Azul: Become a tiler in Portugal

In response to my previous board game review of Risk, a reader commented on our post on Facebook. He thinks we should test good games rather than old socks like Risk. Of course, I don't need to be told twice. A day later, I had already picked up Azul in our shop and called a meeting to test it with a few of my work colleagues.

The test was carried out by Simon Balissat (he had already been able to prove his skills at Risiko) and the two digitec editors David Lee and Luca Fontana. All of us had never played Azul before and were curious to see what the 2018 Game of the Year had to offer.

Content of the game
100 resin tiles, 4 player trays, 9 manufactory tiles, 4 scoring markers, 1 starting game marker, 1 cloth bag, 1 set of instructions

Recommended age
8 years and older

Number of players
2 - 4 players

Playing time
30 - 45 minutes

How to play Azul

At the start of the game, each player receives a player board. These all look the same so that all players have the same requirements. Before the game begins, the manufactory tiles are laid out in the centre of the table. These are round pieces of cardboard on which four random tiles are placed. The number of manufactory tiles varies depending on the number of players. After this brief preparation, the game can begin. Several rounds are played, which always follow the same pattern. There is a pattern phase, a flow phase and a preparation phase for the next round. The player who was last in Portugal receives the starting game marker and is the first to begin the sample phase.

Sample phase
In the pattern phase, tiles are taken from the centre of the table and placed on your own player board. When it is your turn, you must take tiles. You are not allowed to sit out. You have two different options when choosing tiles: Either take all tiles of one colour from a manufactory tile and move the remaining tiles to the middle of the table or take all tiles of one colour from the middle of the table. However, if you are the first in the round to grab tiles from the centre, you automatically receive a minus point in the scoring of the tiling phase. More on this later.

You must then place the tiles you have picked up in one of your pattern rows. The tiles are placed from right to left and may only have the same colour per row. When you have filled all the spaces in a pattern row with tiles, it is considered complete. If you have more tiles than spaces in the pattern row, you must put them in another row or put them in the bottom row as penalty points. The pattern phase ends when all manufactory tiles have been emptied and there are no more tiles in the centre of the table.

Tiling phase
After the pattern phase comes the tiling phase. All players can complete this phase at the same time. Once you have completely filled a pattern row, you may place one of these tiles to the right on the tile wall. The remaining tiles in this pattern row go back into the box lid. If you have not yet completed a pattern row, it remains for the next round.

Depending on how many tiles you were able to place to the right of the wall in this round, you will be credited different amounts of points to your account. If the tile you have placed is not adjacent to a tile already on the wall, you will receive 1 point. However, if the tile is adjacent to another tile, whether horizontally or vertically, you will receive as many points as the number of continuously connected tiles. However, you still have to count the minus points of the floor row from the total number of points scored in this round. You can add the resulting number of points to your previous score using the black score marker at the top of the player board.

Preparing for the next round
As soon as all players have completed the tiling phase, the preparation for the next round begins. The player who was the first to take the tiles from the centre of the table in the previous round now places four random tiles back on the factory tiles. He takes these from the cloth bag containing the remaining tiles. Once the bag is empty, it can be refilled with the tiles from the box lid. If there are too few tiles in the bag and in the box lid, the unfilled manufactory tiles are discarded. Once everything is ready, the next round begins.

When does the game end?

The game ends when one or more players have at least one completely filled horizontal row on the tile wall after the tiling phase. This row consists of five different tiles, which means the game lasts at least five rounds. I can't remember the exact number of rounds in our test game, but the winner was decided after around 45 minutes.

At the end of the game, you can score additional points. For example, you receive 2 points for each complete horizontal row. For a complete vertical row even 7 points. If you have managed to completely fill a colour on your tile wall, you will receive 10 extra points. At the end of the game, there can still be a lot left in your score and the joy of victory can quickly turn into a wistful sob.

Our ranking was as follows:
1st place Ramon (104 points) 😀
2nd place Simon (100 points)
3rd place Luca (76 points)
4th place David (50 points)

What I think of Azul:

In my opinion, Azul deserves the Game of the Year award. This placement game is easy to understand and yet has enormous depth. To win, you have to think strategically. On the one hand, you have to make sure that you choose the right tiles for you, but on the other hand, it is also essential to keep an eye on your opponents' player boards. From the packaging to the stones to the cloth bag, everything fits together and feels high-quality. Anyone who likes tactical thinking and board games will definitely get their money's worth with Azul. Azul makes you want to play more and I will definitely play it again. I can therefore give it a 100 per cent recommendation to buy.

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