7 Wonders vs Arimaa

No matter the player's skill level, 7 Wonders makes for an easy to learn and play game.

7 Wonders easily adjusts to support anywhere from 2-7 players, making it great for both small and large groups.

Points aren't added up until the end of the game, so even if you are losing badly, you won't be ejected from the game or forced to sit out. Everyone can participate for the full duration.

When choosing your card for play that round, you may pick a card that will benefit you directly (such as one that will give you a building upgrade or money), or you can simply pick a card that you know your opponent wants to prevent them from bringing it into play.

Additionally, if you want to play a card that requires resources you don't have, you can "borrow" resources from your opponent. In exchange for using their resources to play your card, you give them valuable currency to use later. You'll have to weigh whether it's worth giving them currency to use their resources knowing it could come back to hurt you later.

This constant trade off of helping and hindering creates some interesting situations among players where you have to determine what the best possible long term move will be while also considering the moves of those around you.

Each of the three ages has its own unique deck of cards. Each time you pass into a new age, a brand new set of cards come into play. These new cards build on the progress you made in the previous age. For example, resources earned in the first age can be used to build new buildings in the other ages. This helps gameplay feel exciting and fresh as the game progresses, with lots of new options becoming available for expanding your city.

There's always an opportunity to try something new every game

Each player has their own game board which represents one of the Seven Wonders of the World. These boards clearly lay out the production resource and benefits of each Wonder. You can also choose to play the game using the board's A side or B side. Whichever side you choose drastically changes how that particular Wonder can play certain cards.

Additionally, since this a card game with resources and other variables, no two play sessions will ever be alike. Cards will always be dealt and played in a random order, and how you play these cards will vary based on your Wonder and your personal resources/currency situation.

This is an excellent choice for a quick gaming session, as most games only take around 30 minutes. This remains true even if there are seven players.

Arimaa is a game suitable for both young and old, it was made to be intuitively simple but with a lot of depth. Even the setup follows this premise - you set up the figures in two rows like in chess, but you can place them in any way you like.

The rules are simple – in your turn you have four actions. You can either move a figure four times, move four figures one time, or do any combination in between. All figures can move forwards, backwards, and sideways apart from rabbits who can’t go backwards.

You can use two actions on a stronger piece to push or pull your opponents’ weaker figures. These stronger figures also “freeze” adjacent weaker pieces, preventing them from moving unless there’s a friendly piece next to them. If a figure happens to walk into one of the four trap squares or get pushed/pulled into one without a friendly piece next to it, then it is removed from the game. The first player to get a rabbit to reach the opposing side wins. The game can also be won by removing or immobilizing all your opponent’s rabbits.

The official site of Arimaa is quite lively and features reviews, downloads, the latest news, an active public forum, and much more. There’s even an online gameroom, so you can play Arimaa against computers or other people in either turn-based or real-time games. There are many people online, so it shouldn’t be a problem to find a game.

In case you don't want to purchase the gameboard made by Z-Man Games, you can use the components of a regular chess set. It also helps if you have four coins to mark the trap squares. You probably already have the equipment you need.

The 4 moves per turn gives Arimaa's tree of possible moves a very high branching factor. (It was invented for AI programmers as a game more difficult to program for than chess, but easier than Go). You can't think several turns ahead like chess (the space of possibilities is too big), instead you have to think in terms of distances and capabilities, giving Arimaa a very fluid feel.