The board game 7 Wonders first came out in 2010. Over the years, it has become a very big series with lots of different versions and add-ons. Some of these versions change how the game is played, but they keep the same look and theme. For example, the two-player version of 7 Wonders was even turned into a Lord of the Rings game. It is a little surprising that the dice version of the game is only being released now, 15 years after the first one. Usually, when a game is this successful, a dice or card version comes out much sooner.

7 Wonders Dice is what is called a roll-and-write game. This means that every round, you roll a bunch of dice. Then, you pick one die to use. Everyone does this at the same time. Your choice does not stop other players from picking the same die. When you pick a die, you usually use it to fill in a box on your player sheet. This box represents building a part of a building. The game ends when one player finishes building three whole buildings. The player sheets are mostly the same for everyone, but there are two differences: your wonder of the world and your university.

Your wonder is in the top left corner of your sheet. You can finish it in just three steps, which is actually pretty easy to do. You do not need much help from other buildings to finish your wonder. Instead, finishing your wonder helps you finish other buildings or get special benefits. To roll the dice, you use a flat box with a cover. You shake the box in a circle. The box is split into four sections, and where a die lands changes how much it costs to use it. The cost can be from 0 to 3 gold coins. If you cannot afford a die, or if you do not want to spend the money, you can choose to not use any die. If you do this, you collect 3 gold coins instead.

The green building on your sheet is the university. Every space on your sheet has a number under it. This number tells you how many different types of resources your nation needs to make for you to fill in that space. If your nation does not make enough resources, you can pay gold to make up for what you are missing. This is why gold is so important. At the university, the first spaces in the three rows do different things. One lets you use the blue die for free. Another lets you earn 2 gold whenever you use the red die. The last one lets you fill in a yellow building. Every player’s university is different, which pushes players in different directions. When you get to the third space in each row, you unlock an extra die – a black, purple, or white one. The black die gives you more choices. The purple and white dice are for special advanced buildings.

You have two red buildings called garrisons on the sides of your sheet. You fill in boxes for attack and defense. You compare your garrisons with the players sitting next to you. If you fill in attack boxes before your neighbors have any defense, you get more points. This is one of the few ways players interact with each other. You do not steal points from others. However, if they do not build defenses, they let you score more points.

I played this game on a website called BGA. The website made the game very easy to play, but that was actually a problem for me. It was not the website’s fault; it was my own. Every turn, the website showed me all the spots I could fill in and told me the cost. Because of this, I did not think much and just clicked. This is not a good way to play. In my first game, I tried to save money. I mostly picked dice that were free. Sometimes, I picked dice that cost money if they helped me get more resources for the future. I later learned that this was not a good plan. I was just reacting to what happened. I did not have a clear plan, and I was not building any strong advantages.

There are coin pictures along the bottom of your player sheet. These are for keeping track of your gold. When you earn gold, you circle the coins. When you spend gold, you fill in the circles. A game starts with 7 coins circled, so you start with 7 gold. If you look at the picture above, I was the player at the top. I rarely earned or spent gold, much less than the other players. Being so focused on saving money held me back. I did not build buildings in a consistent way. I had no good strategy. I thought just saving money was smart, but I learned it was not. I should have planned better. I needed to focus on specific areas to get a stronger advantage.

In my second game, I decided to focus on finishing my wonder first. My wonder helped me get more resources. When I finished it, I got a bonus because it counts as a building. I realized there is a feeling of urgency in this game. You should not waste any turn. You need to watch what your opponents are doing so you are not surprised when the game ends. Or, think of it this way: if you finish buildings faster, you can decide when to end the game. That is a powerful thing. The choices you make each turn seem simple, but you need to think about them if you want to play well.

There is not much interaction between players in 7 Wonders Dice. It almost feels like you are playing by yourself. Among games like this, it is about average in difficulty. Although the player sheets are different, it does not seem to make a huge difference yet. Maybe I just do not understand that part well enough. For me, the game is okay but not amazing. However, there is something about it that I enjoy, even if I cannot explain it. I think I like the choices you get to make and the feeling of getting things done.