7 Wonders: Architects

You are racing to build one of the wonders of the ancient world, a stack of stages in front of you, each built by collecting the right set of resource cards. The game ends the moment somebody completes their final stage, and the most points across wonder, science, military and civil cards wins. A turn is one decision: take the top card from the deck on your left, your right, or the face-down central deck. Grey and brown resources build your wonder, blue cards are plain points, green cards pair into science tokens, and red cards add shields for the wars. This is 7 Wonders with the reading and hand management removed, and a much better fit for families. Eight-year-olds hold their own, and a full table of seven finishes in half an hour. Choose it as a first strategy game for a family that has outgrown UNO.