Game rules

7 Wonders Duel rules: how to play and how to score

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

7 Wonders Duel is for 2 players, over three Ages: two civilizations face off, and the game can end early on a military or scientific victory. Here are the essential rules, setup and scoring, based on the official rules.

Players: 2
Play time: About 30 minutes
Winner: Military or scientific supremacy, otherwise highest total

7 Wonders Duel quick rules

The goal: Two civilizations face off over three Ages, and there are three ways to win. Military supremacy: your Conflict pawn enters the enemy capital; scientific supremacy: you gather six different science symbols. Both of these victories end the game on the spot. Otherwise, after the third Age, the highest total wins: that’s the civilian victory.
The card structure: In each Age, 20 cards are laid out in the middle according to a diagram, some face up, others face down. On your turn, take an available card, one that no other card covers, even partly. After your turn, flip the face-down cards that have just been uncovered; the Age ends when all 20 cards have been played.
Three ways to use your card: You can construct the building, paying its cost, and place it in your city. You can discard it to gain 2 coins, plus 1 per yellow card in your city. Or you construct one of your Wonders by paying its cost and sliding the card face down underneath; only 7 Wonders out of 8 will be built, and as soon as the seventh is built, the last one goes back in the box.
Paying and trading: Your brown and gray cards produce resources, which you reuse every turn. A resource you’re missing is bought from the bank: 2 coins, plus 1 for each copy of that resource produced by your opponent’s brown and gray cards. From Age II on, a small white symbol lets you construct for free if you already own the building that carries it.
Military and science: Each shield you construct immediately moves the Conflict pawn one space toward the enemy capital; when it enters certain zones, your opponent loses 2 and then 5 coins. Each time you gather two identical science symbols, you immediately take a Progress token from the board. These tokens give powers or points.
The end and the final count: At the end of an Age, whoever is behind militarily chooses who starts the next one. If nobody has won by supremacy after the third Age, each player adds up their military points (0, 2, 5 or 10 depending on how far the Conflict pawn has advanced), their blue, green, yellow and purple buildings, their Wonders, their Progress tokens, and 1 point per set of 3 coins. On a tie, the most points on blue cards wins.
Beginner traps: Watch what you uncover: a flipped card can hand your opponent a gift. Keep an eye on the military track and on your opponent’s science symbols, an instant victory comes quickly. Don’t let your Wonders slip away, and remember the ones that let you play again: they chain two actions.

How to score 7 Wonders Duel

Civilian Buildings: The points from blue cards. They also break ties.
Scientific Buildings: The points printed on green cards.
Commercial Buildings: The points printed on yellow cards.
Guilds: The points from purple cards, based on the city that has the most cards of the type shown.
Wonders: The points from the Wonders built.
Progress tokens: Agriculture: 4 points. Philosophy: 7 points. Mathematics: 3 points per Progress token owned.
Coins: 1 point per set of 3 coins.
Military conflict: 0, 2, 5 or 10 points depending on the zone of the Conflict pawn, for the player in the lead.
Divinities and Grand Temples (Pantheon): The points from the Divinities invoked (Aphrodite 9, 1 per coin left on Astarte). 1, 2 or 3 Grand Temples are worth 5, 12 or 21 points; don’t count them under Guilds.
Senate (Agora): The points from the Chambers you control, 1 to 3 each.
Victory by: A military or scientific supremacy (or political, with Agora) ends the game: the winner is declared without counting points.

Worked example

Jake ends with 18 points of blue buildings, 12 from Wonders and 7 from Guilds. He has 3 Progress tokens, including Agriculture (4) and Mathematics (3 × 3 = 9), 11 coins (3 points) and the Conflict pawn in the 5-point zone: 18 + 12 + 7 + 4 + 9 + 3 + 5 = 58 points.

Common mistakes

Forgetting the Conflict pawn: its points go to the player in the lead, even without a military supremacy.
Counting coins one by one instead of per set of 3.
Scoring Guilds on your own city only: they look at the city with the most cards of the type shown.
Breaking ties on coins: it’s the points on blue buildings that decide.
With Pantheon: counting Grand Temples under Guilds. They have their own scale, 5, 12 or 21 points.

How to set up 7 Wonders Duel

A game takes about 30 minutes. Follow the three parts in order; for a very first game, the rulebook offers two ready-made sets of Wonders.

The board

Put the board between you, along one side of the table.Each end of the track is a player’s capital.
Put the Conflict pawn on the neutral space in the middle of the track.
Place the 4 Military tokens face up on their spots.
Shuffle the Progress tokens and place 5 at random, face up, on the board.Put the other 5 back in the box without looking at them: some effects let you draw from them later.
Each player takes 7 coins from the bank.

The Wonders

Choose a first player, then shuffle the 12 Wonders.
Reveal 4 Wonders. The first player picks 1, the second player picks 2, and the first player takes the last one.
Reveal 4 more Wonders. This time, the second player picks 1 first, the first player takes 2, and the second player takes the last one.Each of you now has 4 Wonders, laid out in a column in front of you. The last 4 Wonders stay in the box.

The cards

Put 3 cards from each Age deck back in the box, at random and without looking at them.
Draw 3 Guilds at random, without looking, and shuffle them into the Age III deck.Put the other 4 Guilds back in the box.
Shuffle the Age I deck and lay out its 20 cards in a pyramid, point up.From top to bottom: 2 face-up cards, 3 face-down, 4 face-up, 5 face-down, 6 face-up. Each row overlaps the one before. The diagram is on the last page of the rulebook.
The first player starts Age I.

Frequently asked questions

How do you win 7 Wonders Duel?

By military supremacy (the Conflict pawn enters the enemy capital), by scientific supremacy (six different science symbols), or on points after the third Age.

How many coins do you start with in 7 Wonders Duel?

7 coins each, taken from the bank. Each player also gets 4 Wonders, picked in two rounds of selection.

Who wins a tie in 7 Wonders Duel?

The player with the most points on their blue cards, the Civilian Buildings.

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