How to Play Azul: Setup, Drafting, Pattern Lines & Rules
Original Azul has two phases each round. Players first draft colored tile batches into pattern lines. Then completed lines place one tile each on the wall and score; unwanted floor tiles subtract points. The game ends after someone completes a horizontal wall row.
Researched rules guide. Checked September 12, 2026. Original Azul, colored wall side, publisher English rules hosted June 2024; other Azul games have different rules. No hands-on testing is claimed. Editorial standards.
On this page: Use the correct factory count · Take one whole color from one source · Put the batch into one eligible pattern line · Resolve completed lines from top to bottom · Subtract the floor penalties and clear it · Refill without stealing unfinished tiles · Finish the entire wall-tiling phase before bonuses · The gray wall changes legal placement
Use the correct factory count
Give each player a board with the same colored wall side visible and a score marker at zero. Put the tiles in the bag and place the starting-player marker in the center.
Use five factory displays for two players, seven for three, and nine for four. Fill each factory with four tiles drawn randomly. The player who last visited Portugal begins the first round.
The wall is the colored grid on the right. The five pattern lines on the left have capacities one through five. The floor along the bottom records penalties. Pattern-line tiles are preparation; they are not wall tiles yet.
Take one whole color from one source
On your turn, take all tiles of one color from one factory, then move that factory’s other colors into the center. Alternatively, take all tiles of one color from the center.
The first player to draft tiles from the center also takes the starting-player marker, placing it in the first available floor position. That player starts the next round, but accepts the marker’s floor penalty this round.
Continue until every factory and the center are empty. Empty factories alone do not end drafting while tiles remain in the center. You cannot take only part of a large color batch to avoid overflow.
Put the batch into one eligible pattern line
Place your chosen tiles in a single pattern line, filling it from right to left. You cannot split the pickup across several pattern lines.
An incomplete line can contain only one color. A line is ineligible for a color already present in the corresponding wall row. Put excess tiles on the floor, or choose to put an unwanted pickup directly on the floor.
Example: Your capacity-three line already has two blue tiles and its wall row has no blue. A pickup of three blue can add only one there; the other two go to the floor. You cannot use one blue there and move the other two into a different pattern line.
Resolve completed lines from top to bottom
When drafting ends, check pattern lines in order from the top. For each complete line, move its rightmost tile to the matching colored space in that wall row. Discard the line’s other tiles into the box lid.
Score the newly placed wall tile immediately. An isolated placement scores one. If it connects horizontally, score that continuous horizontal group including the new tile; if vertically, score that group too. If both directions connect, add both group lengths.
Incomplete pattern lines stay in place for another round. A tile in one of them earns no wall points yet. The scoring guide illustrates groups, gaps and floor arithmetic.
Subtract the floor penalties and clear it
After wall placements, subtract the printed penalties for occupied floor positions, including the starting marker. The seven positions are minus one, minus one, minus two, minus two, minus two, minus three and minus three.
Do not subtract below zero. Discard floor tiles to the lid and put the starting marker in front of its owner. Tiles exceeding the seven floor positions go to the lid; they do not create imaginary additional floor spaces.
The marker comes back to the center for the next round’s draft. It is not a colored wall tile or a tile shuffled into the bag.
Refill without stealing unfinished tiles
If no horizontal wall row is complete, refill each factory with four tiles from the bag. When the bag runs out, refill it using tiles discarded to the lid and continue.
Tiles already on walls and incomplete pattern lines remain where they are; they do not join the refill bag. If the bag and discarded supply are insufficient for a full refill, start with the available tiles as the rulebook permits.
The player who took the starting marker begins this next round. Turn-order control can matter, but accepting the marker is still a real penalty cost.
Finish the entire wall-tiling phase before bonuses
When any player completes a horizontal wall row of five tiles, finish the wall-tiling phase for everyone, including ordinary placement scores and floor penalties. Do not stop another player’s scoring halfway through.
Add two points per completed horizontal row, seven per completed vertical column, and ten for each color whose five wall positions are all filled. Incomplete pattern lines do not earn final points.
Highest final score wins. Ties favor more completed horizontal wall rows, then are shared. A full vertical column alone does not trigger the finish.
The gray wall changes legal placement
The optional gray-side wall does not specify colors in advance. You choose a location within the matching row, subject to no repeated color in that row or column.
Use the standard colored side for this teach. Mixing free-location gray-side placement into a colored-wall game changes the puzzle. Azul Mini follows the original format; Summer Pavilion, Queen’s Garden and other standalone Azul designs need their own instructions.
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Sources and scope
Checked September 12, 2026. Examples are original illustrations; use the rulebook for card-specific wording and edition differences.
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