7 Wonders Duel
179 questions players ask about 7 Wonders Duel, answered in plain words and graded by where the answer comes from. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-10-25.
179 questions players ask about 7 Wonders Duel, answered in plain words and graded by where the answer comes from. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-10-25.
The rulebook's setup section says to return these cards without looking at them.
No. The three cards taken out of each Age deck go back to the box unseen and stay secret for the whole game. This keeps each game's card pool slightly unpredictable.
The rulebook's setup gives the number of Guilds; players agree the visible backs are deliberate.
Three Guilds, drawn at random; the other four go back to the box unseen. Shuffle the three into the Age III deck and lay out the structure normally. Their distinct backs let both players see where the Guilds sit in the structure (but not which Guilds they are), and that is intended.
Each side gets one 2-coin token and one 5-coin token. The 2-coin token sits in the middle zone on each side and the 5-coin token in the zone next to the capital, as the setup illustration shows; the printed spaces match the token sizes. A 3-shield push from the centre therefore reaches the 2-coin zone.
The rulebook says the first player begins Age I.
Yes. The first player chosen at setup opens the Wonder draft and also takes the first turn of Age I. For Ages II and III the starting player is decided by the end-of-Age rule instead.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Public. Nothing in the rules lets you hide your treasury, and the Board Game Arena implementation shows both players' coins. Hiding coins is a house rule.
Treat the bank as unlimited and use a substitute (paper, other coins) to keep playing. The rulebook doesn't address it, and most players agree the supply isn't meant to be a limit.
A player relayed the designer's answer twice and others agree; there is no direct official post.
Either works. Stonehenge (and similarly Sagrada Familia) is an alternate version of an existing Wonder and is meant to replace it, but Antoine Bauza reportedly said the game still works with both versions in the Wonder pool.
The rulebook's trading formula answers this directly.
Each missing unit costs 2 coins plus 1 for every symbol of that resource on your opponent's brown and grey cards, and you pay it for every unit you buy. A card showing two symbols counts as two. Example: needing 3 Stone while your opponent shows 2 Stone costs 3 x 4 = 12 coins. The money goes to the bank, not to your opponent.
No. Your own production only reduces how many units you need to buy. Each unit you still lack costs 2 plus your opponent's matching brown/grey symbols, regardless of what you produce. If you have enough already, you pay nothing even if your opponent produces lots of it.
No. Only resource symbols on your opponent's brown and grey cards count toward your price. Resources they get from yellow cards (Forum, Caravansery) or Wonders (The Great Lighthouse, Piraeus) are ignored.
The rulebook says these cards set the resource cost to 1 coin, and many players confirm it is a fixed price, not a discount.
A flat 1 coin per unit. These yellow cards replace the normal 2 + X price for their resources with a fixed price of 1, whatever your opponent produces, and you may buy as many units as you need at that price on any turn. Example: needing 3 Wood with Wood Reserve and no Wood of your own costs 3 coins.
Many experienced players agree, citing the card icons; there is no official ruling.
No to both. A resource shown next to a coin only changes your buying price to 1 coin; it produces nothing and doesn't count toward your opponent's price. Yellow cards that show resources without a coin, like Forum and Caravansery, are the ones that actually produce.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No. A commercial card that fixes a resource price only benefits the player who built it. You keep paying the normal price.
Two players cite the card's description; there is no official ruling.
No. The fixed price starts with your next turn, so you can't use it to pay for the Reserve itself or for anything else that turn.
The rulebook says resources aren't spent and can be used each turn; players agree purchases aren't stored.
Neither. Your brown, grey and other producing cards stay in your city and supply their resources again on every construction, including extra turns. But each symbol covers only one unit per construction, nothing unused carries over, and resources bought from the bank are spent on the card you build that turn.
Several experienced players agree; the rulebook covers only the trading-cost part.
Each one gives you one unit of one of the listed resources per construction, for free. You pick afresh every time and can combine several such cards in the same build. If you need more, you buy the rest normally, and because they are yellow cards they don't raise your opponent's trading cost.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Right now. The price is worked out at the moment you build, from the cards in your opponent's city at that time. A resource card they built on their previous turn already raises your price; cards they build later never change what you paid.
The designer answered this directly in 2017.
No. When you own the linked building, the card is free and you cannot pay for it anyway (for example to shrink your treasury against an opponent's Moneylenders Guild). One older forum reply said you could; the designer ruled otherwise.
“No, you are not allowed to pay for something which is free !”
— Bruno des Montagnes, designer
The rulebook's chain section answers this, and players confirm it.
Yes. The chain symbol only offers a free build to someone who owns the matching building. Without it you pay the card's normal resource and coin cost, buying missing resources as usual.
Yes. Every card has its own name and nothing forbids owning several cards with the same effect.
The rulebook's turn rules say you must choose an accessible card and play it one of three ways.
No. Every turn you must take one accessible card from the structure and either construct it, discard it for coins, or use it to build a Wonder. If you can't afford anything, discarding for coins is always possible. (Pantheon adds activating a Divinity as an alternative.)
The rulebook's discard rule has no cost condition.
Yes, and no. Any accessible card can be discarded for 2 coins plus 1 per yellow card in your city, and you never pay a card's cost to discard it. Costs only matter when you construct the card.
The rulebook ties all three actions to the card you just took, and players agree.
No. Discarding for coins applies only to the card you take from the structure this turn. Buildings in your city stay there for the whole game unless an opponent's effect removes them.
The designer answered this directly in 2015, and it matches the rulebook.
No. Discarding always pays 2 coins plus 1 for each yellow card in your city; you can't take less (for example to keep an opponent's Moneylenders Guild small).
The rulebook says players may consult the discard pile at any point.
Yes, at any time. Discards are placed face down beside the board, but either player may check them whenever they like. There is a single discard pile for the whole game, which matters for The Mausoleum.
The rulebook says to reveal newly accessible cards after playing your card.
After you have completely played your card. Once your build, discard or Wonder is resolved, flip any face-down card that is no longer covered. You never get to see it before deciding what to do with your card. The game aid shows which cards start face up.
The rulebook's Construct a Wonder rule answers this directly.
The accessible card you take from the structure that turn, of any colour, even one you couldn't afford. You pay only the Wonder's cost and slide the card face down under it. Cards already in your city are never used, and your resource cards stay where they are.
The rulebook says the card used for a Wonder has no effect.
No. The tucked card has no effect at all; it only marks the Wonder as built. You can't use its resource to help pay for that Wonder, and it doesn't count for Guilds or other colour-based effects.
Most experienced players agree and one relays the designer; one dissenter reads the wording strictly.
Yes. Any accessible card can go under a Wonder, Guilds included; the rulebook's "Age card" wording isn't meant to exclude them, and Bruno Cathala reportedly confirmed this. The same goes for Agora's Senators and Pantheon's Grand Temples.
Many experienced players agree, one linking the designer's confirmation.
Yes. Wonders use the normal trading rules: each missing resource costs 2 coins plus your opponent's matching brown/grey symbols (or 1 coin with a matching Reserve). The rulebook's "Building" wording wasn't meant to exclude Wonders.
The rulebook requires an accessible card for every turn, and players agree.
No. A Wonder needs a card from the structure to go under it, and an empty structure means the Age is over. You have to wait for the next Age; after Age III the game ends.
The rulebook's "7 Wonders, not one more" rule sets the trigger at the seventh Wonder.
Only when the seventh Wonder in total is built. Nothing happens when your opponent completes their four; you still have two unbuilt Wonders and decide which one to build. The moment it is built, your other one goes back to the box.
The rulebook gives each player four Wonders for the game, and players agree.
No. You can only build the four Wonders you took during the Wonder selection; your opponent's Wonders are theirs alone. (Some expansion effects, such as Pantheon's Ra, can move an unbuilt Wonder to you.)
The designer answered this directly in 2017.
No. Wonders with the Play Again effect make you take the extra turn; you can't decline it.
“It's required, not optional”
— Bruno des Montagnes, designer
The designer confirmed this in 2015 and the publisher again in 2025.
Yes. Each extra turn is a full turn, so if you build another Play Again Wonder on it you get yet another turn, as long as you can pay. A single Wonder never gives more than one extra turn, even with Theology.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No. A Wonder gives nothing, points included, until you construct it.
The designer ruled on this in 2015, and the rulebook states it in the turn rules.
No. Once the structure is empty the Age is over and the extra turn is simply lost; it doesn't carry into the next Age. The next Age's first player is decided by the normal end-of-Age rule.
The player with the weaker military (the Conflict pawn is on their side) chooses who begins, and may pick either player. They choose after the next Age's structure has been laid out, so they can see the face-up cards first.
The designer ruled on this in 2016, correcting the original rulebook wording.
The player who took the last card of the Age chooses who begins the next one. Early rulebooks (including the text here) say that player simply begins; the designer and Repos Production corrected this to a choice, and the reprinted rulebook on the publisher's site uses the corrected rule.
“This is exactly the reason why this player decides who goes first on next âge.”
— Bruno des Montagnes, designer
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Yes. Everything in your city stays for the whole game and keeps working; chains from earlier Ages depend on this.
No to both. A token is applied the first time the pawn enters its zone and then goes back to the box, even if your opponent couldn't pay the full amount. Moving back and forth later does nothing, and lost coins are never returned.
The rulebook's Looting description covers both points.
The coins go to the bank, not to you. If your opponent has fewer coins than the token demands, they lose everything they have and owe nothing more; they never have to give up cards.
The rulebook applies each token when the pawn enters its zone, and players confirm it.
Yes. The pawn moves one space per shield, and every token zone it enters is applied, so a big push can cost your opponent 2 and then 5 coins.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No. Shields only count when you construct the card; a discarded card never gave anyone shields, so the track is unaffected.
Not in the base game. The only destruction effects (The Statue of Zeus, Circus Maximus) target brown or grey cards, so built red cards are safe.
The designer answered this directly in 2015.
No. Law is a seventh, distinct scientific symbol. It counts as one of the six different symbols needed for Scientific Supremacy (including as the sixth), but it can't stand in for another symbol. In the base game no other Law symbol exists, so it never forms a pair; with Pantheon, the Ishtar token can supply a second one.
The rulebook lets you choose any Progress token on the board.
Yes, if it is on the board. A pair lets you pick any Progress token still on the board; the token doesn't have to match the symbols you paired.
The rulebook's Science section answers both parts.
Six different symbols; duplicates don't help. Symbols come only from green cards and the Law Progress token, and no base-game Wonder provides one despite the help sheet's generic wording.
The rulebook says six different symbols win immediately.
Yes. Scientific Supremacy ends the game immediately, so points are never counted. The last turn is no exception.
The designer answered this directly in 2015.
Before. Choosing the token is part of playing the card; only afterwards do you flip the cards your pick uncovered.
“Yes, you first choose your progress token, and then you turn face-up the Age cards you just unlocked”
— Bruno des Montagnes, designer
No. The five tokens placed at setup are all the board will ever offer; empty slots stay empty. The other five stay in the box, and only effects like The Great Library can reach them.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Nothing. The pair still lets you choose a token, but there is none to take.
Antoine Bauza withdrew his earlier answer in 2016 in favour of Bruno Cathala's ruling, which matches the rulebook's clarification.
You get exactly what your opponent actually spends buying resources, including 1-coin purchases made with their Reserve or Customs House cards. Their discounts still apply; the money just comes to you instead of the bank. Coin costs printed on cards still go to the bank. Antoine Bauza once said discounted purchases go to the bank, then retracted that and deferred to Bruno Cathala's ruling.
Yes. Economy applies to any resource purchase your opponent makes, whatever they are building.
The rulebook's Theology description says this explicitly.
No. A Wonder can only have one Play Again effect, so you take one extra turn (two turns in a row). Theology adds the effect only to Wonders that lack it, and it replaces none of their other effects.
The designer answered this directly in 2015.
No. Theology affects only Wonders built after you take it, and the Wonder that delivered it was already built.
The designer answered this directly in 2015.
No. A card built free through a Wonder's effect isn't a chain construction, even if you own its link, so Urbanism pays nothing.
The rulebook ties Urbanism's bonus to construction through linking.
No. Urbanism's 4 coins come only when you build a card free through its chain (white link) symbol. A card with an empty cost isn't chained, and Wonders can never be chained.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No. You take the 6 coins now, but the 4-coin bonus applies only to chains made after you own the token; Progress tokens are never retroactive.
The designer answered this directly in 2015, and it matches the rulebook.
No. Only red cards the token's owner builds after taking it get the extra shield; Wonders with shields don't either.
The rulebook describes the two tokens separately.
They never stack: Masonry discounts blue cards and Architecture discounts Wonders, 2 resources each. The help sheet shows them together only to save space. Both are permanent and apply to every later blue card or Wonder you build.
The rulebook gives each token's point value.
Only tokens with printed points score: Agriculture (4), Philosophy (7) and Mathematics (3 per Progress token you own, itself included). The others are worth nothing on their own.
The designer confirmed this in 2016, and it matches the rulebook.
Only the pawn's final position counts. The player whose opponent's side it sits on scores 0, 2, 5 or 10 for that one zone; values don't add up and earlier positions are forgotten. If it ends on the middle space, nobody scores.
“only final position matters”
— Bruno des Montagnes, designer
The rulebook's scoring list gives 1 point per complete set of 3 coins.
Add up the total value of your coins and score 1 point per full 3, rounding down; 7 or 8 coins are both worth 2. The denominations of the physical coins don't matter.
The rulebook's Civilian Victory section gives the tiebreak.
The player with more victory points from blue cards wins; if that is tied too, the victory is shared. It compares blue-card points, not the number of blue cards, and Agora doesn't change it.
The rulebook lists the three ways the game ends.
No. The game ends only with military or scientific supremacy, or after Age III. Seven built Wonders just means no more can be built.
The rulebook totals all points at the end of Age III.
At the end. There is no score track; you add up everything with the score pad once Age III is finished.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
They record a game won by military (red) or scientific (green) supremacy; tick the box instead of adding up points. The other rows hold military, card colours, Wonders, Progress tokens and coins.
Many experienced players agree, citing the rulebook's symbol descriptions; there is no official ruling.
No. You take the coins from the bank once, when you build the card. After that a yellow card's only ongoing money benefit is the extra coin it adds when you discard for coins.
The designer answered this directly in 2015.
Yes. A Lighthouse built as your fourth yellow card gives 4 coins. The English rulebook says "including itself"; the help sheet leaves that out. Guilds never count as red or blue cards for these effects.
Several experienced players agree the help sheet wording is a slip; there is no official ruling.
Each card pays the amount printed in its own symbol, which can be 1, 2 or 3 coins per item; the help sheet entry should read "1 to 3". The Arena gives 2 coins per Wonder in your city when built.
When built, the Port gives 2 coins per brown card in your city and the Chamber of Commerce 3 coins per grey card in your city. Each is also worth 3 victory points at the end.
The designer confirmed this in 2015, and it matches the rulebook's Guild descriptions.
Always the player who built the Guild. The Guild only uses whichever city has the most of the relevant cards to size the reward. The coins are paid once, from the counts when you build it; the points use the counts at game end, which may come from the other city.
The designer answered this directly in 2015.
Use that shared number. A tie changes nothing; a Guild only gives nothing when neither city has any of the counted cards.
The designer worked through examples on BGG in 2015, matching the rulebook.
On top. Its owner scores their own coins normally (1 per 3) and also 1 point per 3 coins in the richest city. Example: with 12 coins against an opponent's 18, the owner scores 4 + 6; against an opponent's 6, 4 + 4. Count coin value, not tokens, and the non-owner gains nothing.
The rulebook's Shipowners Guild clarification says you must use a single city.
No. You pick one city, the one with the most brown and grey cards combined, and count both colours there. That city may be your opponent's.
The designer confirmed this directly in 2016.
Yes. Once you build a Wonder you must apply its effects if possible; the only choice is whether to build it at all.
No. Those effects happen once, when the Wonder is built, and victory points count at the end. In the base game, only the resources on The Great Lighthouse and Piraeus work every turn, like a production card.
The designer answered this directly in 2016.
One, of your choice, each time you build, like any card with a choice of resources. It doesn't accumulate, and it doesn't affect your opponent's trading cost.
The designer confirmed this in 2015, and it matches the rulebook.
Only the five tokens returned to the box at setup; tokens on the board can't be taken with it. Draw 3 of the boxed tokens at random, keep one and put it into play, and return the other two.
One player's reading of the Wonder's text; there is no official ruling we could confirm.
Probably not. You look at the three tokens to make your choice and must reveal the one you keep, but nothing requires you to show your opponent the two you return to the box.
The designer settled this on BGG in 2015, and it matches the rulebook.
They lose what they have and owe nothing more. You still take a full 3 coins from the bank; the coins your opponent loses go to the bank, not to you. The designer briefly said otherwise before correcting himself.
The rulebook's Wonder descriptions cover this.
Once, when you build the Wonder, you choose one of your opponent's brown (Zeus) or grey (Circus Maximus) cards and put it in the discard pile. If they have none, that part does nothing; the shield still counts.
The rulebook's Mausoleum description and its clarification cover this.
Any card in the discard pile from any Age, including cards your opponent lost to The Statue of Zeus or Circus Maximus. Cards tucked under Wonders aren't in the discard pile, and cards removed at setup are excluded, so neither can be taken.
Two players summarised the promo's official rules sheet; there is no further ruling.
When built, you immediately construct for free one card from the last row of the structure, even though it isn't accessible yet. It is worth 2 victory points. The rules are on the publisher's promo sheet (originally in German). The free build isn't a chain, so Urbanism doesn't pay.
Several players quote the printed expansion rulebooks; there is no separate ruling.
Before. Both expansions reverse the base-game order: lay out the Age I structure (with Pantheon, place the Mythology tokens face down at random and then flip them), and only then draft Wonders. You know which mythologies may appear when choosing Wonders, and the change is printed in bold, so it is intended.
No. The Pantheon starts empty. During Age I, whoever reveals a card bearing a Mythology token draws the top two Divinities of that mythology, places one face down in any empty Pantheon space, and returns the other on top of its deck.
Several players agree, quoting the Pantheon rulebook's "first"; one early reply had the order reversed.
The player whose turn uncovers the card takes the token at once. With a Mythology token, the Pantheon rulebook has you take the token first and immediately draw and place the Divinity, and only then flip the card underneath. Because tokens are claimed on reveal, a card is never taken with a token still on it.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Yes. There are two Mythology tokens per mythology and they are placed at random, so a mythology can appear twice and supply two Divinities.
They are shuffled and placed face down so their positions are random, then turned face up, so their values are public. Don't look at them while placing them.
No. Activating a Divinity is your whole turn and replaces taking a card, so the structure is untouched. This lets you change the tempo of who takes which card.
Several players agree after comparing editions; there is no official ruling.
From the start of Age II. A Danish rulebook saying Age III is a misprint; the other editions and Board Game Arena allow it in Age II.
The designer answered this directly in 2017.
Yes, whenever it is possible. You can't buy a god just to deny it to your opponent and then skip its power.
Several players quote the expansion rulebook's FAQ.
Yes. The FAQ on the back of the Pantheon rulebook allows it; the power simply has no effect. This can be used to spend a turn without taking a card from the structure.
The designer answered this directly in 2017.
Yes. All your discounts add up on a single activation. Offering tokens are discarded once used; The Sanctuary's discount is permanent.
The designer confirmed this in 2016.
Double first, then subtract. Example: a Gate on the 5-coin space with a -2 Offering costs 10 - 2 = 8. The Sanctuary's 2-coin discount is subtracted after doubling too, and is not doubled itself.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Permanent. Once built, it lowers the cost of every Divinity you activate for the rest of the game; unlike an Offering token it isn't discarded.
At the start of Age II the Gate fills the one Pantheon space left empty. Activating it costs double that space's price: reveal the top card of each Mythology deck, take one and activate it for free, and put the others back face down on top of their own decks without shuffling. Divinities already in the Pantheon stay put.
Probably yes. Most replies read "reveal" as showing the cards to both players, as it means elsewhere in the rules. One early reply said only the Gate's buyer looks.
Several experienced players agree, citing the expansion rulebook.
No. Like a Divinity, the player who activates it takes the card, so it is used once.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
You keep Mythology tokens all game; they still count for effects that score them. Offering tokens are discarded once used to discount a Divinity.
One player quoted the rule and its example; there is no further ruling.
At game end it gives 2 victory points for each Mythology token and each Offering token you still hold; three tokens make 6 points.
No. In Pantheon the Grand Temples replace the Guilds. Temple scoring ties into the Mythology tokens and doesn't work from a mixed stack.
The designer confirmed Engineering in 2016, and Repos's official FAQ calls the Temple symbol a chain symbol.
Yes. The symbol below a Grand Temple's cost is a chain symbol, so Engineering lets you build a Grand Temple for 1 coin and Urbanism pays its 4 coins when you build one free with the matching token. Agora's chain Decree works with it too.
One experienced player answered; there is no official ruling.
No. Grand Temples aren't blue cards, so Masonry doesn't apply.
Several players cite the expansion rulebook's FAQ.
Yes. A Divinity's symbol works like any other scientific symbol: Ishtar gives the Law symbol, so with the Law token it forms a pair and you take a Progress token. This can give two tokens in one turn. Two Law symbols still count as only one of the six different symbols for supremacy, and the symbol stays with you all game.
The designer confirmed this in 2016, matching the French rules.
Immediately, when you activate Nisaba.
The designer answered this directly in 2016.
No. Nisaba's token must go on one of your opponent's green cards. Divinities and Progress tokens aren't green cards, and if your opponent has no green card Nisaba does nothing.
The designer answered this directly in 2016.
Your opponent keeps it; you both have the symbol afterwards. You copy only the scientific symbol, not the card's points, but if it completes a pair for you, you take a Progress token.
Repos's official errata rewrote Zeus, in line with the designer's 2016 ruling.
You take it. Repos's errata rewrites Zeus: put any structure card, face up or face down, in the discard pile, then take any token on it. A Mythology token is resolved as usual, so you add a Divinity to the Pantheon. Older printings said the token was discarded.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Yes. Any card left with nothing covering it is turned face up and can be taken, even if cards in lower rows remain and it seems to float.
No. Zeus's discard is a god's effect, not the discard-for-coins action.
The designer answered this directly in 2016.
Choose any two Military tokens still on the board, on either side. Discard the first without effect, then discard the second and apply its effect. A coin loss always hits your opponent, even with a token from your own side. The German rules state this plainly; English and French are vaguer.
Several players agree, citing the French rules; there is no official ruling.
Move the Conflict pawn one space at a time. If it would enter Minerva's space, it stops on the space before, the rest of that attack's shields are cancelled, and Minerva is discarded. If Minerva is right next to the Conflict pawn, the pawn doesn't move at all.
Two players agree, one citing the Pantheon rulebook.
Yes. Minerva can go on any space of the track, the capital included.
Repos's official errata for Anubis sets out what is kept.
The owner keeps instant effects already applied: coins, Progress tokens, cards built or discarded, extra turns. Ongoing effects stop until the Wonder is rebuilt: its victory points, The Great Lighthouse or Piraeus production, and discounts. The tucked card goes to the discard pile, and either player's Wonder can be targeted.
Many players read the official errata this way; the errata text doesn't mention shields explicitly.
Yes, under the current rules. The errata removed shields from the list of instant effects Anubis leaves alone, so the Wonder's shields are lost and the pawn retreats that many spaces. Military tokens already triggered stay discarded. Older printings of the Pantheon rulebook kept the shields.
Repos's official errata for Anubis says the Wonder can be rebuilt and its effects applied again.
Yes. Its owner can build it again with a new structure card, and all its effects happen again: another turn, The Mausoleum digging the discard, Circus Maximus discarding a card. At game end it scores its points once.
Several players quote the FAQ on the back of the Pantheon rulebook.
Not the eighth. If seven Wonders had been built, the eighth is already back in the box and Anubis doesn't bring it back. The deconstructed Wonder counts as unbuilt and can be built again, as long as no more than seven stand at any time.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No. Ra takes one of your opponent's unbuilt Wonders (including one deconstructed by Anubis) and adds it to your unbuilt Wonders; you still have to construct it normally. You could end up building five, but the seven-Wonder limit still applies.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Isis lets you take a card from the discard pile and use it as the card under one of your unbuilt Wonders, which you build for free with all its effects, Play Again included. It can't fetch unused Wonders or boxed cards, and with an empty discard pile it does nothing.
They are protected from losses (you pay those from your normal treasury) and they don't join your treasury. At the end they score only through Astarte's own points, not again at 1 point per 3 coins.
Several players agree, one recalling the designer's explanation.
Whenever Enki is revealed, place 2 random Progress tokens from the box on it, so you can see them before choosing. If you take Enki you keep one of them; if not, the tokens go back before Enki is returned.
No. Cards set aside at setup go back to the box. Effects that use the discard pile only reach cards discarded during play.
Single replies answered each part; there is no official ruling.
No to both. Mars gives shields but isn't a red card, so it doesn't count for cards that pay per red card and Strategy doesn't boost it.
The better-supported reading, relayed from the designer, but players still dispute it and there is no direct official post.
Most likely not. The base rule still applies: once the structure is empty the Age is over and the extra turn is lost, even though a Divinity needs no card. Bruno Cathala reportedly said nothing changes from the base game; some players argue the turn should be allowed.
Several players agree, relaying a designer ruling; there is no direct official post.
No. Several Play Again effects gained in the same turn still give just one extra turn, consistent with Theology not doubling a Wonder's replay. A designer ruling to this effect was relayed second-hand.
Yes. Finish the turn completely, including revealing cards and taking and resolving any token, then take the extra turn.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Those still in the chosen mythology's deck when you build it. In Age I some may already sit face down in the Pantheon; from Age II, with the Pantheon revealed, you effectively pick any remaining god of that mythology knowing exactly what is left.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Yes. As in the base game, the game ends when the last Age III card is played; unactivated Divinities are simply left.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
The grey card with a star is the Divinity symbol. Its score-pad row records points from Divinities such as Aphrodite and Astarte, and the Guild row becomes the Grand Temple row. Without Pantheon, ignore them.
Several players point to the official Agora rules section; there is no separate ruling.
Yes. The Agora rulebook has a short section on combining the two, and its Age I diagram (p. 13) and the player aid show where everything goes. With both, use 3 Grand Temples and no Guilds in Age III.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Yes, with Agora alone the 3 Guilds are shuffled in as usual; together with the Senators that gives the 23 cards the Agora structure needs. Only when Pantheon is also in play do Grand Temples replace them.
Agora's Military tokens replace the base tokens; only the expansion's are used. As before, the player pushing the Conflict pawn into a zone resolves its token.
Antoine Bauza confirmed this in 2021, and Repos's official FAQ says the same.
No. You may always choose not to place or move Influence cubes, whether from a Senator, a Conspiracy, a Wonder or a Military token. Other parts of those effects, worded as commands, still apply. The English rules dropped the "optional" note on the move icon that the French text has.
Repos's official FAQ answers this directly.
Back to your opponent's cube reserve.
Several players agree, citing the Agora rulebook.
Yes. Only placing is limited to the indicated section. Moving lets you shift one of your cubes from any Chamber to an adjacent one, one step.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
It adds 2 to your blue-card count when working out a Senator's actions, not 2 actions. With the thresholds (2 blue cards = 2 actions, 4 = 3), that is at most one extra action. It works with zero blue cards: you count 2.
Most experienced players agree; a couple disagree and there is no official ruling.
From the moment you control its Chamber, and for as long as you do. Actions already under way aren't recounted: a Senator's number of actions is fixed before you place cubes, so a "+2 blue cards" Decree you just won helps from your next Senator. The "replay when recruiting a Conspirator" Decree doesn't trigger on the Conspirator that won it (Board Game Arena plays it this way too).
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Yes. Flip a face-down Decree whenever the first cube arrives in its Chamber, by placement or by movement; the rulebook mentions only placing. Whoever then controls the Chamber benefits right away.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Gaining control moves the pawn 1 space toward your opponent; adding more cubes later doesn't move it again. If you lose control and the Chamber becomes tied, it moves 1 space back. If control passes straight to your opponent, it moves 2 spaces toward you.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
One symbol: if a card costs two Clay you ignore only one of them. If you pick the coin icon you ignore the whole coin amount, so a card costing only coins (for example 8) is free.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Work out the normal price (2 plus your opponent's symbols) and subtract 1, never going below 1 coin. It doesn't help with resources a Reserve or Customs House already fixes at 1.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
While you control it, you can build a card free through its chain if your opponent owns the linked building, as though it were yours. Example: their Baths let you build the Aqueduct free. It doesn't copy their scientific symbols or give Progress tokens.
The Wonder's effect first, then the Decree. Example: when The Appian Way makes you lose 3 coins, you lose only what you have, then your Decree pays you from the bank.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Recruiting a Conspirator lets you draw two Conspiracies and keep one face down. On a later turn you prepare it by tucking a structure card under it, without paying that card's cost. From then on you may trigger it at the start of any of your turns, before taking your normal turn as usual. Each Conspiracy triggers once, and the tucked card stays under it all game.
Players agree, reading Curia Julia as the exception; we could not confirm the FAQ wording.
Only on the turn you build Curia Julia, which is the one exception. An extra turn is a new turn, though, so you may trigger one at its start.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Treason uses the cards of the current Age that were removed at setup. Build one free and put the rest back in the box; they never join the discard pile, so The Mausoleum and Hades can't reach them.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No. A token placed face down on the Conspiracy is out of the game: nobody can use it, it scores nothing, and it doesn't count for Mathematics.
Probably not. Unlike Zeus, its text refers to available cards (the French says "accessible"), so only uncovered cards can be discarded.
One experienced player answered this; we could not confirm an official ruling.
No. A Progress token you have already gained stays with you even if the pair is later broken.
Repos's official errata for Sabotage lists the effects that are kept.
You keep the instant effects already applied: coins, Progress tokens, cards built or discarded, extra turns, and Influence cubes placed or moved (by Knossos, for example). The Wonder goes to the box for good, along with its victory points and any production or discount. The card that was under it goes to the discard pile.
Many players read the official errata and updated rulebooks this way; the errata text doesn't mention shields explicitly.
Yes, under the current rules. The errata to both expansions removed shields from the list of instant effects, so losing the Wonder also loses its shields and the pawn retreats toward the player who lost it. Older printings, and Board Game Arena for a time, kept the shields.
Repos's official FAQ answers the seven-built case directly.
Only if fewer than seven had been built. If seven were already built, the eighth Wonder went to the box and stays there. If the count was under seven, players keep building their remaining Wonders normally, even a fifth one gained by stealing.
Two players reason this way and one disagrees; there is no official ruling.
Most likely yes. Curia Julia counts as built once you pay for it, so the leftover Wonder goes to the box at once; only then does its effect let you trigger Sabotage, and destroying a Wonder afterwards doesn't bring the eighth back.
Several players agree; we could not confirm an official ruling.
No to both. Extortion takes one of your opponent's unbuilt Wonders and adds it to yours; you must still build it normally. The upper-left effects of Agora Wonders like Knossos happen when Wonders are drafted, so the thief doesn't gain them and the original owner keeps what they received. Once seven Wonders are built, the eighth is in the box and can't be taken.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No. Each of its effects places or moves exactly one cube. Blue cards only matter for how many actions a Senator gives you.
Most experienced players agree; one dissents and there is no official ruling.
Yes, by most readings. Senators in the discard pile aren't excluded, so these effects can put one into play for free. One player argues Senators are recruited, not constructed, and so shouldn't qualify.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Yes. When the Leader completes a pair it takes a Progress token chosen by the Decision card's arrow, and the token works as normal: Agriculture's coins, Economy income, Urbanism's 4 coins for its chains and so on. Anything the solo rules don't change follows the base rules.
They count at the end. If the game reaches civilian scoring, the Leader scores 1 point per 3 coins like any player, so it still gains coins from Wonders, yellow cards and the like.
Two players read the solo rules this way against one using a fan-made file; there is no official ruling.
Scan the whole structure in the arrow's direction and take the first available card that matches the Decision card, whatever row it is in. Checking the bottom row first comes from a fan-made AI file, not the official solo rules.
One experienced player answered; there is no official ruling.
Finish the current turn first: put the chosen card in the Leader's city and apply its effect. Then draw a new Decision card for the extra turn.
No. As in the base game, the extra turn is lost when the structure empties, for you and for the Leader, and the next Age begins under the normal start-player rule.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
The three cards of the current Age that were returned to the box at setup, not the discard pile or the unused Wonders. Yes, you look at them before choosing.
Most experienced players agree; one argued for simultaneous builds and there is no official ruling.
No, one after the other. Build your card and apply its effect (which could even win the game), then discard one, then your opponent builds the last and applies its effect. Each step follows the normal rules for building, and the German rules say "afterwards".
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Only in a later Age. Rebuilt in the same Age, it has no new cards to offer (they are already used) and gives only its points. Built in Age II and rebuilt in Age III, it uses Age III's removed cards again.
There is no official ruling. Players suggest resolving the Statue's steps in printed order (you build one, discard one, your opponent builds one) and skipping whatever steps the remaining cards can't cover, so your opponent's card is lost first.
The fan expansion's designer answered this directly in 2022.
You play one leader per Age, so the fourth simply goes unused. Discarding a leader always gives 2 coins; yellow cards don't raise it.
The fan expansion's designer answered this directly in 2019.
No. Unlike 7 Wonders: Leaders, these leaders can't go under a Wonder; you can only recruit them or discard them for 2 coins. (Abu Simbel, which buries a leader, still needs a structure card as well.)
The fan expansion's designer clarified this in 2019.
Yes. Both players pay for and recruit their leaders at the same time; abilities resolve afterwards, first player first. Coins your opponent got by discarding their leader can still be lost.
The fan expansion's designer explained this in 2019.
They stay all game. Some work repeatedly (Da Vinci, Berenice, Bilkis), some only when recruited (Caesar, Diocletian, Maecenas), some once per game (Ptolemy, Pythagoras, Aspasia), and many only at scoring (Cleopatra, Aristotle, Vitruvius). An ability not tied to an Age stays usable later, so Imhotep's extra Wonder can be built in Age II or III.
The fan expansion's designer answered this directly in 2026.
The base game already has 12 Wonders, 8 of which are drafted. The two new Leaders Wonders are just added to that pool, so they may or may not appear in a given game.
The fan expansion's designer answered this directly in 2023.
The leader symbols mark leaders whose ability has already been used, and the dove marker goes with Aspasia.
The fan expansion's designer answered this directly in 2022.
No. They come from a third-party redesign, aren't in the rulebook, and the designer doesn't recommend them. Use his v1.2 card sheet.
The fan expansion's designer confirmed the typo in 2019.
No, the "not" is a typo fixed in v1.1. Da Vinci, Archimedes, Hammurabi and Leonidas do count as matches for Vitruvius.
The fan expansion's designer answered this directly in 2021.
Caligula, Nero and Tomyris, because they rely on coins lost through military conquests, which Agora replaces. Remove those three and play normally; the rest work.
The fan expansion's designer answered this directly in 2019 and 2020.
Yes, with small tweaks: remove Rameses (there are no Guilds), and either remove Hiram and Plato or treat their purple symbols as Grand Temples. A separate Pantheon Leaders rulebook covers the interactions, including Neptune with Alexander (only conquest tokens actually removed count) and Caligula.
The fan expansion's designer ruled on both cases in 2020.
After Anubis, the leader stays buried but scores nothing unless Abu Simbel is rebuilt, and rebuilding buries a second leader; it is then worth twice the combined cost of all buried leaders. If Ra steals Abu Simbel, the thief scores only for leaders they bury themselves.
One experienced player answered; there is no ruling from the designer.
One card of each listed colour, and every complete group scores. Justinian scores 3 points per blue-green-red trio; Plato 7 per group of all seven colours.