COMPARE
VS
★ 7 WONDERS WINS
7 WONDERS VS RISK
3–7
PLAYERS
2–6
30–45 min
PLAY TIME
2–4 hours
10+
AGE
10+
2.3 / 5
COMPLEXITY
2.1 / 5
Antoine Bauza
DESIGNER
Albert Lamorisse
2010
YEAR
1959
8.9 / 10
COMMUNITY SCORE
6.8 / 10
7 WONDERS VERDICT
The best 7-player Euro on the market — and one of the best 4-5 player Euros too. Almost mandatory if your group ever exceeds 4.
RISK VERDICT
Firmly nostalgic. Pull it out for relatives who haven't played anything else in twenty years — for anything else, a modern area-control game does the same thing better.
7 WONDERS
✓ PROS
- Plays in the same 30 minutes at 3 players or 7
- Simultaneous drafting eliminates downtime
- Multiple viable strategies (military, science, civil, commerce)
- Duel (2-player variant) is excellent in its own right
✗ CONS
- Iconography is dense — first game is steep
- Military scoring feels swingy at high player counts
- Hard to teach all paths in one game; new players miss strategies
RISK
✓ PROS
- Real strategic depth (continent control, reinforcement rate)
- Universal recognition — anyone can pick it up
- Risk: Legacy is a genuinely modern, excellent reinvention
- Cheap and easy to find used
✗ CONS
- 4-hour games with player elimination kill the night
- Dice variance can overturn smart play
- Once you're out, you sit and wait
★ WHICH ONE FOR YOU?
- 7 WONDERSHigher overall score (8.9/10 vs 6.8/10)
- 7 WONDERSShorter session (30–45 min vs 2–4 hours)
- 7 WONDERSMore modern design (2010 vs 1959)
