User:Jacob Newton/sandbox

7 Wonders is a board game created by Antoine Bauza in 2010 and originally published by Repos Production in Belgium. 7 Wonders is a deck-based card game that is played using three decks of cards and that deals with civilizations, military conflicts and developing countries. The game is highly regarded, for example it is one of the highest rated games on the BoardGameGeek site. Furthermore, it has won more than 30 gaming awards in total, notably the inaugural Kennerspiel des Jahres award in 2011.

Gameplay
7 Wonders is a dedicated deck card game based on ancient civilizations. At the start of the game, each player is given a gameboard called a 'Wonder board.' This depicts one of Antipater of Sidon's original Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. A player's play area is built around this Wonder board. The boards are double-sided, each having a side A and B. The wonders on side A are generally easier to build, while those on side B grant more interesting benefits.

7 Wonders is played over three ages, known in the game as Ages I, II and III, using three decks of cards. In each age, seven cards are dealt to each player. The game uses a card-drafting mechanic in which, once per turn, each player selects a card to play from his or her hand then passes the remaining cards to the next player. All the cards represent structures. To play a card, a player first pays the construction cost, if any, then lays it down in his play area. The cost is in resources or coins; a player must have these available to play the card. This process is repeated until five out of the seven cards have been played. At this point, each player must choose to play one of his remaining two cards and discard the other.

Players have three options for each card they play: build the structure shown on the card, use the card to build a wonder stage, or discard the card to earn three coins from the bank. There are seven types of card, representing different types of structure, as determined by the color of their background.


 * 1) Red cards (military structures) all contain 'shield' symbols; these are added together to give a player's military strength, which is used in conflict resolution.
 * 2) Yellow cards (commercial structures) have several effects. They can grant coins, resources and/or victory points and decrease the cost of buying resources from neighbors.
 * 3) Green cards (scientific structures): each card has one of three symbols - a tablet, compass or gear. The symbols are worth victory points according to two different criteria.
 * 4) Blue cards (civic structures [mistranslated as 'civilian' in the game rules]): all grant a fixed number of victory points.
 * 5) Brown cards (raw materials) provide one or two of the four raw materials used in the game (wood, ore, brick and stone.)
 * 6) Grey cards (manufactured goods) provide one of the three manufactured goods used in the game (glass, papyrus and textiles.)
 * 7) Purple cards (guilds) generally grant victory points based on the structures a player and/or his neighbours have built.

Brown and grey cards only appear in the Age I and II decks; purple cards only appear in the Age III deck.

The wonder boards have from two to four stages, shown at the bottom of the board in the shape of the top part of a card. To build a stage of a wonder, a player needs to pay the resource cost of the stage, listed in the left of this area, then put an age card underneath the wonder board in the appropriate place.

At the end of each age, military conflicts are resolved between neighbors. Resource trading is possible between neighbors throughout the game. Once all three decks have been played, players tally their scores in different developed areas (civil, scientific, commercial). The player with the most points wins.

The goal of the game is to get the most victory points. In the base game, there are seven means of obtaining victory points:
 * 1) Military victories - One point for a victory (having the most shields) during the first age, three for the second age and five for the third age. In all the ages, a defeat earns the player a -1 victory point counter at the end of the age.
 * 2) Gold coins - One point for every 3 coins a player possesses at the end of the game.
 * 3) Wonder stages - Many of the wonder stages grant a fixed number of victory points.
 * 4) Civic structures (blue cards) - Each structure grants a fixed number of victory points.
 * 5) Commercial Structures (yellow cards) - Age III commercial structures grant victory points based on certain structures a player has built.
 * 6) Guilds (purple cards) - An assortment of guilds are available. They provide several means of gaining victory points, typically based on what a player and/or his neighbors have built.
 * 7) Scientific structures - There are 3 symbols associated with scientific structures - tablet, compass and gear. Symbols grant a player victory points depending on how many of each symbol the player has built. Separately, the symbols are worth the amount possessed squared (so, if a player has two tablets, he gains 4 victory points.) Additionally, each set of tablet, compass and gear possessed is worth 7 points.

Official Expansions
At present, three official expansions have been released, though a fourth, 7 Wonders: Babel, is due for release later in 2014.

7 Wonders: Leaders (2011)
This expansion introduces leaders who purportedly inspire your populace. Many of the leaders offer abilities that are similar to the age cards: shields, coins, commerce discounts, reduced resource costs, scientific symbols, victory points (both simple and for a specific card type.) However, there are some leaders with different abilities. There are also additional guilds and one extra wonder board - Rome, which, appropriately enough, grants abilities related to the new leader cards.

This expansion changes the game mechanic, as the second thing done in the game after choosing a wonder board is to choose leaders. Four leader cards are dealt to each player, and as in Age II, each player chooses one card then passes the remaining cards to the player on his right. The cards are drafted twice, then the last two cards are handed to the right-hand player. With the leaders have a coin cost which must be paid before the start of each Age. To compensate for this, in the Leaders expansion, players start with six coins instead of three.

7 Wonders: Cities (August 2012)
The Cities expansion adds the entirely new City structures, which are cards with black backgrounds. There are nine cards for each age; however, only a number of cards equal to the number of players is added to each age's deck. Many City cards are more powerful versions of other cards, for example, the Age III 'Contingent' card provides five shields, as opposed to the three provided by the Age III Military cards. There are also some new concepts. Diplomacy enables players to avoid military conflict for one Age, and monetary loss forces some or all of a player's opponents to pay coins to the bank.

This expansion also allows team play for pairs of players and/or an eighth player to join the game. Furthermore, it adds three guild types and two wonder boards to the main game. There are also some leaders which have abilities specific to City cards or the new abilities introduced.

7 Wonders: Wonder Pack (May 2013)
This expansion adds four wonder boards: Abu Simbel, The Great Wall, Manneken Pis and Stonehenge. All have new and intriguing abilities.

Promotional Expansions

 * Manneken Pis (Promotional wonder released at SPIEL 2010, October 2010 - later included in the Wonder Pack)
 * 7 Wonders: Leaders Stevie Wonder Promo Card (2011)
 * Catan-Wonder (Promotional wonder released at SPIEL 2011, October 2011)
 * 7 Wonders: Leaders Louis Armstrong Promo Card (2012)
 * 7 Wonders: Leaders Esteban promo card (2012)
 * 7 Wonders: Leaders Wil Wheaton promo card (2014)

Honors

 * 2010 Tric Trac Nominee
 * 2011 As d'Or - Jeu de l'Année Nominee
 * 2011 Golden Geek Best Board Game Artwork/Presentation Nominee
 * 2011 Golden Geek Best Card Game Nominee
 * 2011 Golden Geek Best Family Board Game Nominee
 * 2011 Golden Geek Best Innovative Board Game Nominee
 * 2011 Golden Geek Best Party Board Game Nominee
 * 2011 Golden Geek Best Strategy Board Game Nominee
 * 2011 Gouden Ludo Nominee
 * 2011 Gra Roku Game of the Year Nominee
 * 2011 Guldbrikken Best Adult Game Nominee
 * 2011 Hra roku Nominee
 * 2011 International Gamers Awards - General Strategy; Multi-player Nominee
 * 2011 Japan Boardgame Prize Voters' Selection Nominee
 * 2011 JoTa Best Artwork Nominee
 * 2011 JoTa Best Card Game Nominee
 * 2011 JoTa Best Light Board Game Nominee
 * 2011 Juego del Año Tico Nominee
 * 2011 Lucca Games Best Boardgame Nominee
 * 2011 Nederlandse Spellenprijs Nominee
 * 2011 Spiel des Jahres Kennerspiel Game of the Year Nominee
 * 2011 Vuoden Peli Adult Game of the Year Nominee
 * 2011 Boardgames Australia Awards Best International Game Nominee
 * 2012 Boardgames Australia Awards Best International Game Nominee

Awards

 * 2010 Tric Trac d'or (France), Game of the Year, Winner.
 * 2010 Meeples' Choice Award, Winner.
 * 2011 Kennerspiel des Jahres (Germany), Connoisseur's Game of the Year, Winner.
 * 2011 Deutscher Spiele Preis, Winner.
 * 2011 Les Trois Lys (Québec), Game of the year, Winner
 * 2011 Vuoden Aikuistenpeli (Finland), Adult game of the year, Winner.
 * 2011 Lucca Games (Italy), Miglior gioco di carte (Best card game), Winner.