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How to Play

Azul

2-4 players 30-45 min 7.7 Board Game Geek Rating

Players assume the role of artists decorating a Portuguese palace with colorful ceramic tiles. Each turn, draft tiles from central suppliers and strategically arrange them on your personal board. Points are earned through clever placement patterns and completed tile sets, while inefficient choices result in penalties. Victory goes to whoever accumulates the highest score.

Published 2017

Azul

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

1
Distribute player boards
Each player takes one game board and places it in front of them
2
Place scoring cube
Take 1 scoring cube and place it on the 0 position of the score track
3
Set up market tiles
Place market tiles in the center of the playing area based on player count
4
Prepare the tile bag
Put all 100 tiles into the bag
5
Assign starting player
One player takes the starting player marker
6
Fill the markets
Draw 4 tiles from the bag and place them on each market

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

1
Take tiles from a market
Select all tiles of the same color from any market, then place remaining tiles in the center
2
Take tiles from center
Alternatively, take all tiles of one color from the center area
3
Claim starting marker
The first player to take tiles from the center takes the starting player marker and places it in the leftmost empty space of their bottom row
4
Place tiles on pattern lines
Place collected tiles from right to left on any of the 5 pattern rows on your board
5
Handle overflow
Tiles that don't fit go to the empty spaces at the bottom of your board
6
Follow color restriction
Each row can only contain tiles of one color
7
Complete a row to score
When all spaces in a row are filled, move one tile of that color to the wall (no repeating colors on the wall)
8
Transfer completed tiles
When a pattern line is complete, move one tile of that color to the corresponding wall space
9
Calculate base score
A tile not adjacent to any other tile scores 1 point
10
Score horizontal connections
Count all horizontally connected tiles and score that many points
11
Score vertical connections
Count all vertically connected tiles and score separately
12
Add connected tiles
Each connected tile adds 1 point to the score
13
Deduct penalty points
Subtract points for tiles in the bottom penalty row
14
Clear used tiles
Remove remaining tiles from completed pattern lines; incomplete lines keep their tiles
15
Return starting marker
Place the starting player marker back in the center of the market area
16
Refill markets
Place 4 tiles on each market from the bag
17
Recycle discarded tiles
If the bag runs empty, put discarded tiles back into the bag
18
Handle tile shortage
In rare cases when bag and discarded tiles cannot fill all markets, start the round with remaining tiles

Winning

How to claim victory.

1
Trigger end game
The game ends when any player completes a horizontal row of 5 tiles on their wall
2
Calculate final score
Add bonus points to the current score for the final total
3
Determine winner
The player with the highest score wins
4
Break ties by rows
If scores are tied, the player with the most completed horizontal rows wins
5
Share victory
If still tied after the tiebreaker, players share the victory

watch & Learn

Let the pros teach you with these top videos.

How to play in 5 minutes

How to play in 5 minutes

Instructional

Sådan vinder du i AZUL

Sådan vinder du i AZUL

Instructional

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FULL rules

Looking for the full details? Grab the complete rulebook as a downloadable PDF.

PDF RULEBOOK

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