Azul · Strategy and opening plans
Azul links public drafting with personal line placement. Picks alter your pattern and send leftovers to others, so interaction starts before taking.
Azul · 2017
2–4 players · 30–45 minutes
Original Azul, 2–4 players; copyright 2018, official hosted file 2024; use the colored wall side
Next Move Games official Azul Rulebook
Opening plans and decisions
Azul links public drafting with personal line placement. Picks alter your pattern and send leftovers to others, so interaction starts before taking.
Taking a color sends leftovers to center and changes enemy options. Shared draft and personal placement are connected layers.
Start here if you are new
Count available tiles before filling long lines
You are considering a batch for a four- or five-space line still far from full.
Count visible matching tiles and opponents' legal demand before committing; leave room for tiles carried into next round.
Incomplete lines do not tile this round. Tiles stay locked there; insufficient remaining matches delay the points.
Waiting for a better batch may let opponents take your color first.
If a shorter line can finish or a longer wall run can form, compare immediate net points first.
Check horizontal and vertical neighbors of the target
A color batch fits different pattern lines.
Locate each line's actual wall target and calculate tiling order plus both continuous runs.
Each full line sends only one tile. Placement connections create value; taking more tiles does not put more onto the wall.
Highly connected targets may require longer lines, causing overflow or delays.
Subtract floor penalties, then compare progress toward full-row, column, or color bonuses.
Recalculate when a row nears completion
You or an opponent needs one tile to finish a wall row.
Estimate this round's walls, floors, and all bonuses before filling a color that ends the game.
A complete row sets remaining time; incomplete pattern lines gain no later points.
Ending now may abandon your columns or colors; waiting may let an opponent finish first.
If current scoring puts you ahead and opponents have strong future gains, check ways to end this round.
Comparing two choices
Use three blue to finish line three or save in line five?
You take 3 blue. Line three has 1 blue and 2 spaces; its wall target forms a three-tile horizontal run. Line five is empty with no wall blue in that row. Floor empty; no vertical or endgame bonuses here.
Finish line three
Its wall placement scores 3.
One blue overflows to floor space 1 for −1: net +2. Two other line-three tiles go to box lid.
Fill line five
All three blues fit with no floor penalty.
Only 3 / 5, so no wall tile this round. Add two later.
Compare 2 points now with later completion of line five. Remaining rounds, color bonuses, and overflow risk change the choice.
Take center blue to end the game or save factory red first?
Wall row 1 lacks only blue, with the other four connected and no tile below blue. Center has 1 blue and marker; floor empty. Pattern line five empty, wall row five has no red. Another factory has 1 red and three other colors. No column or color completion here.
Take center blue
Fill line one. Blue scores horizontal 5, row bonus 2, marker penalty −1: total +6 and game end.
After this round, incomplete lines have no further chance to finish.
Save factory red in line five
Prepare 1 / 5 for future row-five red and related bonuses.
This move does not fill line one or trigger ending. Red waits off-wall; opponents may still end.
Compare both walls, floors, and all bonuses this round first. Red pays off only with another round and four more reds.
Details that are easy to miss
- One same-color batch cannot split across pattern lines.
- When connected both ways, count the new tile once in each scoring run.
- Only a complete wall row triggers game end; finish everyone's walls and floors this round.
Tile flow is harder to predict with four players; two-player games emphasize mutual restraint.
A decision example
A batch completes your line, or another denies an opponent. If denial causes heavy overflow, its cost may exceed benefit.
Why does a short ruleset still compete strongly?
Public options disappear and player needs are visible. Improve your board while changing opponents' next picks.
One draft reshapes public supply
Taking one color sends others to center. Your needs, line capacities, and opponents' next options become one decision.
Choosing arbitrary quantities would make overflow easier to avoid and reduce forcing awkward batches on others.