7 Wonders Dice: Review
Rundown:
7 Wonders is a game franchise that is 15 years old with two standard games (the original and architects), two different duel editions, and now a roll and write. In 7 Wonders Dice players are selecting one dice each round to mark off a section. Once 3 areas are completed, there will be one more round then the game will end.
There are 10 dice in the game; 3 grey dice to gain resources that do not deplete, 1 die matching each building type, and 7 dice one for each area including 3 dice to replace the grey dice later in the game (black, white and purple). When unlocked the black dice will be able to mark off any one space in the building type of the matching colour. The three dice that replace the grey can only be used by a player that has unlocked these dice.
On each round the dice tray is shuffled to separate the dice into four quadrants, each with a different selection cost. On every round players will simultaneously select a dice to use, the cost will depend on the quadrant which may be 0-3 coins.
Each player will either select a dice to marking off a resource/building type, cross off the leftmost wonder, or pass. Each box in the game will have a cost of 0-6 resources. When unlocking a resource by choosing a resource dice, that will count as unlocked for the remainder of the game. For example, after unlocking two different resources the player can check off any building worth two resources, however, the resources do not get used.
If a player is short of a resource they can spend a coin as a temporary fix. When a player fills a building of one colour they will mark off one of the three bonuses on the bottom right. When one player has all three marked off the game will have one last round before scoring commences.
Area:
There are four different coloured sections for players at the start of the game and two more will possibly be revealed later. These are agora (blue), barracks (red), market (yellow), university (green), gallery (white), and guildhall (purple).
Agora (Blue Die):
The agora section works like a criss-cross between column and row. Each section can be marked off by two different dice results. The first player to fill their blue section completely gains a bonus 3 points shown in the top right.
Barracks (Red Die):
There are eastern and western barracks. This is how players attack each other with military might in the game. This will be explained further in player interaction. The east and west barracks have two different symbols for their attacks. Sword for western barrack and an axe for the eastern barrack.
Market (Yellow Die):
The market only has two symbols, however, this allows the player a lot of range when choosing which bonus to gain. Some yellow die faces contain gold that players can gain.
University (Green Die):
The university is how new dice will become unlocked. If one of the rows reaches the far right spot, a die will replace one of the resource dice. Only a player who has unlocked this die can use it.
Gallery of Leaders (White Die):
The gallery of leaders has a way to score points based on how many of these locations are marked off. Its main focus is speeding up the other sections to allow two of one of these locations to be crossed off.
Guildhall (Purple Die):
The guildhall is tricky. There are a lot of points that can be gained at this location. However, to score this section players must have more or equal amount marked off (of the section shown in the die) compared to the player on their left and right,
Player Interaction:
Roll and writes do not tend to be too interactive between players, although, 7 Wonders Dice does have a decent dose of player interaction. Firstly there is the purple dice, which requires players to be ahead of neighbouring players in certain areas in order to obtain optimal points. The other big interaction is the eastern and western barracks. If players are constantly using these barracks to attack their neighbours, then others can invest in defence. This awards the player creating defence some points, what it does further is reduce the attacking points a player will gain by one for each defence built in that barrack. For example if a player built two defence in the western barrack, and their neighbours to the west attacks they will gain two less points then they originally would for that attack.
Iconography:
Every time a section is marked off on the sheet, the player will have an immediate bonus, either scoring points or ongoing bonuses displayed by iconography. For the first few plays of the game this iconography can be hard to read. To help with this there are many extensive player aids. The biggest challenge with reading the icons long term is there is no way to quickly identify if a bonus will be immediate or ongoing until the player aid has been referenced.
Determination:
- Managing the resources and coins is a fun puzzle as the resource dice will get removed from the dice pool.
- Enough interaction for a roll and write of this weight.
- Iconography can be confusing.
7 Wonders Dice is the latest iteration of the 7 Wonders franchise. This is a gateway roll and write with plenty of combotastic turns, but the main focus for me would be the resource optimisation. Using the shaker dice tray the dice the players can choose from each round will land in one of the four quadrants. These quadrants cost between 0 and 3 coins to select. Players are ultimately weighing up how much they are willing to pay for the right dice each round. There are also resources in the game in which each checkbox will have a resource amount that needs to be paid to unlock (spending one gold for one resource can be done). These are renewable resources that never fade, unlocking three resources means you can pay for anything that costs three resources for the rest of that game. For any fan of 7 Wonders looking for an entry into roll and writes this is a perfect addition. For players that own an abundance of roll and write games already, this is still worth seeking out. The resource management combined with the randomised drafting cost for the dice creates an interesting puzzle to determine how much certain results are worth for each player.
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