AZUL (2017)

PLAYERS	TIME	DESIGNER	PUBLISHER
2-4	30-45 mins	Michael Kiesling	Next Move Games

The first game in this brain busting, tile laying series, AZUL sees players draft decorative tiles from several factories (coasters) and try to strategically place them on their player board.

It sounds simple. And maybe for the first few rounds it is. But as space runs out, and your opponents take the tiles you need, it slowly becomes damage control.

On your turn you’ll be doing two things.

To draft, take from a factory or from the centre. All tiles you take must match. The unmatched move to the centre. If you’re first to draft from the centre each round, take the first turn marker. Yay.

Placement is where it gets tricky. On your board you have five rows of between 1 and 5 tiles. You can partially fill; you just won’t score them at rounds end. But if you overfill, the excess becomes negative points.

Which brings more tension.

Obviously, you’d avoid taking more than you want. But sometimes it won’t be a choice.

You’ll want to place the exact tiles you need, but instead, your opponents will be making you fail and making sure you’re the one left with too many unwanted tiles.

At the end of the round players will score. Placement is key as stranded solo tiles will be close to worthless. So not only are you trying to take tiles you need, you’re also trying to get the placement right to maximize score.

And this is what makes the initial tile selection so thinky and stressful.

I enjoy a game of AZUL where each player eyes up the remaining tiles, counting turns to see where the worst selection might end up, then agonizing over taking a small hit now or risking a big hit later. It’s what good games are made of.

AZUL is a crunchy game that flows from a smooth start to a rough and reckless finale. It looks beautiful with bright tiles and interesting patterns. The teach can seem daunting, but once you know what you’re doing, you’ll have a nice mental work out with this classic puzzler.