Tabletop games
Azul
Build a wall of azulejos without ending up with surplus tiles, which are costly.
- players
- 2–4
- minutes
- 40
You’ll need the game box. Marquoir sums up the rules and keeps score.
Setup
- As many factory displays as twice the number of players, plus one.
- Each factory display gets four tiles drawn from the bag.
- Each player takes a player board.
How to play
- On your turn, take all the tiles of one colour from a factory display, or from the centre.
- The remaining tiles of that factory slide to the centre.
- Place your tiles on a pattern line. Those that do not fit go to the floor line.
- When all tiles have been taken, completed lines move across to the wall.
Scoring
- An isolated tile: 1 point. Otherwise 1 point per tile in the horizontal and vertical rows it belongs to, the placed tile counting in each.
- Floor line: -1, -1, -2, -2, -2, -3, -3 depending on position.
- End of game: complete horizontal line +2, complete column +7, all five tiles of one colour +10.
End of the game
- The game ends at the end of the round in which a player completes a horizontal line on their wall.
House rules and pitfalls
- Taking the first-player marker from the centre costs a floor space: it is rarely free.
Frequently asked questions
How do you take tiles?
On your turn, take all the tiles of one colour, either from a factory display or from the centre. The remaining tiles of the chosen factory slide to the centre for the next players.
What happens to the first player to take from the centre?
They take the first-player marker: they will start the next round, but the marker costs them a penalty space on their floor line.
What happens to surplus tiles?
A pattern line can only hold one colour and a fixed number of spaces. Any tile that does not fit falls to the floor line, where each tile costs points.
When are tiles placed on the wall?
At the end of the round: each complete pattern line sends one tile to the wall and scores points based on its neighbours already placed. An incomplete line stays in waiting for the next round.
How does the game end?
As soon as a player completes a horizontal line of five tiles on their wall, the round is finished and the bonuses are counted: +2 per line, +7 per column, +10 per complete colour.
Can you refuse to take tiles?
No: on your turn, you must take. If all the available tiles clutter your floor line, you take the penalties — knowing when to inflict them on yourself is part of the game.
The box
- Released
- 2017
- Age
- Ages 8+
- Designer
- Michael Kiesling
- Artwork
- Philippe Guérin, Chris Quilliams
- Publisher
- Next Move Games
- Mechanics
- EnchaînementsRemplissage de grilleDraft ouvertConstruction de motifsCollection
- Contents
- 100 carreaux en 5 couleurs
- 9 fabriques
- 4 plateaux individuels
- 1 sac en tissu
- 1 marqueur premier joueur
- Expansions
- Azul: Kristal Mozaïek · 2020
Rules on video
- Azul - Présentation du jeu en français
- French Yahndrev's Vidéorègle of " Azul "
- Je vous explique les règles de AZUL en moins de 4 minutes!
Videos in French, hosted on YouTube.
Where to find it
Specialist French shops. Marquoir earns nothing from these links.