Azul

Overview

Players are tile-laying artists decorating the walls of the Royal Palace of Evora. Each round, players draft colored tiles from shared Factory displays and the center of the table, placing them on pattern lines on their personal player boards. Completed pattern lines allow tiles to be moved onto the wall, scoring points based on adjacency. The game ends after a round in which at least one player completes a horizontal line of 5 consecutive tiles on their wall. The player with the most points wins.

Components

4 Player boards (double-sided: colored wall / gray wall variant)
4 Scoring markers
9 Factory displays (circular)
100 Tiles (20 each in 5 colors)
1 Cloth bag
1 Starting player marker
1 Game box lid (used to store discarded tiles)

Setup

Give each player a player board. All players must use the same side (colored wall for standard game; gray wall for variant).
Each player places a scoring marker on space “0” of their score track.
Place Factory displays in a circle in the center of the table:
- 2 players: 5 Factory displays
- 3 players: 7 Factory displays
- 4 players: 9 Factory displays
Fill the bag with all 100 tiles (20 of each color).
The player who most recently visited Portugal takes the starting player marker.
The starting player fills each Factory display with exactly 4 tiles randomly drawn from the bag.
Return unused player boards, scoring markers, and Factory displays to the box.

Turn Structure

Each round consists of three phases, played in order:

A. Factory Offer (tile drafting)

The starting player places the starting player marker in the center of the table and takes the first turn. Play continues clockwise. Players take turns drafting tiles until all Factory displays and the center of the table are empty.

B. Wall-Tiling (scoring)

All players simultaneously move tiles from completed pattern lines to the wall and score points. Then resolve floor line penalties.

C. Preparing the Next Round

If no player has completed a horizontal line of 5 tiles on their wall, refill Factory displays and begin a new round.

Actions

Drafting Tiles (Phase A)

On your turn, you must pick tiles in one of two ways:

Option a) Pick from a Factory display:

Choose all tiles of the same color from any one Factory display.
Move the remaining tiles from that display to the center of the table.

Option b) Pick from the center of the table:

Choose all tiles of the same color from the center.
If you are the first player this round to pick from the center, you must also take the starting player marker and place it on the leftmost free space of your floor line.

Placing Tiles on Pattern Lines

After picking tiles, place them on one of the 5 pattern lines on your player board:

Pattern lines hold 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 tiles (top to bottom).
Place tiles from right to left in the chosen line.
If a pattern line already holds tiles, you may only add tiles of the same color to it.
A pattern line is complete when all its spaces are filled.
If you picked more tiles than can fit in the chosen pattern line, excess tiles go to your floor line.
Color restriction: You may not place tiles of a color in a pattern line whose corresponding wall line already holds a tile of that color.
You may choose to place tiles directly in the floor line if desired.

Floor Line

Tiles that cannot or are not desired to be placed go to the floor line, filled left to right.
Floor line tiles represent dropped tiles and incur negative points.
If all floor line spaces are full, return additional excess tiles to the game box lid.

Wall-Tiling (Phase B)

This phase can be done simultaneously by all players:

Go through pattern lines from top to bottom.
For each complete pattern line, move the rightmost tile to the matching color space in the corresponding wall line. Score points immediately (see Scoring).
Remove remaining tiles from completed pattern lines and place them in the box lid.
Incomplete pattern lines remain on the board for the next round.
Resolve floor line: For each tile in the floor line, lose the number of points shown above that space. Your score can never drop below 0.
Remove all floor line tiles to the box lid. If you have the starting player marker in your floor line, it counts as a tile for penalties, but place it in front of you (not in the lid).

Preparing the Next Round (Phase C)

The player with the starting player marker refills each Factory display with 4 tiles from the bag.
If the bag is empty, refill it with all tiles from the box lid, then continue filling displays.
In the rare case the bag runs out again with no tiles in the lid, start the round with partially filled displays.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

Immediate Scoring (during Wall-Tiling)

Each tile placed on the wall scores as follows:

No adjacent tiles (horizontally or vertically): 1 point.
Adjacent tiles exist: Score in two checks:
1. Count all tiles in the horizontal line connected to the newly placed tile (including itself). Score that many points.
2. Count all tiles in the vertical line connected to the newly placed tile (including itself). Score that many points.
  - If connected both horizontally and vertically, score both counts.

Floor Line Penalties

Space	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Penalty	-1	-1	-2	-2	-2	-3	-3

End-Game Trigger

The game ends after the Wall-tiling phase in which at least one player has completed at least one horizontal line of 5 consecutive tiles on their wall.

End-Game Bonus Scoring

Bonus	Points
Each complete horizontal line of 5 tiles	+2
Each complete vertical line of 5 tiles	+7
Each color with all 5 tiles placed on the wall	+10

Winner

The player with the most points wins.
Tiebreaker: The tied player with more complete horizontal lines wins.
If still tied, the victory is shared.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

Starting player marker as floor tile: It occupies a floor line space and incurs the penalty for that space, but is returned to the player (not the box lid) after scoring.
First to take from center: The starting player marker goes to the leftmost free floor line space. This can be a strategic cost.
Color restriction on pattern lines: You may never place a color in a pattern line if the corresponding wall row already has that color. This can force tiles to the floor line.
Bag refill: When the bag empties during setup, refill from the box lid immediately and continue. If both bag and lid are empty, some Factory displays may have fewer than 4 tiles.
Score cannot go below 0: Even with heavy floor line penalties, your scoring marker stays at 0 minimum.
Must pick tiles: On your turn during the Factory Offer phase, you must draft tiles; you cannot pass.
All of one color: You must take ALL tiles of the chosen color from the selected Factory display or from the center.
Excess tiles: If you pick more tiles than fit in your chosen pattern line, the excess must go to the floor line, not back to the supply.

Variant Play (Gray Wall)

Use the gray (unpatterned) side of the player boards.
All rules are the same, except when moving a tile from a pattern line to the wall, you may place it on any space in the corresponding wall row.
Restriction: No color may appear more than once in any vertical or horizontal line.
Special case: If you cannot legally place the rightmost tile of a completed pattern line (no valid space remains), you must immediately move all tiles from that pattern line to your floor line.

Player Reference

Phase Checklist

Factory Offer: Draft all tiles of one color from a Factory display or the center. Place on a pattern line or floor line.
Wall-Tiling: Move rightmost tile from each complete pattern line to wall. Score adjacency. Resolve floor line penalties.
Next Round: Refill Factory displays (4 tiles each from bag).

Factory Display Count

Players	Displays
2	5
3	7
4	9

Key Numbers

Tiles per color: 20 (5 colors, 100 total)
Tiles per Factory display: 4
Pattern line sizes: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (top to bottom)
Floor line spaces: 7 (penalties: -1, -1, -2, -2, -2, -3, -3)
End-game trigger: Complete horizontal row of 5 tiles
Horizontal line bonus: +2 per line
Vertical line bonus: +7 per line
All 5 of one color bonus: +10 per color