Azul: Summer Pavilion

The Game

Azul: Summer Pavilion is the third game in the series. It shares many similarities with the original Azul. It is a very accessible family game and works well with casual gamers. You compete to claim tiles, and then you place them onto your player boards to score points. Normally you want to get as many tiles as possible, but you need to be careful of taking more than you need, because when you are unable to place tiles and are forced to discard them, you lose points. 

The box cover is on the right. On the left you have a red tower into which you discard tiles. It has an opening at the top. Initially I thought this was rather unnecessary. However I later found this quite handy. When the tile bag runs out, you need to refill it with all the discarded tiles in the red tower. The opening of this red tower is small enough to fit into the opening of the bag. So you can easily pour all the tiles here into the bag. 

Unlike the original Azul, Summer Pavilion is played over a fixed number of rounds - 6 rounds (well, arguably Azul always ends with 5 rounds). Every round, one colour is designated the joker colour. E.g. the joker colour in the first round is purple. Each round has two halves. In the first half, you collect tiles. In the second half, you place tiles onto your respective player boards. The mechanism for claiming tiles is similar to Azul. The factory discs (see photo above) each has four tiles. When you pick a factory to take tiles from, you pick a colour and take all tiles of that colour. If the factory has a joker colour, you take one joker tile too. You then move all remaining tiles on that factory to the centre of the table. 

Using the photo above as an example, if you take the blue tiles from the factory at the lower right, you would take both the blue tiles and also the purple tile, because purple is the joker colour for the round. You then move that red tile to the centre of the table. 

You may also take tiles from the centre of the table. The rule is the same. Pick a colour and take all tiles of that colour. If there are joker tiles, take one of them. Within each round, the first person to claim tiles from the centre must also take the start player marker (the white one). This player will also lose points based on the number of tiles claimed that turn. 

Players take turns claiming tiles until there is none left. Then you go into the second half of the round, where you get to place tiles onto your player boards. 

Every space on your player board specifies the tile colour, and also how many tiles you must collect to be able to use that space. The dark blue spaces in the middle allow any colour, but when you fill that star, you must use different colours. Let's take the Yellow 5 space at the bottom right as an example. To put a tile on that space, you must have collected 5 yellow tiles. Some of them can be jokers. When you use that space, you place one yellow tile on it, and discard the other 4 tiles into the red tower. 

Whenever to place a tile onto your player board, you score points. By default you score 1 victory point. If the newly placed tile is connected to one or more tiles, you score for every one of these connected tiles too. This is limited to tiles within the same star. E.g. when you fill in the last space of a star, you will be scoring 6VP, because there would be five connected tiles when you do so.  

At game end, there are two types of bonuses rewarded. If you manage to complete any star, you will get extra points. Completing a star is not easy, because of the 5- and 6-tile spaces. If you manage to fill all the spaces number 1, 2, 3 or 4, you will also score extra points. 

On the four corners of your board you may temporarily keep up to four tiles for the next round. This can be handy. You may want to keep tiles of a colour which will become the joker colour next round. It will give you much flexibility. When the game ends, you may no longer keep tiles this way, since there will be no next round. Surplus tiles must be discarded and you lose 1VP per tile. At the end of a round if you happen to have more tiles than you can carry over, you lose points in the same way.  

On the player board there are three types of icons - circles, statues and windows. Whenever you manage to fill all the spaces around these icons, you will claim up to three extra tiles from the main board. This is very useful and will further help you fill your board. 

In this particular game I managed to complete the orange star and the yellow star, which felt great! It is not easy to complete stars. 

This is the main board. There are 10 tiles for you to pick from whenever you encircle the icons on your player board. 

Along the top, the main board shows the joker colours for each of the six rounds. On the right, you can see how many points you will score for stars completed, and for 1, 2, 3 and 4 spaces completely filled. 

The Play

The player interaction in Summer Pavilion is centred around competing for tiles. Everyone wants more tiles. How you fill your player board affects which colours you want. Every round the distribution of tiles will be different. If there are colours which many people want but the number of tiles is low, everyone will be fighting for them, even if it means only getting one tile. You will need to pay attention to which colours your opponents are collecting, to decide how you will pick tiles. If no one is collecting "your" colour, then maybe "your" colour will be safe, for the time being. You also need to watch which objectives your opponents are going for - which stars to complete, which icons to encircle, which numbered spaces to fill up. That gives you clues about which tiles they will be going for. You can use this information to hinder them. However there is always a need to balance between hurting others and helping yourself. 

There are a few broad strategies you can pursue, and they all somewhat contradict. That is the whole point - to force you to make difficult decisions. Trying to fill all spaces of a specific number is one broad strategy, and it the direct opposite of trying to complete stars. It is very difficult to do both. The other broad strategy is encircling icons. This is yet another thing to pull you in a different direction. If you are distracted, you may end up neither here nor there. You need to do your cost-benefit analysis before deciding how many different goals you want to aim for. 

I am guessing most players will naturally try to fill the low numbered spaces first, the 1's and 2's. Every time you place a tile, you will score points. Taking a simplistic view, filling those 1's and 2's is more worthwhile. You need fewer tiles to achieve the same number of points. In actual play, things are not always as straight-forward as that. 

The penalty element is not as severe as the original Azul. The first player in a round to take any tile from the centre must lose points, while gaining first mover advantage (which is attractive). If you really want to minimise losing points, you can choose to take a colour with just one tile. No one is forcing you to take many tiles. If you decide to take those 8 red tiles because they are just too good to pass up, you are doing it willingly. Don't blame the system. In Cantonese there is this idiom: "If you want to eat salted fish, you have to accept that you will feel thirsty afterwards". 

Every round you can keep four tiles for the next. This also reduces the risk of getting penalised. It gives you much flexibility. Near game end, if you have already filled in most or all of the low numbered spaces, you will have a higher risk of not being able to place all your tiles. The remaining spaces you have will be harder to fill. Sometimes you will suddenly lose many points at game end because of this. You can't carry over four tiles because there is no next round.  

This was Michelle's board. She had surrounded five circles and three statues. She had also completed the central star. 

This was my board in my second game. I did rather poorly, collecting fewer tiles than Michelle and Chen Rui. At one glance you could tell I was doing worse than them because I had obviously fewer tiles on my board. In the final round I barely managed to squeeze into second place. It was a minor miracle that I did not come last. In the first few rounds Chen Rui was start player, and I was last to go because I was seated to her right. Player order is important in competing for tiles. I was initially ambitious hoping to complete that orange circle. I later realised I had to give that up. I focused on filling the spaces numbered 2 and 3. I also managed to surround all the circle icons, and in the process completed the central star. 

This was Chen Rui's board. She won despite being the only new player. A proud parent moment for Michelle and I. Chen Rui filled all of the spaces numbered 1 to 4, and scored all four bonuses. She surrounded all the statue icons. When I took a photo of her player board, she asked me to also take the scoreboard, so that she could flex. * roll eyes * Her scoring marker was the black one at the top right. She beat us by a mile. 

The Thoughts

Summer Pavilion made me happy. It is an abstract game, but the component design and the game mechanism make it very inviting. It does not feel dry and academic at all. It makes me feel I have a lot to do. There is a lot I want - this colour and that colour, these spaces to fill and those ones too. It is a beautiful life with much to look forward to, many dreams to pursue and multiple appealing options laid out before me. Life is good. 

The tactics you need to consider are uncomplicated. You feel confident because you can grasp the strategy quickly. Every round it is obvious to everyone where you can grab more tiles. The question is whether it's in a colour you want, and whether it is more important for you to grab another colour despite this other option offering you fewer tiles. Every round is a kind of reset. You don't know how many tiles will come up in each of the colours, and you don't know how they will be distributed. This is a good thing. You don't need to plan or calculate too far ahead. You can't! You just go with the flow. That creates a relaxing mood, despite the game being an open information game. 

Azul is a wonderful series, and certainly deserves the many awards it has won. It is a good introductory game to new players. It works splendidly with families and casual gamers. It makes a pleasant experience even for seasoned gamers. I am looking forward to play Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra.