December 19, 2018

Azul was the 2018 winner of the Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year) award at the annual Essen Game Conference.

Players must buy tiles from the marketplace as they become available and then use them to tile the walls of the palace of the king of Portugal. You are competing with the other players to win the favor of the king (getting the highest score) for your wall. But the other players can sabotage your efforts by buying tiles in a way that forces you to waste some of the tiles you have bought (earning you negative points for each wasted tile). Easy to learn but with a fair bit of strategic thinking required, this is a very fun game for 1–4 players that can be played by hardcore gamers and casual gamers alike.