Family game · Indian edition available
Azul
Draft colourful tiles and build the best-scoring palace wall
- Players
- 2–4
- Best with
- 2-4
- Play time
- 30–45 min
- Age
- 8+
- Rules
- Easy
- Language
- No reading
Azul is a tile-laying game for 2 to 4 players. You pick up sets of coloured tiles and arrange them on your own board to score points, while trying not to get stuck with tiles you can't use. The rules are simple enough for a family with children aged 8 and up, there is enough planning to keep adults thinking, and a game takes 30–45 minutes. It won the 2018 Spiel des Jahres (German Game of the Year), and Green Elephant Games distributes an English/Hindi edition in India.
Is Azul right for your table?
A good pick for
- Families with children aged 8 and up who want real decisions without long rules
- Couples, because it plays well with just two
- Mixed-language tables, since nothing on the tiles or boards needs reading
- A gift for people new to modern board games
Skip it if
- You want lots of chatter and laughter: Azul is quiet and thoughtful
- Someone in your group hates being blocked, since you can force others to take tiles they don't want
- You want a strong story or theme, because here it is light (decorating a palace wall with tiles)
How Azul plays
Each player has a board with a 5×5 wall on the right and five 'pattern lines' on the left that hold 1 to 5 tiles. In the middle of the table are small round 'factory displays': 5 for two players, 7 for three and 9 for four. Each one gets four random tiles from a bag of 100.
On your turn, take all the tiles of one colour from one factory and push the rest into the centre of the table. Or you can take all of one colour from the centre. The first person each round to take from the centre also takes the first-player marker, which goes on their floor line and costs a point. Put the tiles you took on one of your pattern lines. Each line can hold only one colour.
Any tiles that don't fit drop to the floor line at the bottom of your board, and each tile there costs you points. A lot of the game is about leaving your opponents with piles they don't want.
Once every tile has been taken, each full pattern line moves one tile across to the matching spot on your wall, and the rest go back. Each tile you place scores a point, plus extra points if it touches other tiles in its row or column.
The game ends after the round in which someone completes a horizontal row of five on their wall. At the end you earn 2 bonus points for each complete row, 7 for each complete column and 10 for each colour you have placed all five of. The highest score wins.
Takes about 10 minutes to teach. The tiles and boards have no text, so nobody needs to read during play. The Indian edition comes with an extra rulebook in Hindi.
Buying Azul in India
Green Elephant Games is the authorised Indian distributor of an English/Hindi edition, made with Plan B Games and Asmodee. Tabletop Universe and Gameistry describe it as having the same components as the English version, plus a Hindi rulebook. Specialist stores price Azul at about ₹4,300–5,000. The Amazon.in listing found is the international Plan B edition, so its seller and price may vary.
Start with the original Azul. Indian stores also list several related games: Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra, Azul: Summer Pavilion, Azul: Queen's Garden, Azul: Master Chocolatier (a chocolate-themed version of the original), Azul Mini (a smaller, portable version) and Azul Duel (two players only, released in 2025). They also carry the Crystal Mosaic expansion for the base game.
How to make sure you get a genuine copy
Clone risk: High- Look for Plan B Games or Next Move Games on the box. The Indian edition also names Green Elephant Games and says English/Hindi. Generic brand names on Amazon.in 'Azul' listings are a warning sign.
- Check the price. Genuine copies cost ₹4,299–4,999 at Indian specialist stores on 4 October 2026, while one Indian website sold an 'Azul' for ₹1,199 without naming Plan B or Next Move.
- Check the contents: 100 tiles (20 in each of 5 colours), 4 player boards, 9 factory displays, a bag, scoring markers and a first-player marker. If the scoring markers or the first-player marker are missing, it is likely a copy.
- Counterfeits have been sold under other names, such as 'Blue Standard Edition', to avoid trademark checks. Be careful with a game that looks like Azul but goes by a different name.
- Check print quality: dull or uneven tile colours and blurry box printing are common signs of counterfeits.
Copies of Azul are easy to find in India. A site search of Amazon.in for 'Azul' returned many listings under brand names other than Plan B or Next Move, alongside the Plan B listing. The safest option is the Green Elephant English/Hindi edition from a specialist board game store.
If Azul isn't quite right
Splendor
Also easy to teach, with collecting and planning ahead using gem chips and cards instead of tiles
Ticket to Ride
Another family game with simple turns, if you'd like a bit more theme and a map
Jaipur
A quick two-player trading card game for couples who play mostly as a pair
Questions people ask about Azul
Is Azul available in India?
Yes. Green Elephant Games distributes an English/Hindi edition, sold by stores such as Tabletop Universe and Gameistry, and Bored Game Company and Boardway also list Azul. On 4 October 2026, prices ran from about ₹4,300 to ₹5,000, and stock varied from store to store. The international Plan B edition is also listed on Amazon.in.
Is Azul good for 2 players?
Yes. With two players you use five factory displays instead of nine, and the game works well at that size. If you only ever play as a pair, Azul Duel is a two-player-only version released in 2025.
What is the Hindi edition of Azul?
It is the official edition for India from Green Elephant Games, made with Plan B Games and Asmodee. The components are the same as the English version, with an extra rulebook in Hindi.
How can I tell if an Azul copy is genuine?
Check that the box names Plan B Games or Next Move Games (and Green Elephant Games for the Indian edition), and compare the price with the ₹4,300–5,000 that specialist stores charge. A listing at a fraction of that price which doesn't name the publisher is a warning sign.
Sources
Facts on this page come from the publisher, Indian distributors and the store listings below. Prices were checked on 4 October 2026.
- Azul (board game) – Wikipedia
- Azul rulebook, English (PDF mirror)
- Azul – Green Elephant Games (Indian distributor)
- Green Elephant Games – home
- Asmodee Acquires Plan B Games – ICv2
- Azul (English/Hindi) – Tabletop Universe
- Azul – Bored Game Company
- Azul (Indian Edition) – Gameistry
- Azul English/Hindi Edition – Board Games India
- The counterfeit board games crisis – Tabletop Gaming
- AZUL listing at ₹1,199 (no publisher named) – Turnwise
Prototype notes for review (won't appear on the live site)
- Amazon match: exact link, medium confidence. Listing title seen: "Azul Board Game Strategy Mosaic-Tile Placement".
- How it was found: WebSearch query 'site:amazon.in Azul Plan B Games tile laying' returned https://www.amazon.in/Plan-Games-Board-Multicolour-NMG-600010EN/dp/B077MZ2MPW. Query '"amazon.in" Plan B Games Azul PBG40020' returned its review page, https://www.amazon.in/PBG40020-Azul/product-reviews/B077MZ2MPW, titled 'Plan B Games. Azul Board Game (Multicolour, Full Pack, NMG-600010EN)'. The same ASIN is Plan B's Azul on amazon.com, .co.uk and .ca. Confidence is medium rather than high for three reasons: the Amazon.in title shown is generic, a site search for Azul on Amazon.in returns many listings from other brands, and one search result showed this ASIN with 'Funskool' in the URL slug, which could not be explained.
- Seller and current price on Amazon.in listing B077MZ2MPW. Amazon pages were not opened, per policy.
- One search result showed ASIN B077MZ2MPW with 'Funskool' in the URL slug (amazon.in/Funskool-Azul-Strategy-Placement-Family/dp/B077MZ2MPW). No Funskool–Azul arrangement could be confirmed.
- No Amazon.in listing for the Green Elephant English/Hindi edition was found.
- Bored Game Company's and Boardway's Azul pages don't say whether their copies are the English/Hindi edition. Boardway's page names no publisher at all.
- A site search of Amazon.in for 'Azul' showed listings under brands including Apex52, TD Creations, Firstseen, National Services, TOYIQ, LEROKAS, ZenoBeam, SUPER CART and CC Board Games. Their licensing was not checked.
- Turnwise (₹1,199, 'Imported & Marketed By: Turnwise India, Bengaluru') doesn't name Plan B or Next Move. Whether it is licensed was not confirmed.
- Tabletop Universe's page showed a 'Sold out' badge text but an enabled 'Add to cart' button. The store's product data said available, so it is recorded as in stock.
- boardgamesbazaar.com lists an Azul (brand 'INTL GAMES'), but its pages block automated reading, so it is not included.
- Green Elephant Games' site calls Azul a Kennerspiel des Jahres winner. Wikipedia records the 2018 Spiel des Jahres, which is used here.
- Age 8+ and 30–45 minutes come from Amazon listing titles and retailer pages, not from a publisher page that could be read directly.