Is This The Best Board Game of 2026?
Transcript
Hey everybody. Today I'm going to talk to you about a game that I think might be the best 2026 release that I've played so far. This is a twoplayer only 20inut game by two designers who have done a great job of making two-player games. This is Azure by Trevor Benjamin and Brett Gilbert. Uh published by Bitewing Game. As I said, it only takes 20 minutes to play this one, and it is a twoplayer only. Uh almost like abstract card game hybrid. Certainly feels distinct to a lot of other designs um out there. As I mentioned, um, Gilbert and Benjamin have quite a high place in my personal two-player board game designer rankings because they've previously designed Mandala as well as Patterns, which is another kind of Mandala adjacent game that I think are two of the best two-player games of all times, of all time. These are games that I talk about all the time on the channel and just rave about because they are so fantastic. Now, Azure certainly feels different to those games. Now, uh, this one you are trying to race to a certain amount of points. I think it's like 25 or or 30 points. And what you're doing is you are kind of seeding this big grid full of your tokens. Now, this grid comes in four uh different separate boards that will come together to make a a bigger grid. And what you're doing is you're playing cards of the matching colors in order to place your tokens on
those boards. So if I played, you know, a red card, I can go onto a one spot on the red board. Now, the cool thing about this is though that once you place a token onto a spot, every other square in that grid on the same column or row will be reduced by one for each previous token you have in that row or column. So, as you can imagine, you're going to start off cheap and build up to the more expensive and more l kind of lucrative um spots to get more points and draw more cards. Uh if this is kind of a game of of prioritization, you want to get to the best spots faster, but at the same time, you want to be making sure you have this steady flow of fuel as in your cards to keep you going because you only start with a couple of cards. And you need to zigzag at times to make sure that you refill your quoffers of cards to keep going with your strategy. But of course, your opponent is doing the same thing. you both might have your eye on that particular the spot that lets you draw say two red cards because you want to get on that red board but someone might beat you to the punch. Um that kind of spinning the plates of either getting points or getting the cards is really enjoyable and there are more layers to this game um not only at face value but and as you play it more and more they'll start to unravel. So, for example, there are these mountains that are put onto uh the board um which are kind of randomized based on that orientation of the grid and if you are dominant as in you have the majority of
pieces in the rows and columns of those mountains, you will get a certain bonus. So, it could be as simple as drawing two cards and forcing your opponent to draw cards if you've taken off them. Um, it could be just points or it could be another spot on the board which will kind of act as a bridge for your discounts going vertically and horizontally. Now, the cool thing about this is that if you do end up claiming one of those mountains by having at least two tokens in their rows or columns, then someone else can take it from you if they trump you in terms of how many they have in that row or column. So there this good kind of back and forth of um you know snatching those um benefits off each other, but of course you still want to stick to your kind of plan A and race for those points. But at the same time, you know, you might be trying to go for the high points thing here, but someone's going to snatch that mountain god off you and take some points and um you know, get the get the advantage on you that way.
So there's always this idea of kind of keeping an eye over your shoulder. Should I go here? Should I go here? Can I afford to go here? Should I waste more cards than I want to to beat my opponent to the punch here, or should I keep building up my discounts, so I get it for pretty much free? So, yeah, lots of things going on here, but it's remarkably smooth and easy to play. It feels like you're playing quite a comprehensive game for, you know, such a short time frame. You know, only takes literally 20 minutes to uh play this one, but there's a lot going on to sink your teeth into. Now, my only small nitpick with the game is that sometimes you do have to constantly kind of reassess the board because there are again those four gods going on at the same time. Sometimes you might not realize that you've taken the advantage of one um and you've maybe you happened yourself that way. So, you do need to be on the ball thinking, yes, I have I have taken that god actually up. I would have got those points then. Um I would have had more cards here. So, you need to be quite alert in who has those majorities.
But that extra load, that extra workload is worth it based on the depth of the game play in my opinion. And you know when when the um you know when the gameplay is enhanced by some complexity, I definitely think it's it's worth it. And that trade-off in this game particularly in my opinion is worth it. Iconography and the artwork in this game is is spoton. Nice and clear and vibrant. The card artwork is fantastic. These really vivid, luscious animals. Um, yeah, it's just a really nice package and the kind of game that sits on my shelf for years to come and will rack up dozens and dozens of play, much like the other games by these designers have already proven uh to do so. So, this game actually does come with an expansion as well that you can buy separately. I've not tried that one yet.
It introduces some kind of tugofwar system, a bit like Seven Wonders Jewel, and it also increases the size of two of those boards, so you have a bigger grid, kind of like a wonky grid um to play with. So, I'm quite interested to or excited actually to try that expansion because it doesn't sound like it's going to divert away from the core gameplay too much, but it could just be an extra thing to um to consider. So, yeah, really enjoying this one. You know, high [snorts] fun factor. um a good amounts of um kind of pressure and tenseness. Um some good back and forth, stealing things back and forth from each other, but without feeling too catty or too aggressive. I love the forward momentum of this game as things get cheaper and cheaper and that grid fills up. I also love that that kind of game of attrition with this where if you run out of cards, you will not be able to play anymore and you'll be eliminated from the game. So, uh, yeah, everything this game does kind of ticks all the things that I want in my two-player games. I've played I don't know how many two-player games. So, so many because I do get a lot of them to the table. This one for me is a top tier one. Uh, this is one of the games that I was kind of headunting at the UK Games Expo and it's proven to be the best one I've played so far. And as I said, I'm pretty sure the best two player certainly the best two-player game I've played this year and um also I think probably the best 2026 release that I've played so far this year and no doubt it's going to end up in the say the top five of the year for me, maybe even in
the top three. It is that quality of a design. So again, if you want a thinky, snappy, interesting, and different feeling two-player game, then Azure is certainly one to look at. So, if you have enjoyed the video, please be sure to hit like and subscribe to the channel and check out my other content, too. But for everybody else, I'll see you next time on Chairman of the Board. Bye-bye.