Your First Three Games of 7 Wonders and Duel

Your first three games are where habits form. Some of them are rules quietly played wrong because nobody checked. Others are legal moves that cost a lot of points. This lesson covers both, for both games, checked against the current rulebooks and the publisher’s FAQ.

7 Wonders: rules slips to catch early

Buying from the wrong player. You can buy only from your two neighbors. The player across the table is not a shop.

Buying the wrong things. You can buy what a neighbor’s brown cards, grey cards, and starting resource produce. Resources from their yellow cards and Wonder stages are not for sale.

Paying the bank. Trading coins go to the neighbor who sells, not the reserve. Only coin costs printed on a card go to the reserve.

Spending coins you just received. Coins a neighbor pays you this turn cannot be spent until your next turn. The FAQ says the same for coins from your own cards.

Buying from a card built this turn. A card your neighbor builds this turn cannot sell you anything until next turn.

Using one resource twice. Resources are never spent, but each symbol pays only once per turn. One wood card gives you one wood a turn, not two.

Building a duplicate. You can never have two cards with the same name in your city, even though some cards come in more than one copy at higher player counts.

Building Wonder stages out of order. Stage 1, then 2, then 3, left to right.

Selling the sixth-turn discard. On the last turn of an Age you get 2 cards. You may sell the one you play for 3 coins, but the other card is discarded for nothing.

Passing the wrong way. Left in Ages I and III, right in Age II. Check the card backs.

Fighting the whole table. Military compares only with your two neighbors, and a tie gives no tokens to either player.

Scoring science wrong. Each symbol type scores its count squared, and each set of three different symbols adds 7. New tables often forget one of the two.

7 Wonders: strategy traps

No resources in Age I. A player who skips brown and grey cards early spends Ages II and III paying neighbors or selling cards they cannot afford to build.

Chasing science alone. Green cards are visible. Once your neighbors see you collecting them, they stop passing them. Our 7 Wonders strategy guide explains why science is a trap more often than a plan.

Forgetting your Wonder. Wonder stages are the best home for a card you cannot use and your neighbor wants. Many first games end with a board half built.

Selling too often. Three coins is about one point. A card built is usually worth more.

Overbuilding military. Beating a neighbor by one shield scores the same as beating them by five.

Duel: rules slips to catch early

Taking a covered card. Only cards that nothing overlaps are accessible.

Forgetting to flip. When your pick uncovers a face-down card, turn it face up right away.

Paying your opponent. In Duel, all trading goes to the bank.

Pricing wrong. Each missing resource costs 2 coins plus 1 per matching symbol on your opponent’s brown and grey cards. Their yellow cards and Wonders do not raise your price.

Selling for 3. In Duel, selling pays 2 coins plus 1 per yellow card in your city.

Building an eighth Wonder. Only seven Wonders can be built in a game. When the seventh goes up, the last unbuilt Wonder leaves the game.

Wasting a play-again at the end of an Age. If a Wonder gives you another turn but the layout is empty, the extra turn is lost.

Missing the instant wins. Check the pawn and the science symbols after every card. Supremacy ends the game on the spot.

The wrong player starting the next Age. The player with the weaker military, meaning the pawn is on their side, chooses who starts.

Duel: the big strategic mistake

New Duel players look at what a card gives them. Strong players also look at what it uncovers.

Every card you take can open one or two new cards for your opponent. Take a fine card that reveals their perfect one, and you just gave them a free pick. Before each turn, ask two questions:

1. What becomes accessible if I take this?
2. If it is face down, am I willing to gamble on what it might be?

Sometimes the best move is the second-best card, because it leaves your opponent nothing good.

A quick checklist for game three

Before each pick in 7 Wonders: can I pay for it, and who gets what I pass? Before each pick in Duel: what does this uncover, and is anyone close to supremacy?

If you play Duel as a couple, our list of two-player games for date night has a few to rotate in when you want a lighter evening.