In 7 Wonders, you do a lot of building things and purchasing resources from your neighbors. Naturally, you cannot purchase resources that aren't actually there.

However, sometimes you run into a situation where you attempt to build a building that requires a resource that isn't available right now, but it just so happens someone also built the resource that turn.

In such a case, is it possible to purchase the resource from that player?

Times this would happen:

  • You were going to build something from your left neighbor, but you have a discount from the one on the right and hey they happened to build it this turn!
  • I want to try and build a thing that I can't afford, hoping my neighbor will build something. If not, I'll just discard for cash instead.

Semi-duplicate of an earlier question of mine: Timing Rules in Seven Wonders...

The consensus we seemed to come to then was that, no, you can't build something with a neighbour's resources that have come into play that turn.

If it helps to clarify the order that things go in, I recommend doing it this way: everyone reveals their card, which is not yet in play. Then everyone pays the costs of their revealed cards (buying resources from neighbours if necessary). Then the revealed cards are put into play, and any resulting gold bonuses are added to players' treasuries.

It's a bit "Magic the Gathering" (and possibly a bit anal!) to break everything down into discrete phases in this way, but I think it makes it a lot easier to visualise what's happening, when people are still hazy on the precise timing rules...


thesunneversets’ answer is correct, and here’s a quote from the official FAQ to confirm it:

Q: Can I buy the resource from a card played this turn by a player next to me?

A: No, the only resources which can be used are those which were available before the card was played.

Your Answer

