At the start of a game, players open an envelope containing the story, the special rules of the scenario and the extra cards for this scenario. Then, at the end of the game, each player receives different rewards depending on whether he won or lost and according to his own choices during the game (depending on the scenario). It can definitely happen, particularly if scoring cards show up early while you're building your engine and then don't appear later. It's really hard to know when you need to take scoring cards and when you need to keep working on production. Ideally you do both in each round, but that's not always possible. place cubes - as during drafting cubes are placed on incomplete cards and completed cards may immediately be built and added to Empire tableau.

The Recycle Bonus. This is a drafting game changer. In this game, you will NOT be able to complete all 7 cards that you draft that round (gameplay note: uncompleted cards from previous rounds can be completed in later rounds). Now, I’m not going to tell you how to play the game, or even the best strategies (as I play a different one every time). But I can categorially confirm that synergies is where the extra special scoring sauce is to be found. And not just synergies between your empire card, the cards you want to build, and the resources on them. That’s It’s a Wonderful World base-game 101. I mean synergies between different types of building for Pairs, as well as negative synergies in Corruption. Losing resources sounds bad. But if you don’t have any of that type to lose in the first place, then you don’t sacrifice anything to get the better production return they offer. And if you can then combine the production boom to target cards that fit a Pair reward and/or Master Projects then whooey! Your game just levelled up! I’d say favourably . 7 Wonders has some advantages, for sure. The higher player count shouldn’t be discounted, (although an expansion to It’s a Wonderful World also takes it up to 7 players). 7 Wonders definitely has more interaction than It’s A Wonderful World. With the war mechanic as well as the neighbour resource trading, you are definitely more invested in what at least some of the table is doing in a game of 7 Wonders. It's Lonely at the TopWhen all costs are paid the card may be added into player's Empire tableau (tokens on card are discarded) and any bonus (if any shown bottom-middle of image above the bottom bar) is gained to player's Empire card.

It’s a Wonderful World is a card drafting and engine building game for 1 to 5 players. Each round, players will draft 7 cards and then choose which ones will be recycled to immediately acquire Resources, and which ones will be kept for construction to produce Resources each round and/or gain victory points. The game has several other aspects that I really appreciated. The Supremacy bonus earned by producing the most of a resource in a round adds additional scoring opportunities to the game. This set collection adds another scoring opportunity that must be evaluated. recycle (discard) for cubes (shown bottom-right). Cubes gained are placed onto kept cards to pay for their building cost (upper-left) or on starting Empire card where 5 will immediately be converted to a single red (wild) cube to be used on demand. Non-red cubes on the starting card may only be used to make a red cube.Once you have your cards it is time to decide how you would like to play them. In It’s a Wonderful World, you have two options. Firstly, each card has a recycling value which will allow you to discard the card and then take one of the five basic resource types. Your other option is to try and build the card. Each card requires a bunch of resources to build. But once built will give you some kind of benefit each turn and maybe a little bonus when you first complete it too. Note that any incomplete card may be discarded to gain its recycle cube to your Empire card at any time. Resource cube placed on a recycled card are returned to the supply. Super Production (3) – these are how they sound; they give loads of resources once built but their cost is equally fierce! If you have the brain capacity, you can try and hate the draft, I am only able to focus purely on my own game. You will be trying to draft cards that you can build with the resources you are able to produce or drafting cards to get you instant recycle bonuses to help you build cards faster. Each hand of cards you receive poses its own unique puzzle, sometimes you will want all the cards and occasionally it will be the worst of a bad bunch situation. Second Phase

Before the start of the following Production phase that will allow players to produce resources and build cards, each player must choose among the cards in his Draft area which one(s) to place in his Construction area and which one(s) to discard to get bonus resources. The second phase of the round starts when each player has 7 cards each. At this point you have to decide whether you move the cards drafted into your “construction area” or whether you recycle them for their one time recycle resource. This is where the real mind melting comes in. You must puzzle out the best use of your cards. Also, you want to build enough cards so that none of the resources you produce is wasted and be sure not to overstretch yourself so your construction area gets clogged up.The small differences in the starting empires can really change up how you progress and what you are looking to build to score points. This gives the game some decent replayability too. I think there is room in a collection for both It's a Wonderful World and 7 Wonders. I certainly won't be getting rid of one of them as it stands. There is enough differentiating them to make them their own games. It’s a Wonderful World is an excellent close drafting, set collection, engine building, resource management game set in a dystopian universe. To be fair, the theme isn’t that strong, or even that important. And that is because the game-play is ruddy fantastic. Tight, fast playing, and fun. That said, unlike the first campaign offering from IAWW (War or Peace), I was impressed by how small modular additions to the game mechanics through Leisure and Decadence opened up a ‘thinkier’ version of the game. (I won't go into detail as they are nice surprises) Story points may seem like a lot but a few small differences and I think it's a winnable game. It's much easier to say that in hindsight of course. Beyond that though, I have to say I prefer the moment-to-moment gameplay of It’s a Wonderful World to 7 Wonders. The fact that buildings can be built over successive turns means that every card feels like it is a wonder. It also means that you have a little more flexibility with how you progress. There was always that turn in 7 Wonders when every card you draw just doesn’t work for you, or perhaps you couldn’t buy the resources you need.