Photo: BCD Jeux, partner shopTabletop games
7 Wonders Architects
Repos ProductionAntoine Bauza2021
- players
- 2–7
- minutes
- 25
- years
- 8+
In the box
7 Wonders to build, as cardboard tiles · Wonder cards in 7 draw piles, plus a central draw pile · Progress tokens · Conflict tokens · The Cat pawn · Victory tokens
Official rules (PDF, publisher's site)
Box details
- Designer
- Antoine Bauza
- Artwork
- Etienne Hebinger
- Publisher
- Repos Production
- Mechanics
- Open DraftingSet CollectionNeighbour ScopeOnce-Per-Game AbilitiesRace
- Expansions
- 7 Wonders Architects: Medals · 2024
Where to buy it
Near you and online
In a shop
Within 50 km.
Online
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The basics
Everyone builds their Wonder stage by stage: on your turn, you take a single card, from the deck on your left, the deck on your right or the hidden top card of the central deck. Gathered resources force you to build a stage, green cards bring Progress tokens, red cards lead to battles against your neighbours and blue cards score points. As soon as a player completes their Wonder, the game ends at the end of their turn and the highest total wins.
Checked against the official rules · October 2026
The rules, step by step
Setup
1 Wonder each, Central deck, Youngest starts
- Each player receives a Wonder, assembled on its Under Construction side, and its matching deck of cards, shuffled and placed face up between themselves and their left-hand neighbour.
- In the centre: the central deck, face down, with room for a discard pile, and the stack of Progress tokens face down, with the top three revealed beside it.
- The Conflict tokens, Peace side up: 3 with two or three players, 4 with four, 5 with five, 6 with six or seven. Beside them, the supply of Military Victory tokens and the Cat pawn.
- The youngest player starts, then play goes clockwise.
How to play
Take 1 card, Left, right or centre, Building is compulsory
- On your turn, you take a single card: the face-up card from the deck on your left, the one from the deck on your right, or the hidden top card of the central deck.
- Grey and yellow cards: resources. Gold replaces any resource.
- As soon as you have the resources required by an available stage (two or three identical, or two, three or four different, depending on the stage), you must build it: discard the cards used and flip the stage to its Constructed side. A Wonder is built from the bottom up, several stages can be built in the same turn, and some give an immediate effect.
- Green cards: two identical symbols, or three different ones, force you to take a Progress token. Discard those cards and choose one of the three face-up tokens or the top one of the stack; its effect lasts until the end of the game.
- Red cards: shields; those showing one or two horns turn that many Conflict tokens to their Battle side.
- When the last Conflict token turns to its Battle side, a battle takes place at the end of that turn: everyone compares their shields with each of their two neighbours and wins one Military Victory token per neighbour they beat, so 0, 1 or 2. Then everyone discards their red cards with horns and the Conflict tokens go back to their Peace side.
- Blue cards: points; those showing a cat make you take the Cat pawn. While you hold it, you may secretly look at the hidden card of the central deck at the start of your turn, before choosing.
- With two players, only the battle changes: 1 Military Victory token if you have more shields than your opponent, 2 if you have at least twice as many (or at least 2 against none).
Scoring
Military Victory 3 pts, Cat pawn 2 pts, Stages and blue cards
- Points from the built stages of your Wonder.
- Points from blue cards.
- 3 points per Military Victory token.
- 2 points for the player who has the Cat pawn.
- Points from the Progress tokens that give them: Decor (4 if your Wonder is unfinished, 6 if it is complete), Politics (1 per cat on your blue cards), Strategy (1 per Military Victory token), Education (2 per Progress token, this one included), Culture (4 for one copy, 12 for both).
End of the game
Wonder completed, Ends at end of turn, Highest total
- When a player completes the last stage of their Wonder, the game ends at the end of their turn; the points are then counted.
- The highest total wins. In a tie, whoever built the most stages wins; otherwise the victory is shared.
Going further
Frequently asked questions · In the same family
Frequently asked questions
Can you take a card from any player?
No: only from the two decks next to you, or from the central deck. Only a Wonder effect, such as Alexandria's, lets you draw from elsewhere.
Does the Cat always stay with the same player?
No. It passes to whoever takes the next blue card with a cat.