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Board game review & gameplay of: 7 Wonders Duel

Game design: A. Bauza, B. Cathala

Illustrations: M. Coimbra

  • 8.5/10
  • 10+
  • 2 players
  • 30 minutes

Gameplay

In 7 Wonders Duel 2 players build up their own civilizations by taking turns drafting cards and completing wonders over 3 eras (rounds). The cards are arranged in different ways each era and on their turn players are allowed to take one card which is not covered by any other card. They can either take it, by paying (having) the neccesary resources (if any), discard it to get coins or put it underneath a wonder in order to built this wonder.

There are five types of cards. First there are resource cards, which when built makes you able to built other cards requiring that specific resource. Gold cards make stuff cheaper and give you extra coins when you decide to discard a card instead of taking/buying it. Victory cards give you victory points at the end of the game. Then there are military cards, these cards let you progress on the military track, which if either player gets to the very end, he/she wins immediately. And then there are the science cards. If one of the players owns 6 different cards of these, he or she wins the game immediately. If neither player wins via military or science; one of them wins by calculating victory points at the end of the game.

Wonders are drafted in the beginning, cost some amount of resources and give players a special treat when built, this can be anything from victory points, extra resources, having an extra turn immediately or stealing coins from the other player. There is only room for 7 wonders in this world, so when one player has built 4 wonders the other player can only built three of them.

Thoughts

7 Wonders Duel is a game me and my partner play over and over again. Because there are a lot of different cards and they are always arranged in different ways there is a lot of variety between games. The three winning conditions are very well balanced and I find myself trying out different strategies each game. I haven't yet found one that always wins. I love it when I test a game like that and it just keeps on standing. It plays fairly quick, you constantly have to adapt to your opponents moves and its unpredictable, every time again! Highly appreciate this game, it always comes with us on holidays. 

If you like relatively short two-player games with some strategy and civilization building, this is definitely the game for you!

8.5/10

Boardgamegeek BGG

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