Matthew BaileyOne of the main current trends in board games seems to be creating two-player duel versions of popular games. So far, most of the ones I’ve played have left me with a feeling of, “Well, yeah, that’s okay,” but to be honest, you’re better off just playing the main game with two players.
Today, I’m going to be looking at “Azul Duel,” the two-player version of probably one of the most successful modern board games of the last 10 years based around laying tils on the ceiling of the Palace in Sintra. Played here with Jack(9).
Oddly, I’ve never actually done a proper review of “Azul.” This is largely because when I started posting on Little Board Gamers—getting on for four years ago now—”Azul” was one of the first games I talked about. As such, my review was something along the lines of, “I really like Azul, you should play it.” That’s still definitely the case, but in this review, I’m going to talk about the differences, compare the games, and let you know what I think.
The game plays similarly to regular “Azul.” If you don’t know how that plays, here’s a quick overview: you and your opponent are trying to create a Portuguese tile mosaic wall.
Each round, players take turns picking tiles from shared factory displays. When you take tiles, you must take all of that colour from one display, and any leftover tiles get shoved into a central pile, making future choices even trickier. The goal is to arrange your tiles onto your personal board in a way that scores big points—completing rows, columns, or even collecting sets of the same colour.
Sounds easy, right? Well, the catch is that any tiles you can’t fit onto your board smash to the floor, costing you points. And because players can see what everyone else is working on, there’s plenty of opportunity for sneaky moves—like taking tiles your opponent desperately needs or dumping unwanted leftovers on them. Rounds continue until one player completes a row, and then it’s all about tallying up points. The real magic of “Azul” is in its mix of strategy and unpredictability—it’s got that “one more game” feeling and looks stunning on the table.
“Azul Duel” takes much of what makes “Azul” great but makes a few changes and key additions. Firstly, players get their own boards, but one of my first gripes with the duel version is that some of the components aren’t quite the quality of the base game. The player boards are made of fairly thin card stock instead of the nice chunky cardboard of the original game. This was a little disappointing, but there we go.
These boards are quite different from what you see in regular “Azul.” They have the rows where you place your tiles, much like you’d expect, but instead of a grid on the right-hand side, you have a blank grid that you have to build up by placing dome tiles. Each player gets two player tokens, and at any point on your turn, you can use one to take a new dome tile to place onto your grid. This then allows you to lay your tiles much like in regular “Azul,” giving you more control over where they go. This means you can have multiple colours in the same row. There are also wild tiles where any colour can go, and special tiles that activate once you’ve filled the other three tiles on that dome plate.
Scoring works similarly to regular “Azul,” which I always describe to newcomers as “Scrabble-style.” You score from the top, and if you make a new row or column, you get points for that. If you manage to complete both a row and a column, you get full points for both.
Like regular “Azul,” there are also bonus ways to gain points. However, in “Azul Duel,” there are four different scoring methods that can change depending on which tiles you choose. Some include getting points for every tile on the edge of the board or scoring for diagonal connections. One in particular—scoring for completing horizontal rows—felt a little unfair, as “Azul Duel” only lasts five rounds, and with six tiles in a row, this means you’d have to use a special tile and fill a row every single round.
The drafting system also has a key change. The five factories are split into a main factory and four smaller factories. Unlike the main game, they have a sun side and a moon side. Instead of tiles simply being pushed to the middle, you can choose to stack them in any order on the moon section of the tile. This means that when you take from the middle, you can’t just grab any tile—you have to take from the top of the pile. This adds an extra layer of strategy. On the larger tile, all tiles are laid out as usual, but if you take from there, you must take a minus one token, as in regular “Azul.”
Another important addition is the half-tile mechanic. When you take the last tile from a pile, you gain a half-tile. If you collect two half-tiles, you can combine them to count as a regular tile when filling your rows.
After five rounds, you tally up the final scores to see who wins.
Before I give my final thoughts, I want to talk a little more about the components. I’ve already mentioned my disappointment with the player boards. Another issue is that the player tokens used to gain dome tiles are made of cardboard. The version I got included a promo with resin tokens, which are really nice, but I’m not sure if the standard retail version includes them. If it doesn’t, that’s another area where the game feels a bit cheaper. Personally, I’d have preferred if the game was a couple of pounds more expensive but included all of these upgraded components as standard.
Now, onto the gameplay itself. This is one of the first duel versions of a game that I’ve really enjoyed. I really like “Azul Duel.” While I think the other versions of “Azul” are good, I much prefer the original and the way it plays. However, unlike the three other versions of “Azul,” “Azul Duel” actually feels like an expansion to regular “Azul.” I really enjoyed the changes and the extra strategic elements. In fact, playing “Azul Duel” made me wish these new mechanics could be incorporated into regular “Azul,” and I’m sure someone will house rule a way to do it before long.
So, do I recommend “Azul Duel”? If you love “Azul,” want a version with new mechanics, and regularly play two-player games, then yes, this is a definite buy. If you like “Azul” but it’s not your favourite game, this won’t change your mind.
The real question is for those who’ve never played “Azul.” If you’re going to play with more than two players, then the original is probably the better choice. However, if you mostly play with just one other person, then “Azul Duel” is definitely worth getting.
It is a little more complex than the regular game, so if you’re looking to play with younger kids, I’d recommend getting the original version. That said, I played this one with Jack, and for us, it was definitely the best two-player version to go for.
I’m delighted to say that “Azul Duel” is the first duel version of a game that I’m going to recommend. And we’ve actually got a few more coming up over the next couple of months, as this trend of making duel versions of games is really taking off!
Disclaimer: A copy of the game was kindly provided by “Next Move” for the purpose of review via the “UK Board Gamer Review Circle”. All thoughts and opinions are our own.
