Game Objective

In It’s a Wonderful World, you lead an expanding Empire. Your goal is to develop faster and better than your competitors by drafting cards to produce Resources and develop your Empire. The game lasts 4 rounds, and the player with the most Victory Points at the end of the 4th round wins.

Setup

1. Assemble the gameboard and place the Round-Tracker token on round 1.
2. Shuffle the Development cards to form a deck and place it in the notch on the gameboard.
3. Place the Resource cubes and Character tokens on their respective Supply spaces on the board.
4. Choose either side A or B of the Empire cards (side A is recommended for first games). Deal one Empire card to each player; everyone must use the same side.
5. Organize your play area with the following spaces:
   • Constructed Cards Area: Space above your Empire card.
   • Draft Area: For the current round's cards.
   • Construction Area: For cards currently being built.

Game Flow

The game is played over 4 rounds. In each round, everyone plays simultaneously (there are no individual turns) through the following three phases:

• Draft phase: Players select Development cards to add to their Draft Area.
• Planning phase: Players decide whether to build or recycle the cards they drafted.
• Production phase: Players produce Resources in a specific sequence to complete constructions.

Actions and How to Play

A. Draft Phase

Each player is dealt 7 Development cards. Players choose one card to place face down in their Draft Area and pass the remaining cards to their neighbor. The passing direction changes by round:

• Rounds 1 and 3: Pass to the left.
• Rounds 2 and 4: Pass to the right.

B. Planning Phase

For each card in your Draft Area, you must choose one of two options:

• Slate it for Construction: Move the card to your Construction area. It is now considered Under Construction.
• Recycle it: Discard the card and collect its Recycling Bonus. This Resource can be placed directly on a card Under Construction or on your Empire card. If this completes a card's construction, it is immediately moved to your Empire card and can produce Resources in the current round.

C. Production Phase

Production happens in 5 sequential steps. Everyone produces the corresponding Resource simultaneously in this order: Materials > Energy > Science > Gold > Exploration.

1. Production: Count icons in your Empire (Empire card and Constructed cards). Ignore cards Under Construction. Some cards produce based on the number of cards of a specific Development card type you own.
2. Supremacy Bonus: The player who produced the single most of that Resource receives a Character token (a Financier, or for Science, a choice between a Financier or a General).
3. Construction: Take the produced Resource cubes and place them on cards Under Construction or on your Empire card.
   • Cubes cannot be moved once placed.
   • Resource cubes (except Krystallium) cannot be saved for later phases or rounds.

Completing Construction: When all spaces on a card Under Construction are filled, return the cubes/tokens to the supply, collect the Construction Bonus (if applicable), and add the card to your Empire.

Special Mechanics

• Transforming cubes into Krystallium: Whenever you have 5 Resource cubes on your Empire card, you may discard them to gain 1 Krystallium cube.
• Krystallium: Can be kept indefinitely and used to replace any Resource cube or fill a space requiring Krystallium. It cannot replace a Character token.
• Discarding Under Construction: You may discard a card Under Construction at any time to collect its Recycling Bonus (placed on your Empire card), though you lose all cubes/tokens already on that card.

End of Game and Scoring

The game ends after the 4th round. Players sum their Victory Points as follows:

• "Gross" Victory Points: Points on cards in your Empire that do not depend on tokens or card types.
• "Combo" Victory Points: Points that depend on the number of cards of a certain type you possess.
• Generals’ Victory Points: Each General is worth 1 Victory Point, plus any bonuses granted by specific cards.
• Financiers’ Victory Points: Each Financier is worth 1 Victory Point, plus any bonuses granted by specific cards.

Note: Krystallium is worthless at the end of the game, and unconstructed cards in the Construction area do not grant points or penalties.

Winning: The player with the highest score wins. Ties are broken by:

1. Most cards in the Empire.
2. Most Character tokens.
3. If still tied, the victory is shared.

Tips for Winning

• Be mindful of the cards you pass to your neighbor during the Draft phase; cards that are useless to you might be powerful for their strategy or useful for their Recycling Bonus.
• Recycling cards during the Planning phase is more efficient than discarding cards Under Construction, as the Recycling Bonus can be placed directly on cards Under Construction.
• Use Krystallium strategically to replace any Resource or fill specific Krystallium requirements, as these can be placed at any time.