Azul is an elegant game, filled with beautiful components, where you win by arranging your colorful tiles in a way that scores the most points.The ceramic tiles 'Azulejos' (which were originally blue and white) were introduced by the Moors. The Portuguese eagerly adopted them when their king, Manuel I, was captivated by the beautiful Moorish tiles during a visit to the Alhambra palace in southern Spain. The king was very impressed by the palace's exquisite interior and immediately ordered that his own palace in Portugal be decorated with similar wall tiles.The board game Azul is easy to play but hard to master, making it fun for beginners but also a challenge for more seasoned board game enthusiasts. Designed by the world-renowned game designer, Michael Kiesling, Azul won the prestigious board game award 'Spiel Des Jahres 2018' in 2018. The game also won Board Game Geek's 'Family Game' category award. See our full range of Azul games here.How to play Azul:In Azul, you are a talented artist tasked with decorating the walls of the royal palace in Evora. The game ends when at least one player has a full horizontal line of 5 tiles on their wall, and the player who has accumulated the most points wins. Thus, you must keep an eye not only on your own wall but also on your opponents', and if you're good at maintaining an overview, you can ensure that your opponent ends up with too many unusable tiles, thereby incurring penalty points.The game consists of several rounds, each with 3 phases: Factory offer, involves taking tiles of the same color, either from the factory pieces or from the center of the table. Tile placement, this phase is performed by all players at the same time, and involves moving their tiles from their filled pattern lines to their wall. Preparation for the next round, if no player has completed a horizontal row of 5 tiles, the next round must be prepared, in the same way as at the start of the game. Azul includes: 100 Pieces 4 Game boards 9 Factory pieces 4 Scoring markers 1 First player token 1 Fabric pouch 1 Rulebook
