7 Wonders Track: Reading Your Wonder Board, Day and Night

This is the first lesson on the 7 Wonders track. The Duel track picks up in the next lesson.

Every player in 7 Wonders starts with something no one else has: a Wonder board. It sits in front of you from setup to scoring, and it is the only part of your city you know before the first hand is dealt. Players who win often read it like a plan. Players who lose often build a stage only when a hand has nothing else.

The openings lesson said to look at your starting resource, stage costs, and stage effects. This lesson turns that look into a routine you can use on any board, Day or Night.

The parts of a board

The second edition rulebook describes each board the same way:

• A starting resource, printed on the board. You produce it every turn, and your neighbors can buy it from you.
• Two, three, or four stages, each with a cost and an effect. You build them left to right, at any point in the game, by paying the stage’s cost and tucking any card under it.
• Two sides. Day and Night. The rulebook suggests Day for your first few games, then mixing freely.

A stage’s cost is all you pay. The card you tuck is free fuel: it costs nothing and does nothing except build the stage.

Step 1: what does it want?

Sort your board’s stage effects into kinds. Most fall into a few groups:

• Points. Plain victory points.
• Coins. A one-time payment.
• Shields. Military that counts at every battle after it is built.
• Science. A symbol that joins your green cards.
• Resources. Extra production, often a choice of several.
• Rule-benders. Effects that change how you play: building from the discard pile, building some cards for free, or playing the card that is usually discarded at the end of an Age.

Now ask: which kind does this board lean toward? A board heavy in points wants blue cards and a quiet economy beside it. A board with shields wants you to win a neighbor early. A board with a science symbol makes green cards a little more tempting than they would be for anyone else. A board with a strong rule-bender wants that stage built early.

Step 2: what will it cost?

Read every stage cost and add up what the board asks for in total. Then compare that with your starting resource.

• Costs that match your starting resource are the cheap part of your board.
• Costs that repeat one resource (three of the same, say) tell you which brown card to grab in Age I, because buying three of anything from a neighbor costs 6 coins every time.
• Rare resources in a late stage tell you to watch for the matching grey card in Age I or II, or to make sure one neighbor produces it.

Then look left and right. Your neighbors’ starting resources are for sale from the first turn. If your neighbor’s board makes the thing your second stage needs, that stage is cheaper than it looks.

Step 3: give each stage a target Age

Here is the plan part. For each stage, pick the Age you want it built in.

• Rule-benders and production go early. A stage that helps every turn pays more the sooner it arrives.
• Shields go when they win a battle. A shield stage built in Age I counts in all three battles.
• Points go whenever a hand gives you a card you would rather not pass. Points score the same in Age III as in Age I, so these stages are your flexible ones.

The targets are not promises. They are a way to notice when you are falling behind. If it is the middle of Age II and stage 1 is still empty, ask why.

Day and Night

The two sides of a board are different plans. The stages change from Day to Night, sometimes in number as well as in effect, so read the side you are playing, not the one you remember. Neither side is better across the board.

When you move to Night sides, read them with the same three steps. Count the stages first. A two-stage board finishes quickly and leaves your cards free for your city. A four-stage board asks for more tucked cards across the game.

The stage as a shield against your neighbor

A stage is also the best place for a card your neighbor wants. The midgame lesson covers this in detail. For now, keep one thought: when you cannot use a card and the player you pass to can, tucking it under your next stage costs you only the stage’s price, and you get the stage. That makes a cheap first stage valuable in Age I even when its effect is small.

A board-reading checklist

Before your first pick, say three things to yourself:

1. “My board wants (points, shields, science, coins, or a rule-bender).”
2. “Across all my stages I need (this resource) most, and (this neighbor) sells it.”
3. “Stage 1 in Age (I or II); the rest by Age III.”

Thirty seconds at setup. A plan for the whole game. Our 7 Wonders strategy guide has a short section on boards that reward going all in and boards best left half built.