| 👨👩👧👦 | Players: 2-4 |
| ⏳ | Time: 30-45 mins |
| 🎂 | Ages: 8+ |
| ⚙️ | Mechanisms: Tile drafting, Combo Building |
Honey, I shrunk the Azul…again!
About a year ago we reviewed Azul Mini over on our Instagram page. It’s a pint-sized version of the original that’s proven perfect for traveling. This time around we’re taking a look at a tiny version of Summer Pavilion, the third game in the series
Taking a look inside the box there are four player boards, each about half the size of a sheet of paper, encased in a plastic shell. These include a slider for scoring, and recesses for the tiles to slot into so they don’t move around too much
Summer Pavilion shares a lot of DNA with the original, but also has some key differences. While you still draft tiles from the factories to put onto your player board, the way in which you place them is different, and you are now trying to complete stars of different colours. It also introduces wild and bonus tiles to the mix, adding a bit of variety to the game
You also get a board for the bonus tiles, a tray for the factories, and a bag to put the tiles in during play. This doubles as a carry bag and the entire inner tray from the box fits inside nicely. They’ve done away with the carry straps that Azul Mini had, instead letting the drawstring fill that role
The tiles look and feel just like smaller versions of the originals, and this time around they’ve managed to retain that nice clicky-clacky feel to them, which we felt was a bit lacking in the other mini version
We’d only played Summer Pavilion once before and it didn’t charm us quite like the original, but we’ve really enjoyed the chance to come back to it. While there is more going on than in the original Azul, it still feels familiar and comfortable. We especially love all the ways to gain bonus tiles through clever placement
This mini version is a great way to have a copy of the game without it taking up too much shelf space, and it doesn’t feel like it loses anything for being smaller. It’s also a perfect size to throw into our bag for game nights, or our suitcases when going away. Now our only problem is finding time to do either of those things!
If you want to know more about the game you can also check out Jeremy’s previous review of the full sized version!
The copy of Azul Summer Pavilion Mini used for this review was provided to A Tale of Two Meeples by VR Distribution
The Boardgame Detective 
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