Board Game Arena

Hi everyone,

I think the configuration of 4 players + random side is very ill-suited if the objective of the Arena mode is to determine skilled players.
Could we at least be allowed to choose our side ? Most of the plates are completely unbalanced between A and B sides, and this affects tremendously the game, especially in 4 player games where the resource distribution is the most chaotic.

Comment from the admins: we do not have any strong opinion on this. The best would be to organize a poll: the option that is best for the largest number of 7 Wonders players is good for us.

Please change 7 Wonders to 3 players with an option to choose side. What is suggested currently (4 player, random side) isn't the most strategic configuration of the game and thus not desired. Thanks.

PS: Also, regarding the proposed poll on the best configuration - can it be weighted based on number of wins / plays in this particular game? Thank you very much.

According to Board Game Geek (1834 votes), 4 players is considered as the best configuration for 7 Wonders. Considering that there is no problem to find enough opponents for this game, I think most players wants to play 4 players in competition mode. However, feel free to create a poll here if you feel we're wrong.

The pool is democratic, but democracy is not the objectif of the Arena.

If you look at the games played by high-ranked players (ELO speaking), you'll see it is only 3P games with choose-the-side. I think those players should have more impact on the decision. Now you can object to me that what you want is all players playing, but then it's important to consider the Arena as a fun mode, and not a competitive mode.

I can live with one season 4P, one season 3P, even one season 5P. But the random factor of the side is mostly hated by all community

Gunslinger99 wrote: ↑13 January 2020, 14:49 But the random factor of the side is mostly hated by all community

I checked the BGA stats: 70% of you are playing 7W with the face selection => I've changed Arena mode from random to face selection.

Much appreciated !

Since you have the power to delve into statistics, can you find the percentage of 3P-4P games played by the top ranked players ?

Just to have an idea what those players prefer.

Not top players, but all players:


3 players: 6817 (14 %)
4 players: 20451 (43 %)
5 players: 8224 (17 %)
6 players: 4056 (9 %)
7 players: 7608 (16 %)

This is very significant, and it corroborates Board Game Geek statistics. Of course everyone has their own preferences but we must find a solution that suits everyone.

I sort-of feel that I'm supposed to be a competitive 7 Wonders player (16K games on BSW and BGA since 2012), and thus be a decent representation of a target audience of the Arena mode. I strongly prefer 3-player over 4-player (to a degree that I'm not interested in 4-player "competitive" at all). Thanks for listening.