7 Wonders Duel

7 Wonders Duel is built for exactly two players. Cards are laid out in a structured tableau where some are face up and some are face down, and taking a card uncovers the ones beneath it — so every choice hands your opponent something.

The game runs over three ages, but it can end long before that: there are three ways to win, and two of them end the game instantly.

Setup

1. Place the board between you with the conflict pawn in the neutral centre and the military tokens in their spaces.
2. Shuffle the progress tokens, place 5 face up on the board, and return the rest to the box.
3. Give each player 7 coins.
4. Decide who goes first however you like.
5. Take turns selecting 4 wonder cards each, starting with the first player. First game? Skip the draft and use the recommended starting wonders.
6. Build the age decks: randomly remove 3 cards from each age deck, then add 3 guild cards to the age 3 deck.
7. Shuffle the age 1 deck and lay it out in that age’s structure — alternating face-up and face-down rows.

Each age has its own tableau shape, so lay out the next one according to its diagram when you get there.

How a Turn Works

On your turn, take any accessible face-up card — one with nothing overlapping it — and do one of three things with it:

1. Construct the building

Pay the card’s cost using resources produced by your city, then place it face up in your city.

Chain symbols. Some buildings show a small symbol. If you already own a building displaying that symbol, you construct the new one for free, ignoring its cost entirely. Chains are how you build expensive age 2 and 3 cards without a developed economy.

Buying missing resources. If your city does not produce what a card needs, you can buy it from the bank — but the price depends on your opponent:

2 coins, plus 1 coin for each matching resource your opponent produces, per unit.

So if you need 2 glass and your opponent produces 1 glass, each glass costs 2 + 1 = 3 coins, making it 6 coins for both. An opponent who corners a resource makes it painfully expensive for you.

2. Discard the card for coins

Discard it to gain 2 coins, plus 1 more for every yellow building in your city.

3. Construct a wonder

Pay the wonder’s cost — not the age card’s — then slide the age card face down underneath the wonder to show it is built, and apply the wonder’s effect.

Only seven wonders can be built in the entire game. Between you there are eight, so the eighth is lost forever. Building your fourth wonder can be as much about denying your opponent theirs as about the effect.

End of an Age

An age ends once all its cards have been played. Lay out the next age in its own structure, then:

• The player with the weakest military chooses who goes first.
• If the conflict pawn is dead centre, the player who took the last card of the previous age chooses.

How to Win

There are three routes, and the first two end the game immediately.

Military supremacy

Buildings and wonders that produce shields push the conflict pawn one space toward your opponent’s capital per shield. Reach their capital and you win on the spot.

The first time the pawn crosses into an enemy zone — marked by dashed lines — you take the matching military token, which makes your opponent lose coins to the bank. Military pressure therefore costs them money long before it threatens to end the game.

Scientific supremacy

There are seven different scientific symbols. Every time you collect a matching pair, immediately take one progress token from the board, each giving an ongoing advantage.

Collect six different symbols and you win immediately.

Civilian victory

If nobody has won by the end of age 3, count victory points:

Source	Points
Military	Based on the conflict pawn’s position
Buildings and wonders	As printed
Progress tokens	As printed
Treasury	1 point per complete set of 3 coins

Most points wins. Ties go to the player with more points from blue civilian buildings.

Common Mistakes

• Ignoring the two instant-win conditions. Points are the fallback, not the plan. A player quietly collecting science symbols can end the game while you are still building.
• Letting an opponent corner a resource. Every unit they produce makes that resource more expensive for you to buy.
• Missing chain symbols. A chain makes an expensive building completely free — check your city before paying for anything.
• Paying the age card’s cost for a wonder. You pay the wonder’s cost; the age card is just the fuel and goes face down underneath.
• Forgetting only seven wonders get built. The eighth is never constructed, which makes wonder order a real race.
• Taking a covered card. Only fully accessible face-up cards can be taken, and taking one reveals what is beneath for your opponent.
• Overlooking coins as points. Every three coins left over is a victory point in a close civilian finish.