World Wonders FAQ
73 questions players ask · Updated Nov 12, 2026 · Full rulebook
Setup and rounds
Actions
Turn order
Placing pieces on the map
- Can a monument be placed over a building tile that is already on the map?
- Where can a tower be placed, and must it touch something already built?
- Does water covered by a bridge still count as water for adjacency and objectives?
- Can you build over a natural resource that a monument used for its adjacency requirement?
- Can a building sit beside the bottom sidewalk without touching a road?
- Can the first road placed during setup be a bridge over water?
- Can a road start from the top or right edge of the board instead of the bottom?
- Does touching only at a corner count as adjacent?
- Can roads, buildings or towers be placed on water spaces?
- Can buildings be placed next to a bridge as if it were a road?
- Can a building be placed next to a tower as if the tower were a road?
- Can a monument be placed over a natural resource space?
- Can an aqueduct arch pass over a road or a bridge?
- Must a purchased piece be placed right away, and can you buy a road set you can only partly place?
- Can a building also touch buildings of other colours, as long as it touches one of its own colour?
Resources and population
- Does the gold marker start each round at 0 and count up, or start at 7 and count down?
- Can a resource or population total go past the top of its track?
- If a resource track is already at its maximum, can you still buy a building that produces that resource?
- Are the resource and population icons on a monument or building scored right away?
Loans
- How does a loan work, and when must it be repaid?
- Can you hold more than one loan at a time?
- Can you take a loan after you have already spent all your starting gold in a round?
- Can you repay a loan in the same round you took it?
- Can you repay a loan and take a new one in the same round?
- Can you pay off a loan earlier in the same turn you buy a monument or building?
- If you take a loan early, can you save the extra gold for a later round?
- If you can only afford something by taking a loan, must you take it?
Monuments
- What do the dashed lines and arrows on monument cards mean?
- Does every piece of a multi-part monument have to touch every other piece?
- Can the parts of a multi-part monument such as the Great Wall be arranged in any shape?
- Can the Pyramids of Giza be placed in any order, or must they follow the order on the card?
- Do the Pyramids' two Purple tile adjacencies need two different Purple tiles?
- Can monuments be rotated, or placed vertically instead of matching the card layout?
- What does the asterisk on a monument card mean?
- Can obelisks be placed diagonally to each other?
- Must the Moai be placed in a straight line or an L shape?
- Does a monument such as the Roman Bridge count as a road for building adjacency?
- When a monument needs two adjacencies to the same building type, such as Machu Picchu or the Pyramids, must they touch two different building tiles?
- Where can an aqueduct's pieces be placed, and must it go over water?
- If an aqueduct crosses a river, does it count as adjacent to water?
- Can different components of a multi-piece monument meet one monument's adjacency requirements together?
- Can you later build on the empty gap between the components of a multi-piece monument?
- Must a monument meet all of its placement requirements, or just one of them?
- If a monument needs two farm adjacencies, must they touch two different farm tiles?
End of game and scoring
- For the public objective that counts adjacent building tiles of one type, does only your largest group count?
- Does a natural resource covered by an aqueduct arch still score at the end of the game?
- In a two-player game, are second-place points still awarded for public objectives?
- If you do not meet a public objective's requirement, can you still score second place?
- How is the Metropolis objective, one city district of each building type, scored when several players complete it?
- How does the population track end the game, and what do you score when it ends?
- Do surrounded building tiles score one point per building or one per group of same-colour buildings?
- How is the Longest Road public objective measured?
Solo play
- How does the Automaton score points in solo play?
- In solo play, does the Automaton keep taking turns after it takes a monument?
- In solo play, does the Automaton get one more turn after you spend your last gold?
- When an Automa card asks you to discard two items but only one is available, do you discard that one?
World Wonders: Mundo Wonders PackExpansion
- In Mundo mode, when one monument deck runs out, do you keep three monuments in total or three from each deck?
- Do Mundo scoring icons like '2 >' mean two or more?
- Can the Mundo and Europa expansions be played together?
- Does the Sphinx's pyramid requirement mean the Great Pyramid, or any wonder?
- How are Mundo cards scored: do you get the card's VP plus the requirement bonus?
- Must the two Olmec Colossal Heads be placed in a straight line?
- How are the Olmec Colossal Heads scored: what is counted between the two heads?