You pick all the tiles of one colour from a shared display and fill rows on your board, then move finished rows onto a wall to score. Tiles you cannot place cost points. It is quick to learn, looks lovely and rewards planning.
What age is Azul for?
Box says 8+
We suggest 7+ with an adult helping, 9+ on their own.
No reading is needed and a turn is just picking one colour, but wall scoring counts linked tiles in two directions and floor-line penalties catch new players out. Taking the colour another player needs, and leaving them with leftovers, can frustrate younger kids.
Checked against the Azul English rulebook from Next Move Games, copyright 2018 Plan B Games. Page numbers count the cover as page 1.
Azul in six steps
Scroll through the lesson while the board follows along, and press the buttons to try things. Then play a short game against a bot right underneath. The tile pictures are our own simple shapes, not the art from the box. The counts are the official ones: 100 tiles, 20 of each of 5 colors, and 5 factory displays when two people play (page 2).
Step 1 of 6: The goal
1
The goal: decorate the wall
You are tiling a palace wall. Each round you collect tiles into the five pattern lines on the left of your board. A line that fills up sends one tile onto your wall on the right, and that tile scores points. Tiles you can't place fall on the floor line and cost points. The game ends when someone fills a whole row of the wall, and the most points wins.
TakeAll the tiles of one color from a display or from the middle.
PlaceIn one pattern line, or on the floor line.
ScoreWhen all the tiles are gone, each full line moves a tile to the wall.
2
Taking tiles
On your turn you take every tile of one color from one factory display, and the rest of that display slide to the middle. Or you take every tile of one color from the middle. The first player to take from the middle also takes the starting player marker. It goes on your floor line and costs points (page 3), but you start the next round. Try taking from a display, then start over and try the middle.
From the factory display
From the middle
Press a color to take every tile of it.
3
Filling a pattern line
Put all the tiles you took in one pattern line, filling it from the right, or on the floor line. A line only ever holds one color, and a color can't go in a line when your wall row beside it already has that color (page 4). Tiles that don't fit fall on the floor line. You took 2 yellow tiles. Your wall already has yellow in rows 2 and 3, and line 4 holds a blue tile. Try every line.
Press a pattern line, or the floor line, to put your 2 yellow tiles there.
4
Wall-tiling and scoring
When every tile has been taken, the round ends and you tile your wall. Go through your pattern lines from top to bottom. A full line sends its rightmost tile to the space of that color in its wall row and scores right away, and the rest of the line goes in the lid (page 4). A tile with no neighbors scores 1. Otherwise it scores the length of the row it joins plus the length of the column it joins, counting itself each time (page 5). Press a space on the wall, or try the rulebook's examples.
Press an empty space to put a tile there.
5
The floor line
Tiles on the floor line fill its spaces from the left and cost 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3 and 3 points when the round ends (page 5). The starting player marker counts as a tile there. Your score can't drop below 0, and a tile with no space left goes in the lid and costs nothing more (page 4). Drop some tiles and watch the cost.
Press Drop a tile to put a tile on the floor line.
Playing with younger kids? House rule, not in the rulebook: keep each floor line in view and say the cost out loud before a tile goes there, so the penalty is never a surprise.
6
The end of the game and the bonus
The game ends after the round in which any player completes a whole row of 5 on the wall (page 6). Then each complete row earns 2 more points, each complete column 7 and each color you have placed all 5 times 10. The most points wins. If you tie, the player with more complete rows wins, and if that is a tie too, the win is shared. This wall is nearly full. Fill the last two spaces.
You play against a bot with the 2 player setup from the rulebook: 5 displays of 4 tiles. Press a color in a display or in the middle to take it, then press a pattern line or the floor line to put it there. The lines you can use light up. At the end of each round you step through the wall-tiling one tile at a time. You take the first turn of round 1. That is our choice, because the rulebook picks the first player by who last visited Portugal. The tile pictures are our own. The bot only looks at what is on the table, never at the bag.
Factory displays. Press a color to take every tile of it.
The middle
Your board
How do you teach Azul to kids?
The box says 8 and up. We suggest 7 and up with an adult helping, and 9 and up on their own. Azul needs no reading. A turn is just picking one color, so most of the teaching is the wall scoring.
Say this
We are decorating a palace wall with tiles. The player with the most points at the end wins.
Every round has three parts: pick tiles, move your finished rows to the wall, then refill for the next round.
On your turn, take all the tiles of one color from one display, and the rest of that display slide to the middle. Or take all the tiles of one color from the middle.
Put what you took in one row on the left of your board. One row holds one color, and you fill it from the right. Tiles that do not fit fall on the floor and cost points.
When every tile is taken, each full row sends its rightmost tile to your wall and scores. The rest of that row is cleared.
A tile that touches others on the wall scores for the line it joins. The game ends after the round where someone fills a whole row of the wall.
The rulebook I checked doesn't offer a beginner variant, so every simplification below is a house rule.
First-game simplifications
House rule Let a grown-up do the wall-tiling step for each kid in the first round and count the points out loud, so kids see how linked tiles score before they do it themselves.
House rule Play the first game as a practice game. Let each kid take back one pick before the next player goes.
House rule Keep each kid's floor line in view and say the cost before they put a tile there, so the penalty is not a surprise.
Watch-outs for kids ages 7 to 9
Tiles you cannot place go on the floor line, and each one costs points. The starting player marker sits there too and counts as a tile (pages 3 and 5).
One row of tiles holds one color only. From the second round, you also cannot put a color in a row if the matching wall row already has that color (pages 3 and 4).
You must take every tile of the color you pick. You cannot take just one (page 3).
The first player to take from the middle takes the starting player marker and puts it on their floor line. That costs points but means they start the next round (pages 3 and 5).
A tile on the wall scores 1 if nothing touches it. If it touches tiles in a line, count that whole line, and count the other direction too if tiles touch there (page 5).
The game does not stop the moment a row is filled. Finish the round, then score the bonuses (page 6).
Back for another game?
Your turn: take all tiles of one color from one display (the rest slide to the middle), or all of one color from the middle. The first player to take from the middle also takes the starting player marker onto their floor line (page 3).
Placing: put the tiles in one pattern line, filling it from the right. The line must be empty or already hold that color, and the wall row for that line must not already have that color. Extras go on the floor line, and you may put everything on the floor if you prefer (pages 3 and 4).
Round ends when the middle and all displays are empty (page 4).
Wall-tiling: go through your lines from top to bottom. Each full line sends its rightmost tile to the wall space of that color, and scores. Clear the rest of that line. Lines that are not full stay as they are (page 4).
Wall scoring: a tile with no neighbors scores 1. Otherwise score the horizontal line it joins, if any, plus the vertical line it joins, if any, counting the new tile each time (page 5).
Floor line: the spaces cost 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3 and 3 points from left to right, and you cannot go below 0. Then clear the floor line, but keep the starting player marker in front of you (page 5).
Next round: the player with the starting player marker refills each display with 4 tiles. If the bag is empty, refill it from the lid (page 5).
Game end: after the wall-tiling in which someone completes a horizontal line of 5. Add 2 points per complete horizontal line, 7 per complete vertical line and 10 per color with all 5 tiles on your wall (page 6).
Winning: most points wins. Tied? More complete horizontal lines wins. Still tied, you share the win (page 6).
Every round, four things
Every round of Azul goes the same way.
TakeAll the tiles of one color from one display (the rest slide to the middle) or from the middle.
PlaceIn one pattern line, or on the floor line. A line holds one color, and not a color your wall row already has.
Tile the wallWhen every tile is gone, each full line sends one tile to your wall and scores. The rest go in the lid.
Count the floorLose the printed points for each tile on your floor line. Then refill the displays and go again.
How do you score Azul?
Read each player's score off the score track, then add the end-of-game bonuses: 2 points for each complete horizontal line, 7 for each complete vertical line and 10 for each color with all 5 tiles on the wall (page 6). Tied on points, the player with more complete horizontal lines wins (page 6).
Your pocket card
For the table. The front is your turn, the back is scoring.
Azul, the short version
Mostpoints wins
Take: all tiles of one color from one display (the rest go to the middle), or all of one color from the middle.
Place: in one row, one color per row, filling from the right. Extras go on the floor line.
Then: when all tiles are gone, each full row sends one tile to your wall and scores.
Someone fills a wall row? Finish the round, then the game ends.