Plan B Games | Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra | Board Game | Ages 8+ | 2 to 4 Players | 30 to 45 Minutes Playing Time

Product Information

I’d highly recommend it, but I’m not sure it’s different enough from Azul that it’s worth having both. When a player takes tiles, she must place them all into a single column, on matching-colored spaces. One of each colour of Pane Pieces (5 in total) is randomly placed on the round track (rounds 2 to 6). The game lasts for six rounds (a round ends when all of the tiles have been used), then players score additional points for the tiles left on their board and the full windows they’ve completed (you can score bonus points for completing windows next to each other), and lose points for any tiles a player “broke” during the game by taking more than they could use. Introduced by the Moors, “azulejos” (originally white and blue ceramic tiles) were fully embraced by the Portuguese, when their King Manuel I, on a visit to the Alhambra palace in Southern Spain, was mesmerised by the stunning beauty of the Moorish decorative tiles.

Azul: Crystal Mosaic contains double-sided player boards, with each board offering new challenges and exciting new strategic opportunities, plus plastic overlays for your games. Nevertheless Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra is an attractive game and looks interesting on the gaming table. If the round color was Yellow, then I would earn an additional 4 points (the strip had 4 Yellow and 1 Blue. That said, I recommend first-time players start with the original game before diving into the sequel, just for the sake of getting comfortable with the core system.

This allows you to draft first on the next round, but also moves you down one on the Broken Glass Track. Carefully pick where you sow and when you grow, as trees in the shadows are blocked from light, and from points. Instead of taking glass on your turn, you can pass and reset your glazier fully to the left of your player board, sometimes you’ll do this out of necessity and other times it will be more of a stall tactic. Editor’s note: That’s how it’s done, folks] Plus, Azul looked like it could be the rare fourth type of game, i. A lot of folks are going to like that, and they may use nonsense descriptors like “gamer-y” or “thinkier” when describing it.

Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra challenges players to compete by carefully selecting glass panes to complete their windows while being careful not to damage or waste supplies in the process. When this is coupled with a clever scoring mechanic where completing a Pattern Strip scores that position and already completed positions to the right, then the value of completing those rightmost strips is considerable as they can be scored multiple times during a game. There are two places on the Player Board to be filled by the Pane Piece from the completed Pattern Strip. Incom Gaming is the trading name of Incom Gaming Ltd which is registered in England (Company Number: 09883194) and whose registered office is at 2PIGS, church Street, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL50 3HA.For me, there is a certain elegance about the original game that gets lost in the machinations of moving tiles here and there in this version. To set up the game, a number of circular displays are placed in the middle, and 4 colored tiles begin on each. It is this artwork that was captured in the original Azul game using tiles and has been carried through to the glass of the follow-up game, Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra.

This creates an interesting dynamic where you want to complete (and score) as many windows as quickly as possible, but also complete windows on the right first since they’ll score you extra points every time you complete a window to their left. I really like the mechanic of only being able to place either under the Glazier or to the right of it. This game is very easy to pick up and play, as you draft your coloured tiles to your personal player board.If you haven’t played Azul I’d try that first, it will make learning the rules for Stained Glass of Sintra much easier. If a section of the design is completed, it is scored and then turned over to reveal a different combination of colours. With two players the game is a fun back-and-forth battle, and with four players it becomes a more hectic game of trying to plan ahead and pulling the rug out from under other players.