Azul Endgame and Scoring Math

Azul’s final scoring is where games flip. A player who looked behind on the score track adds three column bonuses and a full color, and 31 points arrive at once. Nothing about it is hidden, though. You can count it rounds ahead, and play for it.

The bonuses, side by side

Three things jump out:

• Rows are cheap and worth little. But a row is also what ends the game, so it matters in a different way.
• Columns are the best value. Fifteen tiles of any colors for 7 points, on top of the adjacency points those tiles already scored.
• Colors are a race. You need 15 tiles of one color through your pattern lines, and only 20 exist. Extras from finished lines go to the box lid and come back when the bag is refilled, but if another player chases the same color, you compete for every tile.

Each wall row gains at most one tile per round, so no row can finish before round five. Every game lasts at least five rounds.

What a single tile can be worth

A tile scores its connected row plus its connected column. The most a placement can score is 10: a full row of 5 plus a full column of 5.

A worked example. Your last tile in a column lands next to two tiles in its row. It scores 3 for the row and 5 for the column, so 8 now. At the end it adds 7 for the column. If it is also the fifth tile of its color, add 10 more. That one tile is worth 25 points.

This is why strong walls grow as blocks from the middle. Late tiles in a block score high twice: once when placed, and again in the bonuses.

Who controls the end?

The game ends after the round in which anyone completes a horizontal row. The top row is the fastest, because its pattern line needs only one tile a round. A player who places a tile in row one every round can end the game in round five.

• If you are ahead, finishing a row is often your best move, even if it scores little.
• If you are behind, you want more rounds. Do not finish a row yourself, and look at the leader’s walls. A row with four tiles needs one specific color in one specific line. Denying that color, when you can, buys you a round.
• If it is close, remember the tiebreaker: more complete horizontal rows wins a tied game.

Spotting the last round

At the start of every round, scan each wall for a row with 4 tiles. Then check whether that player can fill the matching pattern line this round. If they can, assume this round is the last one. Play it that way even if you are only fairly sure.

Playing the last round

The last round has different math:

• Unfinished lines score nothing. Tiles left in a pattern line at the end are wasted. Only take tiles for lines that can finish this round.
• The starting player marker buys nothing. There is no next round to go first in. It is just a floor penalty.
• The floor still counts. Floor penalties come off before the bonuses are added.
• Bonuses are the priority. A tile that completes a column or a color is worth far more than one that only touches neighbors. Check every placement against the bonus table.

The floor line, by the numbers

The spaces cost 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, and 3, so floor tiles get expensive fast.

The first two spaces are cheap. When a big placement or a denial is worth it, a tile or two on the floor is fine. Five or more is rarely worth anything.

A last-round checklist

1. Which placements finish a column or a color?
2. Which of my lines can still finish this round?
3. What does the leader need, and can I deny it?
4. How many floor tiles will this pick cost me?

The Azul strategy guide has more on why columns beat rows and how to control the end.