How to play Azul

How to play

Setup: Everyone turns their player board to the coloured-wall side and puts a scoring marker on 0. Set out factory displays in a circle: 5 for two players, 7 for three, 9 for four. Put all 100 tiles in the bag. The starting player takes the starting player marker and fills each factory with 4 tiles drawn at random.

Taking tiles: The starting player puts the marker in the centre of the table and play goes clockwise. On your turn, either take every tile of one colour from one factory and push the rest of that factory into the centre, or take every tile of one colour from the centre. The first player to take from the centre each round also takes the starting player marker and puts it on their floor line. Keep going until the factories and the centre are empty.

Pattern lines: Put all the tiles you took into one of your five pattern lines, which hold 1 to 5 tiles. A line holds one colour at a time, and you can't put a colour in a line whose wall row already has that colour. A line with every space filled is complete.

The floor line: Tiles you can't or don't want to place go on your floor line, left to right. Its seven spaces cost 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3 and 3 points. If it is full, extra tiles go to the box lid.

Wall tiling: When all the tiles are taken, everyone works down their pattern lines at once. From each complete line, move one tile to the space of that colour in the same row of your wall and score it, then put the rest of that line in the box lid. Incomplete lines keep their tiles for the next round. Finally, lose the points shown above your floor tiles (you never drop below 0) and clear the floor into the lid. The starting player marker counts as a floor tile, then stays with you: you start the next round.

Scoring a tile: A tile with no neighbours scores 1. Otherwise, if it touches tiles in its row, score the whole unbroken run it now belongs to, counting itself; if it touches tiles in its column, score that run too.

Next round: The player with the marker refills every factory with 4 tiles. If the bag runs out, pour the tiles from the lid back in and carry on.

Game end: The game ends after the wall tiling in which anyone completes a horizontal row of five. Then add 2 points for each complete row, 7 for each complete column and 10 for each colour you have all five of on your wall. The highest score wins; a tie goes to the player with more complete rows, and if still tied, you share the win.

Strategy

Links are everything: A lone tile scores 1, but a tile that joins a run of four in its row and a run of three in its column scores 7. Build out from tiles you already have, and fill first the pattern lines whose wall spaces sit next to them. Spaces in the middle of the wall have more neighbours than the edges, so early tiles there tend to keep paying. The end bonuses are big: A complete column is worth 7 and a full set of one colour is worth 10, against only 2 for a row. A column needs a tile in every wall row, so it depends on your long 4- and 5-space pattern lines as much as the short ones. Start those long lines early; they can take two or three rounds to fill. Pace the ending: The game ends after the round in which someone completes a row. Each wall row gains at most one tile per round, so no row can be finished before round five. If you're ahead, completing a row closes the game; if you're behind, avoid it and watch who is one tile away. Drafting is also denial: Every pick changes what's left. Before you take, look at what your rivals' pattern lines need. Taking the colour someone needs to finish a 5-space line can leave them with nothing useful, or force their tiles onto the floor. The best picks do both jobs: they fill your line and empty the colour a rival wants. Mind the floor: Penalties climb as the floor fills. Two tiles cost 2 points, five cost 8 and seven cost 14. Late in a round the centre often holds big piles nobody wants, and someone must take them. Keep a flexible spot open, such as an empty pattern line, so the last forced pick doesn't land on your floor. The starting player marker: Taking first from the centre puts the marker on your floor, usually for 1 point, but it gives you first pick next round from freshly filled factories. It is often worth it when the centre holds a big group you need. Counting tiles: Each colour has 20 tiles. Tiles in the lid return to the bag only when it runs dry, so a colour can be scarce in the bag for a while even with plenty in the lid.

Tips

- Before you pick, count the tiles and check where each will go; whatever doesn't fit lands on your floor. - Your floor line costs 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3 and 3 points in order, so the second and third floor tiles hurt more than the first. - You may send tiles straight to your floor to deny a rival, but add up the cost first. - A half-filled pattern line keeps its colour until it's finished, so don't start one you can't complete. - Place tiles next to ones already on your wall; an isolated tile scores only 1. - At the end a complete column (7) or colour set (10) beats a complete row (2) by a wide margin. - If you're ahead, finishing a row ends the game after that round; if you're behind, hold back.

Player count & time

Azul is for 2–4 players aged 8 and up and takes 30–45 minutes. The number of factory displays grows with the table: 5 for two players, 7 for three and 9 for four. Two-player games are the most controllable, because you can track exactly what your one opponent needs; with four, more happens between your turns, so plans change more often.

Variants and sequels

The grey side of each player board is the official variant: you may place a tile on any space of its wall row, but no colour may appear twice in a row or a column. The Crystal Mosaic expansion adds overlays that keep tiles in place, plus new player boards. Stand-alone games share the drafting core: Stained Glass of Sintra has you fill stained-glass windows column by column, limited by a glazier pawn; Summer Pavilion uses diamond tiles on star-shaped boards, with a different colour wild each round; Queen's Garden builds a garden from hexagonal tiles. Azul Duel is a two-player game in which you also set the pattern you must build, and Azul Mini is a travel-size version of the original.

Why it won Game of the Year

Azul won the 2018 Spiel des Jahres, Germany's award for the family game of the year. It fits the brief: rules you can explain in minutes, tiles people want to pick up, and turns that are quick but never trivial, with a denial game underneath that experienced players keep finding more in.

Common beginner mistake

Grabbing a big pile without checking where it all goes. Every tile that doesn't fit your chosen pattern line lands on your floor, and a greedy pick can cost more than it earns. Before you take, count the tiles and check the line: it must be empty or already hold that colour, and that colour must not already be in the matching wall row. A related slip is starting a long line in a colour that's scarce in the bag: until that line is finished, it can't take anything else.