Board Game Arena

Hey fellow board gamers!

I hope this post finds you all in great spirits and ready for some exciting news. We're delighted to share that Plan B, the studio behind the beloved game Azul, is gearing up for a great event on Board Game Arena!

Get ready to flaunt your expertise! After countless games of Azul, your time to shine has arrived. Plan B is launching an Azul tournament series on Board Game Arena, providing the perfect stage for you to showcase your skill.

This is the moment to reveal your strategic prowess and make your mark in the competitive Azul scene! We’re excited to be a part of this exciting venture. So, dust off your strategy hats, polish those gaming tiles, and join us in making this Azul tournament an unforgettable experience for everyone involved!

Stay tuned for more details, and let the games begin! See below for the original announcement from Plan B.

Happy gaming,

You win games with your local gaming group on the regular, but can you beat the best players in your town? In your state? In your country? What about taking on the best players in the world?

If you are ready for that challenge, today is your lucky day! We are proud to announce the 2024 Azul World Championship tournament, a hybrid live and online event (through Board Game Arena) giving everyone a chance to prove their tile-laying mettle. The first tiles on the road to victory will be laid on January 27, 2024, with more events on January 28, February 3, and February 4.

BGA will have more details soon on event times and structure for the qualifying tournaments. There are a few requirements for our participants.
Competitors must:
• Have at least 150 ELO on Board Game Arena.
• Be a legal adult in their home country
• Have a valid passport AND be able to obtain a visa to travel to Portugal by early April 2024.

We want Azul fans to know about this well in advance so they can make their travel plans and start firing up their home factories. Each qualifying tournament will consist of a series of single-elimination 4-player games of Azul. Whoever has the highest score after each game will be declared the winner and move on to the next round until only a single undefeated player remains. The winner of each qualifying tournament will earn the chance to be flown to Lisbon, Portugal for the finals! We felt that no better city could hold the Azul World Championship than the home of the beautiful stonework that inspired the designs for Azul. This trip to Lisbon will be a unique, once-in-a-lifetime experience, so pull out your copy of Azul, or log onto Board Game Arena, and start training. Good luck!

Follow us on social media, and sign up for our newsletter, to stay informed of other surprises we are working on for this global tournament.

Wow that's awesome. Looks like it's time to start playing more Azul

Excited for an Azul World Championship!

Just a quick question, why is the format 4-player instead of 2-player, which is the current BGA arena format

Firstly, its great to see the publisher getting involved in the competitive board gaming scene and launching a World Championship for Azul.

However, I would also heavily question the decision to run qualifiers (and presumably the finals) as 4 player events.

2 player is where all of the competitive scene for Azul is. The game is by some definitions an 'Abstract' game, where it is zero sum and correlation between player skill and the winner is very high. Multiplayer Azul is more for the casual game player, which I don't think is the target market for a World Championship.

The Mind Sports Olympiad run competitive tournaments in Azul, these are all 2 player. The 2023 live tournament in London had several BGA Azul Masters in the field (players with > 700 elo).

The only other World Championship in a similar game that I am aware of is Carcassonne, which holds its live finals every year in Germany. Again this is all two player, with qualifiers being run by every country who sends their national champion to the finals. Each country is allowed to run their national championship in whatever format they see fit, and some countries do still have a multiplayer phase in their national championship. This is always unpopular with the competitive players, who are sometimes eliminated at the multiplayer stage without being given a fair opportunity to demonstrate their skill, as multiplayer games have a lot more luck, a lot less control for each player to effect the outcome, and can have the issue of high level players being targeted. There are a good number of competitive Carcassonne players who are also highly ranked at Azul, so the comparison with Azul shouldn't be ignored.

Finally, I'll just mention that on BoardGameGeek (BGG) the majority of players have voted 2 player as the best format (nearly 1500 votes), so this isn't just me.

Where is the registration please

Are the qualifiers going to be national championships or general qualifiers. IMO they should be run like carcassonne where they are run as nationals. Then you get a true feeling of a world championship

The dry run tournament is 2 players, not 4. Is the plan to change the championship to 2 players? That would be great

I agree. Really hope that the qualifiers will now be 2 players. Much better for a true competition.

Another idea is different championships for different player numbers.

Have a 2 player championship separate from 4 player.

Great a real tournament !!! Where can I find how to registratie for this tournament ?!