One Card Wonder

One Card Wonder is one of those small civ games that does not ask much of your evening: half an hour, a few cubes, one wonder to finish first, and that is it. It does not pretend it will give you the complete history of an empire, and that is to its credit.

At its core, it is an ultra-light bag builder: you work with cubes and try to advance your development until you complete your wonder before everyone else. Its flow is simple and quick, exactly enough to keep such a small idea from becoming heavy.

The interaction is more interesting than it first appears, especially at lower player counts. You play with the probabilities of the cubes and watch what the others need, so counter-drafting has real purpose: you are not merely taking something good for yourself, but can deny an opponent what they want.

My big warning concerns the KS-exclusive mini expansion with the leaders. For me, it completely wrecks the game and turns it into nonsense, so even if you have it in the box, my advice is simple: forget it. Without it, One Card Wonder is a good, light way to spend half an hour.