Board Game Arena

I aim for 6 and get annoyed when people stop it at five, but Google says it can go to 7-10. Anyone ever done this?

When I was first learning Azul, the game ending abruptly in the fifth round bothered me too. Now I realize that trying to end the game in the fifth round is actually part of the strategy. Sometimes it pays off to continue into the sixth round, though that doesn't happen all that often. And to answer your question—yes, I have managed to play seven rounds, but it’s quite a rarity.

7 will happen occasionally in a 2 player game if both players are playing very defensively. More than that is exceedingly rare.

Good question

ArtsyPhartsy Woman wrote: ↑02 July 2026, 22:22 I aim for 6 and get annoyed when people stop it at five, but Google says it can go to 7-10. Anyone ever done this?

There is no upper limit of rounds. If you find a second player that also wants to have many rounds you simply can put all tiles in the bottom discard row. If you stay at 0 VP you will not even get negative points. Anyways negative points are capped at -14 VP per round.

In this way you can play as many rounds as you like, even hundreds of rounds.

[Edit]: Perhaps you did phrase it incorrectly. Your goal possibly might not be to reach as many rounds as possible but as many colored tiles in the 5x5 area as possible. Again you need an opponent that has the same goal as you. Then you both could play that the 5th column is forbidden for both players unless they have completely filled 1st,2nd,3rd,4th column. Only if those 4x5=20 tiles are filled you are allowed to fill the 5th row and end the game. This also will guarantee a long game and low scores.

2 players could informally play a co-op variant in which the goal is to get the highest combined score.

Huh, I got a 7-rounder today for the second time ever (other was irl)
https://boardgamearena.com/table?table=933360191

It wasn't possible to end the game in round 5 and wasn't feasible in round 6.
In round 5, only I could end the game; however, there were no blue, so it was impossible.
In round 6, my opponent could end it with 3 red, but only 2 were dealt. I could end it with 1 blue, but I needed 1 blue to finish a column first. Then my opponent took the other blue, so I again couldn't end it.

Luckily, I came away with the win! I always try to position myself to end it in 5 and usually do end it unless I can't win yet. I like having that control. I have only played 2-player a couple of times, but I would imagine 7-round games happen here more often here since it lends itself to more targeting due to increased interaction.