World Wonders from Arcane Wonders — Review
A look at the game of civilization building and wonders of the world.
*Note* a copy of the game was provided by the publisher for review.
Publisher — Arcane Wonders, MeepleBR, and Mundus
Designer — Ze mendes
Art Direction — Odysseas Stamoglou and Tom Venture
Game Type — Action Point, City Building, and Drafting
Initial Year of Release — 2023
Age Range — 12+
Expected Playtime — 50–70 Minutes
Number of Players — 1–5
Theme and What is it?
You are building your own city. Each of you will need to balance your resources against what things you need in your city and the World Wonders you wish to build. You’ll need to watch your population; grow too quickly and you’ll end the game. Finally, you’ll need to pay attention to your food, ceramics, and technology because in the end, your society will be judged on the least of these.
Initial Impressions
I went into this game having watched a couple of play throughs. I already knew a bit about the game and was looking forward to trying it out. That said, I was only moderately prepared for how nice the components for the game are. Everything in this is incredibly nice and I was even more excited to get it to the table once I started looking at everything.
Game Mechanics
Set-up for the game is pretty straight forward. You set out the market board and organize the various buildings into stacks. If you have 4 or 5 players you’ll add smaller side boards to reflect the additional players and give more building options. You’ll also set out a number of road stacks based on the number of players, the first and second player tokens, and a watch tower for each rounds bidding. You will also take out the Wonder deck, shuffle it and deal three cards in a row. If you’re using the optional objective cards then you’ll also deal out three and return the rest to the box. Each player is also given a long road segment that they place on their board so that it touches the bottom/sidewalk section of the player board.
On your turn you’ll buy something. You have seven coins to spend over the round. Once you’ve made your purchase you’ll place the thing you’ve purchased on your board as a part of your city. What you buy will affect the price and placement rules. For example, if you purchase roads then you’ll pay one coin, and it must be placed next to another road, the sidewalk, or a tower.
If you purchase a building from the market board you’ll pay the amount shown on the stack with larger buildings being worth more. When you place the building it must be built adjacent to a road or a building of the same type. Each building will also adjust your Food, Ceramics, and Technology tracks. If one of these tracks reaches a population marker then you will also increase your population.
To purchase a World Wonder you’ll spend however many coins you have left and end your turn. Wonder’s each have specific requirements for construction and must be built according to the rules on their card. All Wonders offer victory points at the end of the game, but some will also adjust your various tracks. A new Wonder is then drawn from the deck and added to the market.
Players may also purchase the first or second player tokens. These will ensure their placement in the next round.
After each player has spent all of their coins then the round ends. The market board is update with unpurchased buildings being discarded and new road bundles being and a tower set out.
The game ends when all of the buildings have been purchased or discarded or a player reaches the end of their population track. After this points are scored based on Wonders, Population, the lowest value of their Food, Ceramics, or Technology tracks, and any placement bonuses they gain from the board. If you are using the public objectives then you will score those as well. The player with the highest score is the winner.
Game Build and Quality
It’s impressive. The wooden Wonder pieces are very nice. The card quality is good. The cardboard bits are nice and chunky. I liked everything about this.
Artistic Direction
The art in the game is very straight forward. Most of it being reserved for the Wonder cards. These are nice representations of the buildings they represent. The graphic design for the game is quite nice and could easily have gotten too busy to be useful but has a nice clean quality that makes seeing things quickly easy.
Fun Factor
The game isn’t quite multi-player solitaire since you are paying attention to what buildings your opponents can build and what Wonders they qualify for. That said, you will spend more time trying to figure out how to build your own city and find which buildings work for you.
Age Range and Weight
The box says 12+ and that might be a bit high. The rules aren’t particularly complex. The strategy might be a bit much for younger players, but I don’t think it should be too much of a problem.
Conclusions
I like this game. I had fun with it. I think the puzzle of building your city while watching out for what your opponents are building makes for a great challenge. The tension of when do you buy the wonder is really nice. I can see what other people have built and know if anyone else qualifies for the wonder I’m trying to build. I can buy it at any point but it will end my turn. If I buy it early I don’t get to do as much but I will get it but I might be able to get it cheaper if I wait.
I like the goal cards. I don’t think they add to much complexity to the game and could be used in your first play. Though, I can see a reason to leave them in the box the first game.
I think it can be too easy to end the game early by ramping your population to the end. You might not do it, but it is possible and I’ve had it happen more than not.
All in all, it’s a good game with nice decisions. I think it scales well with the additional pieces that get added at four and five players. It’s worth checking out if you get a chance.
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Until next time, stay safe and be well.
Overall Rating — 8/10
