Azul Duel is a separate two-player game from the original Azul. Its round has three phases: acquisition, dome-tiling and scoring, then preparation. Play five rounds in all; skip preparation after the fifth. You win by having more points after the selected end-game goals are scored.

Set up the ceiling and Factories

Give each player a board, two matching Player tokens and scoring markers. Put four small Factories and one large Factory in a circle, with their moon sides toward the center. Shuffle the 18 Dome-plates, show three in the shared display and keep the rest facedown. For a first game, use the three Scoring tablets and sides marked for the introductory setup; later games may use three or four chosen tablet sides. These tablets are public goals.

Set the nine Special tiles aside, put the Starting player tile on the large Factory, and put the 65 regular tiles in the bag. Draw five regular tiles to the large Factory’s sun and four to the sun of each small Factory. Put a facedown Bonus chip on each small Factory’s moon. Choose a starting player. The other player first chooses a visible Dome-plate and places it in any orientation on an empty Dome space, then the starting player does the same; refill the shared plate display after each choice. You each begin with one plate.

On your turn, take one of four actions

1. Take a Dome-plate: place one of your Player tokens on your side of the scoring board. Take a displayed plate, without immediately refilling that gap, or pay one point per facedown plate drawn and choose one after you stop drawing. Place the chosen plate in an empty Dome space, oriented as you wish. Its orientation cannot change later.
2. Take a sun color: take every tile of one color from the sun of one Factory. For a small Factory, stack its remaining tiles in an order you choose on that Factory’s moon. For the large Factory, move its remaining tiles to separate moon spaces.
3. Take a moon color: collect the topmost tile of one color from each Factory’s moon where it is exposed. Buried tiles stay in their small-Factory stacks. The first player to take any tile from the large Factory’s moon also takes the Starting player tile.
4. Claim a revealed Bonus chip: take one that has been uncovered when a small Factory becomes empty. Each player takes exactly two Bonus chips per round.

The two tile-taking actions put the entire chosen batch into one of your six pattern lines, which hold one through six tiles respectively. Existing tiles in a line must match the new batch’s color. Fill right to left; any excess or intentionally unplaced tiles go to the Broken tiles space. A full line may remain until it has a legal matching space on its Dome. See the scoring guide for what happens when a line cannot be placed.

What changes between sun and moon?

The small-Factory leftovers do not go into a common center as in original Azul. Suppose a small Factory has two blue tiles, one red and one yellow. Taking blue places the red and yellow in a moon stack, and you decide which is on top. A later moon action for red can collect that red top along with visible red tops at other Factories; it cannot take a red tile buried under yellow. The large Factory’s moon holds its leftover tiles separately, so its displayed colors are all exposed.

A Bonus chip is uncovered when both sides of its small Factory are emptied. If all four initial tiles were the same color, taking them uncovers its chip immediately. Claiming the chip is a separate action; revealing it does not award it automatically.

Close the acquisition phase

During each of the first four rounds, both players must use their two Player tokens to choose plates. There are no Player-token plate actions in round five. Acquisition finishes only once every Factory is empty of tiles and Bonus chips and both players have used their required tokens. If you cannot take any legal action, you pass for the rest of this phase; passing voluntarily is not allowed. One player can still act while the other has passed.

Tile and score your Dome

Both players may resolve this phase simultaneously, working through complete pattern lines from top to bottom. Move the rightmost tile of a completed line to an empty color-matching space on a Dome-plate in its corresponding row; a multicolored Joker space accepts any regular color. Score that placement immediately, then discard the rest of that line’s tiles into the Tower. An incomplete line carries forward. A complete line with no matching space may also wait if fewer than three plates have been assigned to its row. With three plates and no matching space, its tiles become broken.

A pair of matching-color Bonus chips, or any three chips, can replace one missing tile to complete a nonempty line during this phase. Flip spent chips facedown; a completely empty line cannot be filled only with chips. Special plates have an uncolored space: once their other three spaces are filled, place a Special tile there and take that row’s printed points. It does not score ordinary adjacency at placement.

Score any broken-tile penalties and, if held, the Starting player tile’s two-point penalty. Return broken tiles to the Tower. Before the next round, return Player tokens, refill the plate display, Factory suns and Bonus chips. The player who took the Starting player tile returns it to the large Factory and begins the next round. After round five, score the selected tablets; most points wins. A tie goes to the player holding the Starting player tile.

Three frequent mix-ups

• Taking a plate costs an action and a Player token; only the facedown draw option costs points. The three visible plates are not refilled during acquisition.
• A moon pick reaches across exposed tops of all Factories; it never digs into a small Factory’s stack.
• End the game after exactly five rounds, not when the first row fills as in original Azul.

Explore Azul Duel: Overview · How to play · Strategy · Scoring · Duel vs original Azul.

Sources and scope: Next Move Games’ English Azul Duel rulebook (PDF) and publisher product page, checked 4 October 2026. Examples and strategy are editorial deductions from the printed rules, not firsthand playtest claims. This guide concerns the 2025 standalone Duel box; check the rulebook supplied with your copy for any edition differences.