Azul Game Review

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Plan B Games Azul Board Game Board Games

I should start off my Azul Game Review by explaining that I’m not weird (well, not too weird) but I LOVE a game that has components that feel good in my hands. Azul tiles are smooth and sturdy (they look like Starburst Candies!!)… make a nice clink sound in the included bag, and slide nicely across the board.

BUT

In addition to having good components, the Game Play of Azul is quite good. Azul hits the table in our house a LOT because it is easy to teach (which means my mom AND dad can play), simple to play but has decent strategy and replayability (so no one gets bored) AND hits the sweet spot of about a 30- 45 minute game time. It’s easy to see how Azul won the 2018 Spiel des Jahres!

Buy Azul Board Game HERE–> Azul

Azul Board Game

At is core, playing Azul means collecting and placing tiles in patterns. I played it at a gaming con, and after explaining HOW to play to someone new, he looked at it and said… “OH! It’s like programming a computer”. Well.. ok. To me it’s just about patterns. But whatever works for you.

Each player gets their own player board (don’t you love that!?). On top of it is a score track. Under that is a space for collecting tiles. The rows hold between one and 5 tiles… and the patchwork looking pattern next to it is where you slide tiles you are collecting. In the center of the board are round mats for placing the tiles (the number of these mats depends on the player count, but there will always be 4 tiles placed on them).

How to Play Azul

On your turn, you take all of the tiles of a single color off of a round mat. The rest of the tiles get dumped into the center. So if there are 4 tiles, 2 are red, one is yellow and one blue… and you take the red, the yellow and blue go into the center, and the blue and yellow fall to the center.

The tiles you picked go into a row on your player mat.

The Red Tiles go on the row… the yellow and blue go to the center

When you pick more tiles than fit into a row, the extra go to the bottom of your board, and count against you at the end of the round.

When the row is full at the end of a round (all the tiles have been chosen), one tile slides across into the matching color space on the patchwork pattern… and the rest get discarded.

Points are calculated by counting the tile that was placed on the patchwork pattern. One point if it stands alone. Two points if it’s next to another, and another point for each other tile it’s next to.
So a tile placed in a row of 2 others, and a column with one other is worth 5 points.

The Black Tile gets slid into place and scores 1 point… the red tile then gets slid across and scores 2 (because it touches the black)

Track your own points at the top (trust is required)

Deduct points for tiles at were “thrown away” to the bottom of the board.

Refill the round mats after scoring and repeat. Game ends when someone completes a horizontal row. This means the game CAN end in as few as 5 rounds… but you want to avoid that because the longer the game lasts, the more points can be scored.

As usual, Plan B Games KNOWS how to make a solid and fun game. Azul is a fairly simple game to learn and teach. It makes a great gateway game for luring unsuspecting non-gamers into the Board Game hobby.

Still, like many “easy” games, Azul has some depth. You can work on strategies that will give you extra points (like getting all 5 of the same color tile on the board). If you are really paying attention, you can make sure that your opponents are getting stuck with tiles they don’t want (giving them negative points).

There is a “luck of the draw” element. The central mats are filled with tiles randomly selected from the included bag. You need 3 red tiles to complete a row for scoring? Tough, this round only 2 came up.
And all tiles that were removed from player boards after a round get set aside until the bag is empty. So if all the teal tiles got used up… they are gone for a while.

There is a lot to enjoy about Azul. It’s a game that families and/or friends can play while chatting or catching up. The components are good (with the exception of the score track). You can focus in or just play for the fun of it. And judging by how often it has hit the table in our house, I’ve definitely gotten my money’s worth in entertainment.

Azul Components

My ONE beef with Azul is the score track on the player mat. You keep score with a small cube on a flat track. One small bump and the cube goes rogue. It’s too easy to send it sliding… and it’s also too easy to “forget” what the score was before it sailed. There should have been a double layer board with indents to keep score (or it should have been separated from the board with the tiles).

Still, EVERYTHING else about the game is lovely.

The Tiles (I know, I keep going on about the tiles) feel good in your hands. The game comes with a sturdy cloth bag for storing and drawing them. And the colors are beautiful.

And since they fixed the First Player token… from Cardboard to Plastic… I’m perfectly satisfied.

Who can Play Azul?

The age on the box says 8 and up, which seems about right. I see Azul as a game for all ages. It’s a game my mom likes to play with my daughter and me. Game time is about 30 to 45 minutes, so you don’t need to hold attention forever.

Reading is not required!