One More Go

Imagine a world that consists of just two grand civilizations, racing to gather the most resources and prove themselves to be the most cultured, the most scientifically advanced, and the mightiest of civilizations. That’s the premise of 7 Wonders Duel, a two player spin off of classic board game 7 Wonders, where players take turns drafting face up cards from a collective pool to construct buildings and wonders. Players can win under three separate conditions, civilian victory, at the end of the third age (read: round) the player with the most victory points is declared the winner. Games often conclude with players totalling up their scores on the included score pad, but the game can also end immediately if players achieve either a scientific victory, by collecting seven science cards each with a unique symbol, or a military victory, by collecting enough military cards to push the military token to the end of its track.

Play itself is simple. In the first round players can select any face up and uncovered card to either construct, paying its resource cost and placing it in their city, or sell, removing that card from the game and adding coin to their coffers. Cards are handily colour coded to communicate at a glance what they’re used for and who they might benefit. Brown and grey are resources for constructing, gold give more coins during a sell action, blue represent monuments of cultural significance (i.e. victory points), and then there are the green and red cards signifying science and military respectively. Players alternate selecting cards until the pool is depleted before starting the next age with a whole new stack of cards. In addition to constructing and selling, from round two onwards players can use their selected card to construct a wonder, an expensive monument offering victory points, resources, or the ability to immediately take a second turn, reversing the order of play.

The limited actions, selecting one of a few cards, and doing one of three things with it, makes for a snappy game, where play fizzes between players as each new card is revealed. Strategy is formed and twisted on the fly, the boardstate shifting with each drawn or discarded card. While the actions are simple, the consequences are anything but. Not only do players need to devise their own plan, selecting cards to support that end, they also need to keep an eye on their opponent’s. Revealing a new card for your opponent to choose can be devastating. Missing out on key resources can leave you chasing the game. And reversing the order of play at just the right time could mean making progress on the military track, forcing your opponent to react. A particularly cruel mechanic of 7 Wonders Duel, is that you can pay to buy resources you don’t own, but the cost increases for each copy that your opponent has, giving players the ability to monopolise resources and force their opponent to spend precious gold in order to keep up. 7 Wonders Duel is filled with decisions that form the story of your game, with plenty of flashpoints and lessons to take into the next one.

The more you play, the more familiarity you gain with the cards that appear in each round. Games inevitably become faster, but you’ll also have more context for when to switch up your strategy or how to better juggle the three win conditions. When things grow too familiar there are expansions available to ratchet up the complexity. Pantheon introduces mythological gods that can either obstruct your opponents endeavours or bolster your own, whereas Agora adds another victory condition to juggle as players each try to take control of the senate. Each adds new wonders and elements to the board, but neither really do enough to stop the game from feeling a little abstract.

While it won’t have an impact if you enjoy games purely competitive in nature, where 7 Wonders Duel falls ever so short is that its theming doesn’t really tie into the actions of the game. Your tableau of collected cards represent your constructed city, but it in no way resembles a city, they’re all just abstracted points. There are links between certain cards, if you have a school in your tableau then you can build the university for free, but it doesn’t give your constructed tableau a sense of place or identity. Ultimately you’ll barely even read the title of a card or ponder its art, just pick out how many points it earns you. 7 Wonders Duel could be a game about anything, which can leave it feeling a little flat or unexciting.

All that being said, if you can look past its dry aesthetic, 7 Wonders Duel is one of the very best two player games available, offering plenty of thrill through its mean and strategic decision making. Quick to set up, quick to play, and a game enormously rewarding for one so short, a unique and worthwhile addition to any board game collection.