I just played Azul for the first time and I really like it. The rules are straightforward and it’s quick to setup and pack up. It reminds me a lot of Sagrada.
Azul is great, really good entry level game that is interesting enough for the “proper gamers”. What’s more I think it’s one of those rare games that works equally well at 2, 3 and 4 players and it also plays nice and snappily too.
I think it’s much better at 2 players: with more players it gets harder to plan ahead and it usually does not pay off to block other players from getting specific tiles (if you get fewer points to make another player loose even more points, the other player(s) will profit the most). Two player Azul can get really cutthroat!
Two players is savage and me and my partner play it a lot and the joy of ruining your opponent’s plans is great. But at 3 or 4 it becomes more about sniping opportunities and agreed it becomes less strategic but it is fun.
Seconded. I’ve had great luck with non-board-game-people. It’s simple and colorful, but there’s planning and just a bit of opportunity to act against other players strategically.
It is a nice quick game to keep around and it’s such a one-size-for-all theme that it makes the table.
