Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra

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Gluing the pieces together is Azul’s clever take on tile-drafting, with players claiming one colour of the lozenge-like panes of glass from one of the circular factories on the table and leaving the remainder for their opponents (or them) to potentially sweep up off the floor later on and add to their arrangement. Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra should take around 40-50 minutes for a complete four-player game. Final Thoughts on Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra The game plays out in six rounds. Unlike the original, no one can end the game suddenly. You’ll always know how much time is left in the game. Why You may Not Like Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra: Like the broken shards of glass that inevitably pile up in its 3D tower, Stained Glass of Sintra breaks the original Azul into fragments before rearranging it into a new pattern. Like a lot of art, how attractive that pattern appears to you will likely depend on your perspective.

Side B scores points based on the number of completed “windows” (i.e. where a Pattern Strip has been completed twice during the game and discarded). The player chooses one colour and multiplies the number of times that colour occurs in the completed windows by the number of completed windows. If a section of the design is completed, it is scored and then turned over to reveal a different combination of colours. If completed a second time, it is scored again and then discarded into the box. At the start of the game a number of Factories (circular disks) depending upon the number of players are put out in a circle in the centre of the table. A cardboard Glass Tower is assembled and placed near the Factories. This will be used to hold “broken” Pane Pieces during the game. Each player chooses a colour and takes the appropriate Player Board together with the 8 Pattern Strips. The Pattern Strips each show a column of 5 coloured spaces on which Pane Pieces will be placed during the game. The Player Boards are doubled sided and change how the final scoring is carried out. All players agree on which side of the board will be used for the game. The Pattern Strips, also doubled sided, are randomly placed as vertical columns above the Player Board. One of the Pattern Strips shows 2 joker spaces instead of coloured spaces and this Strip must be placed with the joker spaces face down. Each player places their Glazier pawn above their leftmost Pattern Strip. Move the Glazier by moving the Glazier to above the leftmost Pattern Strip. If the Glazier is already above the leftmost Pattern Strip this action cannot be taken. In the latter case, you move your glazier to that panel and he starts the next turn there. Thus, gradually, your options diminish as your glazier approaches the rightmost panel. To give yourself more options, you can reset your glazier to the leftmost panel – but skip a turn for doing so.

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The end game scoring isn’t overly complicated but it isn’t obvious either. While it is intuitive that the number of fully window finished is beneficial, it is the multiplication that new players seemingly forget or confuse. Some kind of symbology or mentioning of the scoring on the player boards may have eased this problem, serving somewhat as a reminder throughout. Despite this the end game scoring works well at giving players something to work towards. It might take a game to understand but it is worthwhile learning. If you’re interested in trying out the original before you buy, we explain how we did so on this post. Azul Stained Glass of Sintra Player Count: Every game in the Azul universe is 2 – 4 players. They all use the same, trademark tile drafting system that scales incredibly well at that count and Azul vs Stained Glass of Sintra is no different. Queen’s Garden is also quite a bit heavier than the previous four games due to all of the drafting and placement restrictions. This leads to a much longer play time and Queen’s Garden outstaying its welcome. (All our games lasted 70+ minutes.) Updated to include Azul: Queen’s Garden* Azul is one of the most popular modern board games of the last 5 years. Azul, once a title for a single game, has since become the name of a series. With four stand alone games that each sound and look similar, you might be wondering which game is right for you.

Azul released two years ago and took the board gaming hobby by storm. The sequel, Azul Stained Glass of Sintra, has recently been released by Next Move Games. Designed by Michael Kiesling, with art from Chris Quilliams, this time around 2 – 4 players will be constructing windows with colourful glass panes. Taking around 30 – 40 minutes to play, the tile placement mechanics have been shaken up somewhat. However, is there enough of a change to warrant owning both this and the original? Let’s find out! Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra offers a different experience to the original Azul, which may be slightly more challenging and suited to experienced players. Much like Azul, the experience is improved with fantastic components as well as the puzzly gameplay.If you are looking for an abstract game that is straightforward without sacrificing the depth of strategy Azul Summer Pavilion could be a great choice for you.