The next time you think about playing Azul with two players,
try out Azul Duel, a two-person-only head-to-head version! There is so much
to love about the new strategies, exquisite planning opportunities, and sneaky tactics
available to sabotage your opponent. If you have played Azul, there are
similarities in this version, but it easily owns its own table!
Here are some of the highlights:
Each player has a game board and scoring board, as in Azul.
However, Duel uses a six-row format to stage acquired chips rather than the
five rows Azul has. Duel introduces 4x4 Dome-plates with different chip color
patterns that players draft each round. These are placed where the player wishes
on the 6x6 grid to the right side of their player board. This makes each
player’s color placement grid uniquely theirs. This feature brings varied
interest and strategy possibilities to each new game.
Azul Duel uses the same basic tile drafting mechanic as
regular Azul but with a unique twist. The player tiles are circles and are
placed in the cloth bag as usual. The tile drafting area is comprised of five
“factory” circles with sun and moon areas. Five tiles are drafted to the sun
area of one large factory circle and four tiles each are drafted to the sun
areas of the other four factory circles. There are also bonus chips, and one is
placed face down on the moon side of each of the smaller “factory” circles. The
first player token is placed on the moon side of the larger circle.
Small Circle Drafts: As players draft tiles from the “sun”
side of a small circle, the tiles not matching their chosen color go on top of
the bonus token, creating a stack in the order chosen by that player. In succeeding turns, players can choose to
take chips of one color from the top of a stack. When a different color
appears, they leave the rest of the stack. Therefore, sometimes acquiring more
than one tile of the same color from a stack can take more than one turn. Once
all stacked tiles are gone from a factory circle, a player can use their turn
to take the bonus chip that is remaining. In the next phase, where tiles are
moved to a “dome plate” on the player’s board grid, bonus chips can be used to
help complete pattern lines so that a tile can be moved to the grid on the
right.
Large Circle Drafts: The first person to choose tiles from
the sun side of the large circle takes the first player token and places it on
their player board. The unchosen tiles are placed on the moon side of the
circle, where tiles of the same color can be acquired in succeeding turns.
There are five rounds in Azul Duel, each with two phases consisting of 1) acquisition of tiles, bonus chips, and dome plates, and 2) moving a tile from a completed row to the grid and scoring. Scoring works the same as Azul. A new feature of this Azul version is the addition of end-game scoring goals and points based on completed patterns in player grids. Once five rounds are complete, the person with the highest score wins! This game takes about 25 minutes and provides new strategic challenges for a fun Azul experience! ~ Marsha