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What Has Stayed The Same?<\/h3>\n
7 Wonders is a card-drafting and resource management game about competing ancient civilizations. Each player strives to gather victory points for a variety of ventures, including building up a culture of science, establishing military might, or finding success as a trading superpower. And, of course, there\u2019s the game\u2019s name; you can gradually build up your civilization\u2019s Wonder, from the Pyramids of Giza to the Colossus of Rhodes.<\/p>\n
Conceptually, the game (in both its editions) hits a wonderful sweet spot between accessibility and strategic depth, with mechanics that are easy to learn, and a playtime of under an hour once you know the basics. As such, I\u2019ve often found 7 Wonders acts as a uniting game that invites a broad array of players with differing\u00a0levels of experience to the table.<\/p>\n
While card drafting has had a variety of incarnations, 7 Wonders\u2019 original release certainly helped to further popularize the concept, which sees much broader use today in a variety of board games. In brief, 7 Wonders demands that players pass individual hands of cards around the table, with each player pulling one card before passing the entire hand on, and then receiving another hand of cards with which you do the same. In this way, the resources and options presented in any given hand get spread around the table, and there\u2019s always an intriguing choice between what you need, and denying your neighbor what they are chasing.<\/p>\n
My favorite thing about 7 Wonders is how each playthrough inevitably feels so dramatically different from the last. That\u2019s because of some very astute balance work on the part of the designer, but also because of the variety of winning strategies. The strategy you play in a given round can rarely be static or repeated verbatim. A winning approach one round may simply not meet the needs of a subsequent round, so you\u2019re forced to think on your feet.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because you\u2019re always competing with your direct neighbors at the left and right of the table, thanks to the way trading and warfare is handled. While there\u2019s one winner across the entire table, you\u2019re regularly interacting with your direct neighbor, so it behooves you to pay close attention to their machinations, and respond accordingly. Thematically, I love the way this concept echoes the nature of conflict in these societies from thousands of years ago; everyone is forced to deal with their neighbor, but any one society might have a dearth of understanding or direct interaction with a nation much farther away.<\/p>\n
Across three ages of play, each player gradually builds out a civilization focused on different technologies and capabilities. And just when things really start humming, the game accelerates to a final cycle of cards around the table, and it\u2019s time to count up your score. On more than one occasion, players I\u2019ve enjoyed the game with are ready to dive immediately back in to try again, no matter how their ancient society fared in the final standings.<\/p>\n The new edition of 7 Wonders isn\u2019t a dramatic overhaul of systems or mechanics. Rather, think of it more as a sort of definitive edition of the core game, which tweaks balance and improves presentation in as many ways as it can, but without losing almost any of the original game\u2019s essence or flow.<\/p>\n Gorgeous new cover art echoes the iconic appearance of the original illustration, but with a grander scope and central focal point on the Colossus statue. Open the box, and the fixation on improved production values is also apparent. A cleaner, brighter rulebook is easier to parse, and at about two-thirds the length of the original edition\u2019s rulebook, quicker to digest. Several single-sheet symbol breakdowns show clear descriptions of effects, and can be passed around the table to help as you learn the iconography. And another sheet depicts the card chains that are available for players who really like to plan ahead in their strategies.<\/p>\n Another important note is that the game\u2019s player count has been revised. The original edition offered a two-player variant, but it was never the best way to play the game. With this new edition, publisher Repos Production seems to acknowledge that fact, and simply acknowledges that the game is explicitly built for three to seven players.<\/p>\n The box insert is more helpfully organized, with easy rounded pockets for quick retrieval of tokens inside. And, on that subject, the tokens themselves have been tweaked for easier quick identification at a glance, with a sharp black border aesthetic on many, and easier reading \u00a0of the numbers on the point value tabs, thanks to stark white backgrounds.<\/p>\n The biggest aesthetic jump is with the\u00a0Wonder cardboard planks that act as a player’s central play area. The Wonders are now depicted on larger cardboard pieces than in the original, to better show off the evocative\u00a0art. And unlike in the original, those large cardboard sheets now have different art on each side \u2013 a picture of the Wonder in the day, and a new, separate image depicting the same site at night \u2013 each offering a slightly different play experience.<\/p>\n While the many cards might not have the \u201cwow\u201d factor of the new Wonders, they manage a very close second. All the card backs are now coated in an attractive metallic sheen, split between bronze, silver, and gold, to match the three respective Ages through which the game moves. The effect lends an almost decadent vibe to the decks.\u00a0Perhaps more importantly, the card fronts have been reorganized. Borrowing a presentation style from 7 Wonders Duel (an excellent 2-player game in its own right), the new cards layer all the relevant icon information at the top of the card, allowing for vertical stacking. In the prior edition, you\u2019d have to fan the cards out in your playspace in order to see all the relevant info; this newer, vertical orientation makes for a cleaner and more organized table. That doesn\u2019t sound like a big deal, until you\u2019ve played a few games of the first edition of 7 Wonders, at which point you know that table sprawl can sometimes be a problem, especially in large player count sessions.<\/p>\n Beyond quality-of-life improvements and some new artwork, experienced players will note that some of the cards and Wonders have new values and resource costs connected to them. With a game as complex and multi-layered as 7 Wonders, I\u2019ll be honest that it\u2019s hard even after several playthroughs to speak to how those small tweaks change the value of individual cards and resources, in direct comparison with the older values. However, I can say with authority that the new edition still has that feel of seamless interaction and balance that experienced tabletop players begin to get a sense for. Play flows smoothly, all the strategies still seem viable, and the card chains and interconnections all match the theming of the ancient world.<\/p>\n There\u2019s an easy answer to this question if you don\u2019t yet own 7 Wonders, but you consider yourself a burgeoning tabletop enthusiast. Pick up a copy of 7 Wonders, and make sure it\u2019s this new edition. If in doubt, look for the positioning of the big statue on the cover. The new edition has the statue\u2019s head directly underneath the \u201cD\u201d in the title. This is the better version to own if you\u2019re starting fresh, and I guarantee, a stellar addition to your library.<\/p>\n If you already own 7 Wonders, I think the answer is more complicated. I\u2019ve played enough of the original edition to say that it holds up quite well, even stacked against the alluring\u00a0features of this new edition. Plus, you may have expansions for that first edition that you don\u2019t want to leave behind. If that\u2019s the camp you\u2019re in, I truly believe you\u2019ll continue to love your old (and likely well loved) copy.<\/p>\n With that said, this new edition is a beauty; if you\u2019re a particularly enthusiastic fan of the game, you certainly won\u2019t be sad to see the slick presentation and table presence afforded by this rework.<\/p>\n 7 Wonders is stellar game that welcomes a broad range of players to the table. If you\u2019re looking for a deep game with tons of replayability, and the ancient civilization vibe strikes a chord, you really can\u2019t go wrong. However, if you\u2019re looking for something else entirely, don\u2019t hesitate to click into the Top of the Table banner from below to find dozens of other recommended board, card, miniature, and role-playing games. As always, if you need a bit more personal recommendation, drop me an email and I\u2019ll help you find the right game for your family or friend group.<\/p>\n\n \t\t\t There\u2019s always a danger in messing with something that is particularly well-loved. 7 Wonders has been a sta…<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"slim_seo":{"title":"Remastering A Classic \u2013 7 Wonders: 2nd Edition - ITTeacherITFreelance.hk","description":"There\u2019s always a danger in messing with something that is particularly well-loved. 7 Wonders has been a sta..."},"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73408"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73408"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75307,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73408\/revisions\/75307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/prod-media.gameinformer.com\/styles\/body_default\/s3\/2020\/09\/11\/9f5c2aa2\/sev_content_only.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/article>\nWhat Has Changed?<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\n<\/article>\nShould I Get The New Edition?<\/h3>\n
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