Are you bored of playing Azul repeatedly and looking for games like Azul to refresh your experience? If you are saying yes, you’re at the right place! This blog presents a carefully curated list of games that capture the essence of Azul while adding their unique flair.
Azul is a beloved board game that people enjoy playing with their friends and families. This game has been played for generations, challenging players to draft vibrant tiles and create complex patterns to score points. With the advent of digital versions, the game’s charm can now be experienced anytime and anywhere.
As the popularity of Azul grows, so does the demand for similar games. However, finding the perfect alternative can be tricky, given the variety of options available. Each option has its selling points. That’s where we come in! With this complete guide that helps you discover top-notch games like Azul, you can make your choice effortlessly.
Ready to explore? Let’s uncover the world of Azul-inspired games!
Several options are available on the internet leading to confusion for players looking for the best Azul alternatives. Let’s dive into the carefully curated list of games that you must try in 2025 offering a similar gaming experience.
Ancestree is a prominent game that has secured a place in the list of top 10 games like Azul. This tile-laying game involves players building their family trees. The game features 3 rounds, where each player starts with six ancestor tiles. They select one tile and pass other tiles to the next player. The selected ancestor is added to the family tree, which is connected by leaves and hearts, when a total of 5 ancestor tiles have been added to a tree, the round ends.
Players compare the family tree to other players and gain score points for coin icons and the longest connected generations. The scores are compiled after three rounds and the player with the highest score wins the game.
| Played between | 2 to 6 players |
| Best with | 2 players |
| Ratings | 6.2/10 |
Catan has become a hot topic among players as it offers something exciting and similar to Azul. This dice-based board game online involves players being the dominant force on the Catan island by developing cities, and various infrastructures like roads. The dice are rolled to determine what resources the island produces. The players develop by spending multiple resources like wheat, brick, wood, etc. The building process involves the placement of tiles that are of honeycomb shape.
The player’s turn consists of playing a development card, rolling the dice, collecting resource cards, and trading cards for other players. The points are acquired by making cities and settlements, the longest roads, and a collection of unique development cards. When a player has accumulated 10 points, he wins the game. It’s one of the perfect Azul alternatives in 2025 for adventure-themed lovers!
| Played between | 3 to 4 players |
| Best with | 4 players |
| Ratings | 7.1/10 |
Moonrakers includes shipbuilding in the space future. The players form professional soldiers, who are united in name, but include alliances that are pitted against each other in the quest to become the new leader of the moonrakers. It is one of the popular games similar to Azul. This deck-building game involves the player choosing contracts to attempt on their own or with allies to gain credits. The players form professional soldiers, who are united in name, but include alliances that are pitted against each other in the quest to become the new leader of the moonrakers. Here players choose contracts to attempt on their own or with allies to gain credits.
Players use their action cards to play and fulfill the requirements on each contract. Players create powerful decks and acquire special powers by hiring crews and upgrading their ships. The first player with 10 credits wins the game.
| Played between | 1 to 5 players |
| Best with | 4 players |
| Ratings | 7.7/10 |
Honga game has made a big hype among players by offering something unique and compelling. That’s why it has become a game similar to Azul which is set in the medieval era. Players play their action cards on central boards and look carefully for the placement and rotation of the card, The total number of hands pointing to the action space calculates the number of chances you can use that action. The players acquire multiple resources and use them to complete the trade agreements and ensure that at least one action point is placed in Honda’s den.
Each player has to maintain a balance between hongas and use their action points wisely. The first player to achieve the highest victory points wins this Azul board game online.
| Played between | 2 to 5 players |
| Best with | 4 players |
| Ratings | 7/10 |
Fantastic Factories is one of the best board games similar to Azul, wherein players are required to compete with each other by creating the most prestigious buildings. There are several elements like dice rolling, worker placement, engine creation, managing resources, tableau development, etc. There are two phases, the market and the work phase.
In the market phase, the player has to acquire a new blueprint and hire a contractor to construct a building, and in the work phase, players roll their dice and use dice as workers for running factories. When a player has constructed at least 10 buildings the final round of the game begins. To win this Azul board game online, the player has to score the highest points.
| Played between | 1 to 5 players |
| Best with | 3 players |
| Ratings | 7.4/10 |
Dragon Castle is one of the most played azul like games for families offering a similar experience. The player chooses a similar pair of tiles from the dragon castle (central castle) and places them on their realm board to build their castle. They have to create a tile set of the same type and turn them face down to score points. When doing this, you also create shrines on the face-down tiles. There are spirit cards as well which have game-changing powers.
All players have to follow the building requirements to gain score points in this Azul board game online. When the dragon castle has been reduced to a single floor, the final round begins and the player with the maximum points becomes the lord of the new dragon castle.
| Played between | 1 to 4 players |
| Best with | 2 players |
| Ratings | 7.1/10 |
The game is quite similar to the Azul board game, and the gameplay is straightforward. This game challenges the players to choose glass panes for the completion of their windows to protect them from any kind of damage during their process. The window panels are double-sided and provide players with a board that delivers unlimited variability.
The players have the option to explore new artifacts, semi-transparent window panes, and many other beautiful components. To win this best Azul game, a player must complete stained-glass patterns and earn the maximum points. Try this perfect alternative to the Azul game to take your gaming experience to the next level.
| Played between | 2 to 4 players |
| Best with | 3 players |
| Ratings | 7.3/10 |
Sagrada is an Azul alternative where each player builds a stained glass window by creating a dice grid on their board. Every board has some sort of restrictions on where the color of a die can be placed. The dice of the same color should not be placed next to each other. The dice are drafted in an order with the starting player rotating each round, passing on after the last player has drafted two dice.
In this Azul-like board game, the scores are gained on the basis of achieving different types of patterns and placement orders. The player with the highest-scoring window artisan wins the game.
| Played between | 1 to 4 players |
| Best with | 2 players |
| Ratings | 7.5/10 |
An exclusive board game where players play the role of quack doctors making potions and mixing ingredients from a personal bag. Each ingredient is a token, and players must decide how far to push their luck in drawing without exploding potions. The mechanism of the game revolves around balancing risk and reward as players aim to maximize their potion’s value while avoiding drawing too many volatile tokens.
Each round lets players purchase new ingredients that enhance the quality of future potions. Players score points based on the success of their brews, and the player with the highest numbers after nine rounds wins the game. The strategic planning and push-your-luck-type gameplay make this a perfect alternative to the Azul game.
| Played between | 2 to 4 players |
| Best with | 3 or 4 players |
| Ratings | 7.8/10 |
We conclude our list of games like Azul with Patchwork. It is a two-player board game where players compete to create the most visually appealing and complete quilt. Here players draft fabric tiles of various shapes and sizes that must be placed strategically on a grid. Each patch has time and cost in buttons (the game’s currency) and time.
The player with the most buttons left and the fewest empty spaces on their quilt is the winner. The time-tracking mechanism is a unique feature of Patchwork that determines turn order and adds a layer of strategic depth. The perfect blend of simple rules and engaging gameplay makes Patchwork a delightful choice for board game enthusiasts.
| Played between | 2 players |
| Best with | 2 players |
| Ratings | 7.6/10 |
By now you must have understood the best Azul alternatives which you can consider as a replacement for Azul board games as they provide a similar gaming experience to players. Start playing one of these games today and compete with your friends while having fun.
Board games like Azul provide a perfect mix of strategy, creativity, and entertainment that makes them a hit among board game enthusiasts. Whether you’re amazed by the family-tree-building gameplay of Ancestree, the strategic management of Catan, or the aesthetic puzzle-like experience of Dragon Castle and Patchwork, there’s something on this list that caters to everyone.
These alternatives have the spirit of Azul but also bring their own unique elements to the table that ensure endless fun for you and your loved ones. If you’re a true Azul fan seeking fresh challenges, these games promise hours of engaging gameplay. If you want to develop games like Azul, connect with a leading board game development company to fulfill your needs.
Ans. Basically, Azul is a tile placement game, where the primary objective of a player is to complete the display board and earn score points as you place tiles and create patterns.
Ans. Ancestree, Catan, Moonrakers, Honga, and Dragon Castle are some of the best and most popular games similar to Azul that have secured a place inside the hearts of board game lovers.
Ans. The development cost of Azul-like games varies from $8,000 to $ 15,000 with basic features and functions. However, it may go up to $20,000 with advanced functionalities. To know the exact cost of developing an Azul game, share your game idea with BR Softech.
Ans. You can hire a board game development company that will bring your amazing game idea to reality with the latest trends and tech stack so it can stay ahead of the curve. To create an Azul like a game from scratch, you can also opt for the step-by-step development process-
Research and analysis
Work on Azul-like game idea
Hire board game developers and designers
Create an MVP of the game
Development of Azul-like game
Testing and QA
Launch your game platform
Ans. The prime objective of such games is to place tiles on a board strategically and make specific patterns to score more points. It’s all about carefully managing available resources to build the most aesthetically appealing patterns.
Ans. With simple and easy gameplay, Azul like games are highly suitable for beginners.
Ans. 30~40 minutes is the typical time for completing the game.
Ans. Azul is generally better suited for small gatherings, as it has a player limit of 2 to 4 players. Its gameplay requires strategic tile placement and interaction that works well in smaller groups where everyone can stay engaged.
