Azul
At a glance
Rules overview
English version of our rules overview, translated from the Chinese original (cunlema). The Chinese page is the source of record.
Game Overview
Azul brings you, a tile laying artist, to embellish the walls of the Royal Palace of Evora. Players draft colorful ceramic tiles from Factory displays or the center of the table and arrange them on pattern lines, then transfer completed lines to their personal wall to score points. The game ends after the round in which at least one player completes a horizontal line of 5 consecutive tiles on her wall, and the player with the most points wins.
Core Mechanisms: Tile drafting from Factory displays or the center of the table, pattern line completion, wall-tiling with adjacency-based scoring, and penalty tiles in the floor line.
1. Game Components
| Component | Quantity/Description |
|---|---|
| Player board (A) | One per player; colored wall side for normal play, gray side for variant play |
| Scoring marker (B) | One per player, placed on space "0" of the score track |
| Factory displays (C) | 5 (2-player), 7 (3-player), or 9 (4-player) |
| Bag (D) | One bag to hold tiles |
| Tiles (E) | 100 tiles total, 20 of each of 5 colors |
| Starting player marker (F) | One marker |
2. Game Setup
- Give each player a player board (A). Flip your board to the side with the colored wall. Each player must use the same side.
- Take 1 scoring marker (B) and place it on space "0" of your score track.
- Place the Factory displays (C) in a circle around the center of the table:
- In a 2-player game, place 5 Factory displays.
- In a 3-player game, place 7 Factory displays.
- In a 4-player game, place 9 Factory displays. - Fill the bag (D) with the 100 tiles (20 of each color) (E).
- The player who most recently visited Portugal takes the starting player marker (F) and then fills each Factory display with exactly 4 tiles randomly drawn from the bag.
Return any unused player boards, scoring markers and Factory displays to the box.
3. Game Flow
The game is played over multiple rounds, each composed of three phases:
A. Factory offer — Players take turns picking tiles and placing them onto pattern lines. The starting player places the starting player marker in the center of the table and takes the first turn; play continues clockwise. This phase ends when the center of the table AND all Factory displays contain no more tiles.
B. Wall-tiling — All players simultaneously move tiles from complete pattern lines to their walls and score points, then resolve floor line penalties.
C. Preparing the next round — The player with the starting player marker refills each Factory display with 4 tiles from the bag (refilling the bag from the lid if empty) and a new round begins.
4. Player Actions
Action A: Pick tiles from a Factory display
- Cost: None (must be done on your turn).
- Effect: Pick all tiles of the same color from any one Factory display, then move the remaining tiles from this Factory display to the center of the table.
Action B: Pick tiles from the center of the table
- Cost: None (must be done on your turn).
- Effect: Pick all tiles of the same color from the center of the table. If you are the first player in this round to pick tiles from the center, also take the starting player marker and place it onto the leftmost free space of your floor line.
Placing picked tiles onto a pattern line:
- Add the tiles you picked to one of the 5 pattern lines on your player board (the first line has 1 space to hold 1 tile, the fifth line has 5).
- Place the tiles, one by one, from right to left in your chosen pattern line.
- If the pattern line already holds tiles, you may only add tiles of the same color to it.
- Once all spaces of a pattern line are filled, that line is considered complete.
- If you have picked up more tiles than you can place in your chosen pattern line, you must place the excess tiles in the floor line.
- In all later rounds (after the first), you are not allowed to place tiles of a certain color in a pattern line whose corresponding line of your wall already holds a tile of that color.
Floor line:
- Any tiles you have picked that you cannot or do not want to place according to the rules must be placed in your floor line, filling its spaces from left to right.
- These tiles give minus points in the Wall-tiling phase.
- If all spaces of your floor line are occupied, return any further fallen tiles to the lid of the game box.
Wall-tiling phase actions (all players simultaneously):
- Go through your pattern lines from top to bottom. Move the rightmost tile of each complete line to the space of the same color in the corresponding line of your wall. Score points immediately each time you move a tile.
- Then, remove all tiles from any pattern lines that now have no tile in the rightmost space, placing them into the lid of the game box. Any remaining tiles on the pattern lines stay on your player board for the next round.
Scoring for each tile moved to the wall:
- If there are no tiles directly adjacent (vertically or horizontally) to the newly placed tile, gain 1 point.
- If there are adjacent tiles: first check for horizontally linked tiles — count all linked tiles (including the newly placed one) and gain that many points. Then check for vertically linked tiles — count all linked tiles (including the newly placed one) and gain that many points.
- At the end of the Wall-tiling phase, for each tile in your floor line, lose the number of points indicated directly above it. You can never drop below 0 points.
- If you have the starting player marker in your floor line, it counts as a normal tile there for penalties, but instead of placing it in the lid, place it in front of you.
5. Scoring and Game End
The game ends right after the Wall-tiling phase in which at least one player has completed at least one horizontal line of 5 consecutive tiles on her wall.
Once the game has ended, score additional points:
- Gain 2 points for each complete horizontal line of 5 consecutive tiles on your wall.
- Gain 7 points for each complete vertical line of 5 consecutive tiles on your wall.
- Gain 10 points for each color of which you have placed all 5 tiles on your wall.
The player with the most points on her score track wins. In case of a tie, the tied player with more complete horizontal lines wins. If that does not break the tie, the victory is shared.
Key Rules and Common Questions
Easy-to-miss Rules:
- In rounds after the first, you may not place tiles of a color in a pattern line whose corresponding wall line already holds a tile of that color.
- If a pattern line already holds tiles, you may only add tiles of the same color to it.
- Tiles are placed in a pattern line from right to left, not left to right.
- Excess tiles that don't fit in your chosen pattern line must go to the floor line (penalty), not back to the supply.
- The first player to pick from the center of the table in a round must take the starting player marker and place it on the leftmost free space of their floor line — it counts as a normal tile for penalty purposes.
- Floor line penalties can never drop your score below 0 points.
- Only complete pattern lines (all spaces filled) transfer tiles to the wall during Wall-tiling; incomplete lines stay on your board for the next round.
- When the bag runs out during refill, return all tiles from the lid to the bag and continue filling Factory displays.
FAQ:
Q: Can I place tiles of different colors in the same pattern line?
A: No. If the pattern line already holds tiles, you may only add tiles of the same color to it.
Q: What happens if I pick more tiles than fit in my chosen pattern line?
A: You must place the excess tiles in the floor line, filling its spaces from left to right.
Q: When does the Factory offer phase end?
A: When the center of the table AND all Factory displays contain no more tiles.
Q: Do I score points for tiles left in my floor line?
A: No — you lose the number of points indicated directly above each tile in your floor line at the end of the Wall-tiling phase.
Q: What happens if the bag is empty when refilling Factory displays?
A: Refill the bag with all the tiles placed in the lid of the game box, then continue filling the remaining Factory displays.
Q: How is a tie broken at the end of the game?
A: The tied player with more complete horizontal lines wins. If that does not break the tie, the victory is shared.
Rules Q&A
Questions below are real questions players asked cunlema about this game; answers are ours, translated into English.
## Key Rules & FAQ ### Frequently Asked Questions **If I complete a row and then drop some tiles this turn, should I resolve the scoring first or the deduction first?** In Azul, scoring for completed rows and penalties for dropped tiles both occur during the **Scoring Phase**. The resolution order of the Scoring Phase is as follows: 1. **Resolve bonuses first**: Each completed row immediately earns the corresponding prestige points. 2. **Resolve penalties next**: Then check whether any tiles have dropped from the factory displays or the supply area; for each dropped tile, deduct 1 point. Therefore, **resolve bonuses first, then resolve penalties**. Even if the final net score is negative, this order is still followed.
I. First, the question you care about most: score first, or deduct first?
Score first, then deduct.
The flow goes like this:
- Once the wall tiling phase begins, check each pattern line from the topmost one downward. For each completed pattern line, move its rightmost tile to the matching same-colored space on the corresponding wall row, and score immediately with each tile moved.
- After moving, clear away the remaining tiles in the pattern lines whose right end is now empty (return them to the box lid); pattern lines that still have tiles at the right end (i.e., incomplete lines) remain on the board with their tiles for the next round.
- Only at the end of the entire wall tiling phase do you check the floor line. For each tile on the floor line, deduct the point value printed directly above its space (1st tile −1, 2nd tile −1, 3rd tile −2, 4th tile −2, 5th tile −2, 6th tile −3, 7th tile −3).
So the points you earn from completing pattern lines this round are resolved at the moment of moving; the penalty for tiles that fell onto the floor line is only resolved when this entire phase concludes, after the scoring. There is also a hard floor: deductions stop at 0 points and never go negative.
II. How to Determine the Winner
- Trigger for the end of the game: During a wall tiling phase, as soon as at least one player completes at least one horizontal row of 5 consecutive tiles on their wall, the game ends immediately after that wall tiling phase (not based on who finished first, nor at the end of the round — it ends as soon as that phase concludes).
- End-of-game bonus scoring (added during the final resolution):
- Each complete horizontal row of 5 consecutive tiles: +2 points
- Each complete vertical column of 5 consecutive tiles: +7 points
- Each color for which all 5 tiles are collected on the wall: +10 points
- Determining the winner: The player with the highest total score on the scoring track wins. In case of a tie, the player who completed more horizontal rows wins; if still tied, they share the victory.
III. How to Determine Whether an Action Is Legal
… (condensed here; full text on the cunleme Chinese page)
I'm referring to the row for deducting points?
Conclusion: Once the penalty row (floor line) is full, any additional tiles are not placed on the floor line and incur no penalty — they are simply returned to the game box lid for temporary storage.
Conditions and specific procedures:
- Tiles you selected but are not allowed to place or choose not to place by the rules must be placed on the floor line, filling from the leftmost empty space rightward, one space at a time.
- Only tiles sitting on the floor line count toward penalty scoring during the wall tiling phase (each tile deducts the value printed directly above its space; the scoring marker can only decrease to a minimum of 0 points).
- Once all spaces on the floor line are occupied, any additional tiles are placed back into the game box lid to "set aside for now" — the rulebook does not state that these extra tiles incur a penalty, nor does it state that they are discarded.
- By the end of the wall tiling phase, all tiles on the floor line are cleared and placed into the box lid; if the first player marker is on the floor line, it counts as a normal tile for penalty purposes, but when clearing, it is returned to your own play area rather than into the box lid.
- These tiles stored in the box lid are not permanently useless: when replenishing the factory displays in the next round, if the bag is empty, first pour the tiles from the box lid back into the bag before continuing to replenish.
So to answer your question: extra tiles beyond a full floor line are only returned to the box lid and incur no penalty.
This content is for reference only; in case of any conflict, the rulebook and experienced players nearby take precedence.
## Game Overview The winning condition of **Azul** is: the player who has the most **prestige points** at the end of the game wins. Players gain **prestige points** by placing **tiles** on their puzzle board, completing pattern lines, filling an entire row or column, etc. If there is a **tie**, the player with the most remaining **tiles** at the end of the game wins; if there is still a **tie**, the relevant players **tie** and share the victory.
Clear Conclusion: The winner of Azul is the player with the highest total score on the scoring track at the end of the game; in case of a tie, the player who has completed more horizontal rows (full rows of 5 consecutive tiles) wins; if this still cannot determine a winner, the victory is shared.
Specific Rules as Follows:
1. End of the Game Condition
When at least one player has completed at least one full horizontal row of 5 consecutive tiles on their wall during the tile-laying phase, the game ends immediately after that round.
2. End of the Game Bonus Scoring
After the game ends, additional points are scored based on the following objectives:
- Each completed horizontal row of 5 consecutive tiles: +2 points
- Each completed vertical column of 5 consecutive tiles: +7 points
- Each complete set of all 5 tiles of one color on the wall: +10 points
3. Determining the Winner
- The player with the highest total score wins.
- In case of a tie, compare the number of completed horizontal rows; the player with more wins.
- If still tied, the victory is shared.
No other winning methods (such as comparing the number of vertical columns to break a tie) were found in the rulebook text.
This content is for reference only; in case of any conflict, the rulebook and experienced players take precedence.
## Key Rules & FAQ ### Frequently Asked Questions **In Azul, if the bottom row is completely filled and there are still extra tiles, how are the extra tiles handled?** If the tiles remaining in the factory displays or the center area cannot be placed in any position on a player's board after being selected (including when the bottom row is already full), these extra tiles are placed on the **floor line**. If the floor line is also full, the extra tiles are removed from the game.
Conclusion: If the bottom row (the floor line) is already full, the excess tiles are returned to the game box lid for temporary storage — they are not discarded, nor are they forced in.
Specific handling:
- Any tiles you have picked up but cannot or do not wish to place according to the rules must go onto the floor line, filling from the leftmost space to the right, one space at a time.
- Once all spaces on the floor line are occupied, any further tiles are returned to the game box lid for storage ("store them for now").
Additional clarification (to avoid confusion about which row):
- If by "bottom row" you actually mean the pattern line on the left side of the player board: a pattern line row is considered complete once it is filled. If the number of tiles you received exceeds what the selected pattern line can hold, the excess must be placed on the floor line and cannot be discarded.
- Tiles returned to the box lid are not permanently discarded: later, when the bag is empty and the factory displays need to be refilled, the tiles in the box lid will first be returned to the bag before refilling continues.
This content is for reference only; in case of any conflict, the rulebook and experienced players nearby take precedence.
In Azul, if your score would drop below 0, it is recorded as 0. You never have a negative score.
Conclusion: You will never record a negative score; the lowest score you can record is 0 points.
How it works: After the wall tiling phase ends, check the tiles on your floor line and deduct points according to the penalty value marked above each space — 1st tile: -1 point, 2nd tile: -1 point, 3rd tile: -2 points, 4th tile: -2 points, 5th tile: -2 points, 6th tile: -3 points, 7th tile: -3 points — then move your scoring marker back on the scoring track accordingly.
The condition is: during the deduction, the scoring marker will never move below 0 points. That is, even if the penalty values would mathematically result in a negative score, you simply stop at 0 points rather than recording a negative number.
One related point: if the first player marker lands on the floor line, it counts as a normal tile on the floor line for the purpose of penalty deduction (after deducting, take it back in front of you; do not return it to the box lid).
This content is for reference only; in case of any conflict, refer to the rulebook and experienced players nearby.
Rules, cards and Q&A (Chinese)
The rules, card data and player questions for this game are written in Chinese. Open the Chinese page to read them.
Where to find full rules
Full rules and card lookup are available in the cunlema app at cunlema.cn — pick this game and ask about any rule, card or turn you are unsure about.