Blue: Garden of the Queen

Azul: Queen's Garden is played over four rounds using hexagonal tiles in six colors and six patterns with a corresponding value of 1 to 6. On your turn, you draw tiles from the central display: you may take any tiles that share the same color or pattern, but never two identical tiles at the same time. Drawn tiles go to your personal storage board; to place a tile in your garden, you pay its value by discarding other tiles of the same color or pattern. If you enclose a fountain, statue, bench, or pavilion in your garden, you receive wild card tiles as a bonus. After each round, a scoring wheel scores three color and pattern goals; at the end of the game, groups of three or more matching tiles by color or pattern score their full value.

Azul: Queen's Garden is both the most strategically demanding game in the Azul series and the most unique—the familiar tile-drawing is woven into a richer economic system of paying and expanding. The garden itself is modular: you build it out with garden tiles that create increasing placement space, resulting in a different layout each time you play. Critics point out that the rules require a bit more explanation than in previous Azul games, and that the two shades of purple and green can sometimes be difficult to distinguish. However, those who overcome this threshold will find a multi-layered puzzle game full of thoughtful decisions, where every tile you draw or pay can trigger a chain reaction. For Azul fans seeking more depth, this is undoubtedly the most satisfying challenge of the bunch.