Azul Stained Glass of Sinatra

This version of Azul has a very different scoring strategy and so I feel like I should probably do a post about the 1st version as well.  However, I have never beaten my wife in the 1st edition so I never really felt qualified to write about the strategy in it.
With Stained Glass however, I easily doubled her score with a 102 final scoring so I feel a little better about sharing my strategy for this game with you.

But first, a quick note on the scoring mechanism for those unfamiliar.  Players gain points by completing panels (which also clears them) and adding the value for any other past cleared panels to the right of the panel being scored.

With this in mind my strategy has been to
A: Set up the end game by scoring on the final three panels in the first two rounds
 (where possible matching up with the color bonus as well)
B: Use the final four rounds to try and max out the first four panels.
C: Always save panels with 4 or 5 of one color till the round with that color bonus, this means grabbing extra tiles in anticipation for those phases as well.  With the uncertainty of what will be available when that round comes it is always good to have those tiles stored up when you can pick up three or more.

Following this strategy will make it so that you at least double any scoring in the final four rounds and if you can time your panels with the color bonus you can potentially triple the base score in those final four rounds.

The other reason for focusing on those first four panels in the final four rounds is for the end game scoring.  Having all four of the first panels maxed for end game scoring gives an additional 20 points (the equivalent of scoring another two panels at least)

A good rule of thumb is to try and make sure your average panel score in the final four rounds is at least a ten if not higher.

That about sums up my advice on the strategy for this game, it works pretty well for me! What works for you? Is it different than what I have shared? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below:)

Note: I'll update this post with some pictures soon hopefully.

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