Game rules

7 Wonders rules: how to play and how to score

Reviewed on 10 October 2026 against the publisher’s rulebook. How we check

7 Wonders plays 3 to 7 players over three Ages: everyone leads a great city of the ancient world, and everyone plays at the same time. Here are the essential rules of the second edition, setup and scoring, based on the official rules.

Players: 3 to 7
Play time: About 30 minutes
Winner: Highest total; on a tie, the biggest Treasury

7 Wonders quick rules

The goal: Each player leads a great city of the ancient world: their Wonder board and the cards they build in front of them. The game lasts three rounds, called Ages. After the third Age, everyone counts their points (buildings, Wonder, wars, coins and science), and the highest total wins.
A turn: At the start of each Age, everyone gets 7 cards, and everyone plays at the same time: choose a card, put it down facedown, then everyone reveals it and uses it. Then pass the rest of your hand to your neighbor, to the left in Ages I and III, to the right in Age II. On the sixth turn, you play one of your last two cards and discard the other, without gaining anything.
Three ways to play your card: You can build the card’s structure by paying its cost; it stays in your city, and you can never have two structures with the same name. You can build the next stage of your Wonder, from left to right, by paying the cost printed on your board and sliding the card facedown underneath. Or you sell the card: discard it facedown and take 3 coins.
Paying with resources: Your board produces one resource from the start, and your brown and gray cards produce others, which you reuse every turn. If you’re missing some, you can buy them from your two direct neighbors, 2 coins each paid to the neighbor, who can’t refuse. Chains, the little symbols at the top of the cards, make a card free if you’ve already built the one with the same symbol.
Wars: At the end of each Age, compare your shields, on your red cards and your Wonder, with those of each of your two neighbors. If you have more, you take a Victory token: 1 point in Age I, 3 in Age II, 5 in Age III. If you have fewer, you take a Defeat token, which costs you 1 point; on a tie, nobody takes anything.
Scoring: After the wars of the third Age, add up your military tokens, 1 point per set of 3 coins, and the points from your Wonder, your blue cards, your yellow cards and your purple Guilds. For green cards, each type of symbol scores its number squared, and each set of three different symbols scores 7 more points. On a tie, the biggest Treasury wins.
Beginner traps: Think about your neighbors: a card that would help them can end up under your Wonder or be sold. Coins you earn during a turn can only be used on the next turn. Don’t neglect your army, since Defeats add up, and in science, aim for sets of different symbols: they add up fast.

How to score 7 Wonders

Military conflicts: The sum of your Victory tokens (1, 3 or 5 points depending on the Age) and Defeat tokens (−1 each). It can be negative.
Treasury: 1 point per set of 3 coins, rounded down. The Treasury also breaks ties.
Wonder: Points from the stages built on your Wonder.
Civilian structures: The points printed on your blue cards.
Commercial structures: The points from your yellow cards: the Age III ones score based on your city.
Guilds: The points from your purple cards. The Scientists Guild gives no points here: its symbol goes with science.
Science: Each symbol type (tablet, compass, gear) scores its number squared, and each set of all three symbols scores 7 more points. A symbol of your choice (Scientists Guild, Babylon) goes where it scores the most.
Cities: The points printed on your black City cards, minus 1 point per Debt token; a −5 token counts as five. Edifice debts are counted with Edifices.
Leaders: The points earned by the Leaders you recruited.
Armada: Your Naval Victory and Defeat tokens, the points from your Blue Fleet on the Shipyard and from your blue Armada cards, and those from your Island cards.
Edifice: The points from your Participation pawns, minus your Edifice Debt tokens (−2, −3, −5). It can be negative.

Worked example

Science: 3 tablets, 2 compasses and 1 gear. 3² + 2² + 1² = 9 + 4 + 1 = 14, plus 7 for the set: 21 points. With a symbol of your choice used as a gear: 9 + 4 + 4 = 17, plus 2 sets (14): 31 points. Used as a tablet, it would only give 16 + 4 + 1 + 7 = 28: always put it where it scores the most.

Common mistakes

Doing science in your head: that’s where scores pull apart, and where mistakes creep in.
Scoring 1 point per coin instead of 1 per set of 3.
Scoring points for the Scientists Guild: it only gives a symbol of your choice, which goes with science.
Forgetting Defeat tokens: each one takes away 1 point, and the military total can be negative.
With Cities: counting a −5 Debt token as a single point. It takes away five.

How to set up 7 Wonders

A game takes about 30 minutes. Follow the three parts in order: there is no first player, everyone plays at the same time.

The cards

Split the Age cards into three decks according to their backs: Age I, Age II and Age III.
In each deck, remove the cards that need more players than you have.The minimum number of players is printed at the bottom of each card (3+, 4+ and so on). With 5 players, for example, keep the 3+, 4+ and 5+ cards. Removed cards go back in the box.
Take all the Guilds, the purple cards, out of the Age III deck.
Draw as many Guilds as the number of players plus two, at random and facedown, and put them back in the Age III deck.With 3 players, 5 Guilds; with 4 players, 6; with 5, 7; with 6, 8; with 7, 9. Put the other Guilds back in the box without looking at them.
Shuffle each deck separately and put the three decks facedown in the middle of the table.

Each player

Give each player a Wonder board at random.You can also choose your Wonders if everyone agrees.
Everyone puts their board in front of them, on the side of their choice: Day or Night.For your first games, use the Day side. Later, you can mix Day and Night sides in the same game.
Everyone takes 3 Coins worth 1 and puts them on their board: this is their starting Treasury.

The middle of the table

Put the remaining Coins in the middle: this is the bank.
Put all the Military Conflict tokens in the middle, next to the Coins.
Leave room in the middle for the discard pile, which is built facedown.
Deal 7 Age I cards to each player, facedown: the game begins.Everyone plays at the same time. The remaining components stay in the box.

Frequently asked questions

How many cards do you start with in 7 Wonders?

7 cards each at the start of every Age, plus 3 starting coins. You play 6 cards per Age: the seventh is discarded on the sixth turn.

Which way do you pass cards in 7 Wonders?

To the left in Ages I and III, to the right in Age II. On the sixth turn, you play one of your last two cards and discard the other.

How is science scored in 7 Wonders?

Each symbol type (tablet, compass, gear) scores its count squared, then each set of all three different symbols adds 7 points.

Ludingo’s 7 Wonders sheet was last reviewed on 10 October 2026, based on: rulebook 1 (PDF), rulebook 2 (PDF), rprod.com, rulebook 3 (PDF), rulebook 4 (PDF), rulebook 5 (PDF), rulebook 6 (PDF), rulebook 7 (PDF), BoardGameGeek.