s current second-edition rules and game page. This page covers the 3–7 player base game. Expansions and standalone games such as 7 Wonders Duel, Architects and Dice use additional or different rules. No hands-on testing is claimed. Editorial standards.
On this page: Set up the Wonder boards and Age decks · Choose one of three uses for a card · Use and buy resources · Build Wonder stages · Pass cards in the correct direction · Resolve military conflicts · Score science · Calculate the final score
Set up one Wonder board per player
Give each player a Wonder board and the starting coins specified by the rules. Choose the Day or Night side according to your group’s preferred setup method.
Prepare the Age I, II and III decks for the exact player count. Cards show a minimum-player icon, so remove cards that are not used at your table. Age III also includes Guild cards according to the setup instructions.
Each Wonder board provides a starting resource. That resource is available throughout the game just like production from your city.
Every drafted card has three possible uses
At the start of an Age, each player receives seven cards. Everyone chooses one card secretly, then reveals and resolves choices simultaneously.
- Construct the building: pay its cost, if any, and place the card face up in your city.
- Construct a Wonder stage: pay the cost of your next unbuilt Wonder stage and tuck the selected card face down beneath the board. The card’s printed building effect is ignored.
- Discard the card: place it in the discard pile and take 3 coins from the reserve.
After resolving the turn, pass the remaining hand in the direction shown for the current Age. You may never construct two buildings with the same name in your city.
Resources are production, not stored cubes
Brown cards produce common resources such as wood, stone, ore and clay. Gray cards produce manufactured resources such as glass, cloth and papyrus. Your Wonder board also provides a starting resource.
Resources are not spent permanently. A resource symbol can be used once during each turn to satisfy a construction cost, then it is available again on later turns.
If you lack a required resource, you may buy eligible production from one of your two immediate neighbors. The normal price is 2 coins per resource, paid directly to that neighbor. Commercial effects can reduce particular trade costs.
Buying a resource does not prevent the neighbor from using that same production. You are buying access for that construction, not taking their resource away.
Chain symbols can make later buildings free
Some buildings show a chain symbol that connects to a building in a later Age. If you already have the required chain symbol in your city, you can construct the later building for free even if its printed resource cost is high.
Check chain symbols before paying resources or buying from neighbors. A free chain is a construction benefit, not a discount that partially reduces the cost.
Wonder stages must be built in order
To construct a Wonder stage, choose any card from your hand, pay the cost printed on the next available stage and slide that card face down under the Wonder board.
The sacrificed card’s identity no longer matters. You receive the Wonder stage’s effect, not the building effect printed on the card.
Stages are built from left to right in their printed order. You do not need to finish your Wonder to end the game, and building every stage is not a separate victory condition.
Each Age uses six drafted cards
An Age begins with seven cards per player. After each simultaneous choice, pass the remaining hand.
- Age I: pass cards to the left.
- Age II: pass cards to the right.
- Age III: pass cards to the left.
On the sixth turn, choose one of the final two cards. The last unused card is discarded without giving its holder 3 coins.
After the sixth turn of each Age, resolve military conflicts before dealing the next Age.
Compare military strength with each neighbor separately
At the end of each Age, total the military shield symbols in your city. Compare your total independently with the neighbor on your left and the neighbor on your right.
If your strength is lower, take a −1 defeat token. If it is higher, take a victory token worth:
- +1 in Age I
- +3 in Age II
- +5 in Age III
A tie gives neither player a token for that comparison. Military is scored at the end through these tokens; unlike 7 Wonders Duel, military superiority does not immediately end the game.
Science scores identical symbols and complete sets
Green buildings provide three types of science symbols. At final scoring, science points come from two calculations that are added together.
First, square the number of each identical symbol. One matching symbol is worth 1 point, two are worth 4, three are worth 9, four are worth 16, and so on.
Second, every complete set containing one of each of the three different science symbols is worth 7 additional points.
Example: if you have two of one symbol and one each of the other two, identical-symbol scoring gives 4 + 1 + 1, and the complete set adds 7, for 13 science points.
Final scoring happens after Age III military conflicts
Add points from the scoring categories on the official scorepad:
- Constructed Wonder stages.
- Treasure: 1 point for every complete set of 3 coins.
- Military victory and defeat tokens.
- Blue Civil buildings.
- Yellow Commercial buildings that provide end-game points.
- Green Science buildings.
- Purple Guild buildings.
The player with the highest total wins. If tied, the tied player with the most coins wins; if still tied, the tied players share victory.
Common 7 Wonders rules mistakes
- Spending resource production permanently: resource symbols are reusable on later turns.
- Taking a neighbor’s resource away: trade gives you access; their production remains available to them.
- Using the sacrificed Wonder card’s effect: a tucked card only constructs the Wonder stage.
- Passing in the same direction every Age: Age II reverses direction.
- Scoring science only by sets: identical-symbol squares and complete sets are both counted.
Continue learning 7 Wonders
- 7 Wonders game guide and edition scope
- 7 Wonders strategy: drafting, resources, science and military timing
- 7 Wonders Duel for the separate two-player design.
- Scoring Guide
Sources and scope
Checked September 15, 2026. This page covers the current second-edition 3–7 player base game. Cities, Leaders, Armada and Edifice add rules; Duel, Architects and Dice are separate games.