Overview

7 Wonders: Architects is a streamlined card-drafting game where players construct one of the seven ancient Wonders. On each turn, choose one of three available cards to gather resources, earn victory points, gain military strength, or make scientific discoveries. The game ends when any player fully constructs their Wonder. The player with the highest score wins.

Components

• 235 cards (8 different card backs)
• 7 Wonders, each with 5 construction pieces
• 7 card holders
• 8 component trays
• 15 Progress tokens
• 6 Conflict tokens (Peace/Battle sides)
• 28 Military Victory tokens
• 1 Cat pawn with stand

Setup

Per player:

1. Choose a Wonder tray (or take one randomly).
2. Remove the 5 Wonder pieces and assemble with Under Construction side face-up.
3. Shuffle your personal cards and place face-up in the holder between you and the player to your left.

Central area:

1. Shuffle common cards into a central face-down deck. Leave space for a discard pile.
2. Shuffle Progress tokens face-down in a stack; reveal the top 3 face-up.
3. Place Conflict tokens Peace-side up based on player count (2-3 players: 3 tokens; 4-5: 4; 6-7: 5).
4. Create a reserve of Military Victory tokens.
5. Place the Cat pawn.

Players	Conflict Tokens
2-3	3
4-5	4
6-7	5

Turn Structure

Starting with the youngest player, play proceeds clockwise. On your turn:

1. Choose a card from one of 3 available sources:
   • Top card of the deck to your left
   • Top card of the deck to your right
   • Top card of the central deck
2. Place it face-up in front of you near your Wonder.
3. Resolve actions based on your cards and tokens (in any order):
   • Construct Wonder stages (if you have required resources)
   • Take Progress tokens (if you have matching science symbols)
   • Trigger Conflict token flips (from Horn icons on Red cards)
   • Resolve Battles (if last Conflict token is flipped)
4. Your turn ends when no more actions can be taken.

Actions

Grey Cards (Resources)

• Provide resources needed to construct Wonder stages.
• If you have the resources to construct an available stage, you must construct it.
• Discard used resource cards when constructing.

Yellow Cards (Coins)

• Act as wild resources.
• Must replace any missing resource needed for construction.

Blue Cards (Victory Points)

• Provide victory points at end of game.
• Some have a Cat icon: taking such a card gives you the Cat pawn.

Red Cards (Military)

• Provide Shields for Battles.
• Some show 1 or 2 Horn icons; each Horn flips 1 Conflict token to its Battle side.
• When the last Conflict token is flipped to Battle, a Battle is triggered at end of your turn.

Green Cards (Science)

• Provide Science symbols.
• 2 identical symbols OR 3 different symbols: you must take a Progress token.
• Discard the used Green cards, then choose 1 Progress token from the 3 face-up or the top of the face-down stack. Immediately replace any taken face-up token.

Constructing Wonder Stages

• Stages are built bottom to top; a stage is only available if all below it are constructed.
• Construction costs: 2 different resources, 2 identical, 3 different, 3 identical, or 4 different.
• If you can construct multiple stages in one turn, you must do so.

Resolving a Battle

• Each player compares their Shield count with both neighbors.
• More Shields than a neighbor: gain 1 Military Victory token.
• Then discard all Red cards with Horn icons; keep Red cards without.
• Flip all Conflict tokens back to Peace side.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

The game ends at the end of the turn when any player finishes constructing all 5 stages of their Wonder.

Final scoring – add up victory points from:

• Constructed Wonder stages
• Cat pawn (if you have it)
• Blue cards
• Military Victory tokens
• Progress tokens

Tie-breaker: Most constructed stages wins. If still tied, players share the victory.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Cat pawn: While you have it, at the start of your turn you may secretly look at the top card of the central deck before choosing.
• Empty decks: If a player deck runs out, it stays empty for the rest of the game.
• 2-player variant: During Battles, if you have at least twice as many Shields as your opponent, take 2 Military Victory tokens instead of 1.
• Progress tokens are permanent and can be used once per turn (except end-of-game scoring ones).

Wonder Effects

| Wonder | Effect | |——–|——–| | Alexandria | Take the top card from any deck anywhere on the table | | Ephesus | Take the top card from decks to your left and right | | Giza | No special effect; provides more Victory points | | Halicarnassus | Take top 5 cards from left or right deck, keep 1, shuffle rest back | | Babylon | Choose 1 Progress token from the 4 available | | Olympia | Add 1 Shield to your total | | Rhodes | Add 1 Shield to your total |

Progress Token Effects

| Token | Effect | |——-|——–| | Urbanism | When taking a Grey card, choose 1 extra card from the 3 available | | Crafts | When taking a Grey card, choose 1 extra card | | Jewellery | When taking a Grey or Yellow card, choose 1 extra card | | Science | When taking a Green card, choose 1 extra card | | Propaganda | When taking a Red card with Horn icons, choose 1 extra card | | Architecture | When constructing a Stage, choose 1 extra card | | Economy | 1 of your Yellow cards is worth 2 Coins | | Engineering | Use any resources for construction without identical/different restrictions | | Tactics | Add 2 Shields to your total | | Decor | End of game: 4 VP if Wonder is under construction, 6 VP if complete | | Politics | End of game: 1 VP per Cat icon on your Blue cards | | Strategy | End of game: 1 VP per Military Victory token | | Education | End of game: 2 VP per Progress token (including this one) | | Culture | 2 copies exist. End of game: 4 VP for 1 token, 12 VP for both |

Player Reference

Detail	Value
Players	2-7
Age	8+
Play time	~25 minutes
Wonder stages	5 per player
Card types	Grey (resources), Yellow (coins), Blue (VP), Red (military), Green (science)
End trigger	Any player completes their Wonder
Scoring	Wonder stages + Cat + Blue cards + Military tokens + Progress tokens