7 Wonders Board Game - Lead Your Civilization to Prosperity! Strategy Game for Kids and Adults, Ages 10+, 3-7 Players, 30 Minute Playtime, Made by Repos Production

Confession of a board game addict: I can't put 7 Wonders down.The time estimate of 30 minutes for this game is fairly accurate for a 3 player game, I can easily imagine a 7 player game stretching out to 45 minutes. Either way, that makes it a much easier choice than most of its peers, which average 2 hours and beyond. 7 Wonders has an excellent depth of strategy that should satisfy all ages, yet it can be played (once familiar with the rules) at a fairly brisk pace, which creates a good mix of fast paced excitement and deep thought.With that, let's get into the Pros and Cons:Pros:Time Requirement - As above, probably the aspect that contributes the most to this game's widespread appeal.Depth - Striking the right balance between military, commerce, science, cultural and resource development is extremely complex - and the "right" balance changes constantly as you react to your opponents' plans.Materials - I think the comments about the durability of the cards are overstated. I don't believe they are any more or less durable than a standard deck of playing cards. The wonder boards are very sturdy, and the built in card storage decks are a nice touch as well. Also appreciate the thick stack of scoring pads included.Innovation - the free building rule adds an interesting twist to the strategy that rewards players for focusing on a particular type of development (military, commerce, science, cultural) - an option that adds a certain "race to the finish" aspect and prevents the balanced approach from being the only successful one.Cons:THE RULE BOOK - is very poorly written, as attested to by the ample amount of "oops, we have been playing it wrong" threads that a quick Google search of reveals. Some will no doubt appreciate the very succint rule book, and handy reference sheets - but the fact remains that it is very easy to miss key rules of the game because they are hidden in a footnote on an illustration, or not included in the main rules at all, but only on the card description sheet. I had to re-read the rule book (and additional sheets) multiple times before I (think) corrected all the errors we were making. I for one would have appreciated a longer, but more thorough rule book that explains the rules in detail, though I'm sure this was done intentionally as there is a significant market share that finds larger rule books daunting.Add-ons - the Leaders expansion (a separate product) doesn't really add much to the game other than unnecessary complexity in my opinion. On the other hand, the game didn't need an expansion to begin with.Pick 7 Wonders up without reservation - it's a blast. Add on Leaders if you feel like it, but it's hardly necessary to enjoy the game.

7 Wonders is a game that doesn't take very long to learn and playing the game takes between 30 and 50 minutes depending on the number of players and whether or not the players have played before. It's got a limited number of rounds which keeps the games relatively short and while the rules may seem somewhat overwhelming at first glance, they're really quite easy to learn. I only takes one or two times through the game to understand all the basics and begin working on strategies for winning.That's the part of this game I love the most - there are so many different strategies to win that could work you can try something different each time. Indeed the same strategy will not always work game after game so you need to learn to adapt your strategy to the game and the players at hand.One thing about this game that isn't made very clear is that it's designed for at least three players. While there is a two player variation it's considered an "advanced" game because the two players will take turns playing for a non-existent third player with some special rules as to who makes the choices for that "player", how cards are to be handled and what-not. It's not that much harder, but this is certainly a game that's more fun with at least three people. That said, you would be missing out to skip over this game simply because most of the time you'd only be playing with two players -- it's still a very fun game with two players.I have also played the Leaders expansion of this game which adds an entirely new dimension to the game and makes it a bit more complicated but also a lot more fun. One of the best things about 7 Wonders is because of the way the game is scored and won (adding up victory points collected in over half a dozen different ways) it's nearly impossible to tell who's wining at any given moment which means the competition never lets down.I would compare this game lightly to Dominion in that both are deck-building games. In Dominion you purchase cards from the market to build up your deck while in 7 Wonders you select one card from the hand of cards passed to you, play it, and pass your hand on so what's left is only the cards you've selected and played from the cards circling all the players. Both games are fairly quick and have lots of replay value. 7 Wonders does a better job of retaining the mystery of who's likely to win until the scores are tallied at the end and both games are fairly easy to learn even for older children (I played with my 12 year-old nephew and he picked up on it right away and wanted to keep playing after several games).If you enjoy strategy board games then this one should be in your collection. It plays up to 7 players and the more the merrier. If you've played 7 Wonders and enjoy the game I'd suggest you consider add the Leaders expansion to add another dimension of strategy to the game.Rating rationale:Durability - 3 stars because there are lots of small cardboard pieces (coins, home boards) and cards which probably wouldn't stand up too well if doused with water. Nylon card sleeve are appropriate for the deck of cardsEducational value - 3 stars because while it will help teach strategy it is non an educational toy per se.