Welcome to the Overview of Plan B Games AZUL! Here we will dig into how to play this entertaining abstract tile-placement game. In this overview, we will tell you how to play this game.

If you haven’t already, definitely check out our Game Review to discover what we think of this game!

Azul Game Components

This game has a straightforward set of components:

• 9 Factory displays – patterned discs used to represent tile factories
• 4 scoring markers
• 4 double-sided player boards – one side has a colored wall while the other has a gray wall only used in a game variant.
• 1 cloth bag
• 100 plastic tiles – 20 in each color
• 1 starting player tile

Game Setup

To start, the players each take a board, a scoring marker, which they place on 0 in the score track.

In a two-player game, the players lay out five factory display discs. In a three-player game, they lay out seven, and in a five-player game, they lay out all nine displays. These should be placed in a circle leaving an open space in the center, which is important later.

Fill the cloth bag with all 100 tiles and give it a good shake to mix them up. Do not put the tile with the one on it in the bag. This tile is the starting player tile.

The player who last visited Portugal takes the starting player tile and randomly places four tiles from the bag on each factory display disc.

Return any unused boards scoring markers, and factory display discs to the box.

Gameplay

In AZUL, each player takes turns drawing tiles over a series of rounds from the factory display or the center and placing them on their boards to score points. The game ends when a player completes a horizontal row first. At that point, all players count up their score and declare a winner.

Each round has three phases: Factory offer, Wall tiling, and Preparing for the next round.

Factory Offer

During this phase of AZUL, each player takes turns drawing tiles from the factory tiles or the center of the table. The first player puts the starting player tile in the center of the factory display discs, and then each player on their turn can do one of two things: 

1) take all tiles of the same pattern from a factory display disc

2) they can take all tiles of the same color from the center of the table.

If they choose to take tiles from a factory display disc, they then push all remaining tiles on that disc into the center. If they are the first person to take tiles from the center, that person takes the starting player tile and puts it in the first space of their floor line, the bottom row on a player’s board.

In either case, the player takes the tiles they selected and places them on the Pattern lines on the left side of the board. These lines are filled from right to left and can only hold a single color or pattern at a time. Also, if this row has a tile on the wall side of the board, tiles of the same color or pattern can not be placed in that row. 

If a player has to take too many tiles to a single pattern line, they will need to place the excess tiles on the floor line.

Players take turns taking tiles from the factory display discs and the center until all factory displays, and the center are empty.

Once all tiles have been selected this round, the game moves to the Wall tiling and scoring phase.

Wall Tiling

All players can do the wall tiling phase in AZUL at the same time. Each player starts with the top row and goes down each row looking for complete pattern lines. For each full row on the left side, the players move the rightmost tile onto the wall into the patterned space matching the tile. The player then immediately scores their placement.

Suppose a tile on the wall has no adjacent tiles either horizontally or vertically. That tile scores 1 point. If any linked tiles are horizontally connected, the players count all tiles, including the tile just placed, and add that number to their score. Then they look to see if there are any vertical tiles linked to it, and they count up those tiles, including the one just placed, and add that to their score. Finally, at the end of the phase, the players subtract the floor tile spaces that have a tile present.

Preparing for the next round

While no player has completed a horizontal row on their wall yet, it’s time to start a new round. Each player clears off the pattern lines where they moved one tile into the wall area. They leave any incomplete lines on their board. All tiles get placed in the box top of the game. Then all players remove all tiles from their floor line and do the same. The player with the starting tile marker holds onto it for the next round.

The player with that starting tile then refills the factory display tiles, and all players start a new round with the player with the first player tile going first by placing it in the center and selecting their tiles.

Game End

When a player has a complete horizontal row at the end of any round, the game ends. Then the score is determined.

For each horizontal row a player completes, they score 2 points. With each vertical row, the players score 7 points. For each tile that has five copies of it on the wall, the players score 10 points.

The player with the highest score wins. If there is a tie, the player with the most horizontal lines wins, and if there is still a tie, the victory is shared.

Game Variant

If the players want a different type of game of AZUL, they may flip their board to the gray tile side. The rules are the same, except they can place the tiles wherever they want on their wall. The only caveat is that no tile can appear more than once in a vertical column or horizontal row. The predetermined pattern doesn’t confine you in this version of the game.