Ruling — Azul: Queen's Garden

You asked

How do I play?

Answered counted as answered

Asked with: Azul: Queen's Gardenbg-346965-en-1e

The game is played over 4 rounds, with each round consisting of three phases: Phase 1 (Players' actions), Phase 2 (Scoring), and Phase 3 (Preparing the next round, which is not performed in the last round).[1]

Phase 1: Players' Actions

Phase 1 continues in clockwise order until all players have passed.[1] On your turn, you may choose one of the following actions:[1]

1. Acquire tiles and garden expansions: Select a pattern or color from the display area by taking ALL tiles and garden expansions of the chosen pattern (but with different colors) OR all tiles and garden expansions of the chosen color (but with different patterns).[1] All acquired items must be placed in your storage, which has a limit of 12 spaces for tiles and 2 for garden expansions; if you cannot fit the selection, the selection cannot be made.[1] If you take tiles from the current round stack, you must remove the topmost garden expansion and any remaining tiles on it, place that expansion on the table to extend the display area, and refill the top of the round stack with 4 tiles drawn randomly from the bag.[1] If any garden expansions in the display area are empty, turn them face up.[1]

2. Place a tile: Select a tile from your storage and pay its cost to place it in your garden.[2] The cost is paid by discarding the required number of tiles and/or garden expansions from your storage, including the selected tile/expansion.[2] Discarded items must all show the same pattern but different colors, or the same color but different patterns.[2] The selected tile must be placed on a free space in your garden either without adjacent hexagons, or adjacent to hexagons of the same pattern or color as the tile.[3] You are not allowed to create or extend a group that contains 2 identical hexagons (same pattern and same color).[3] You may use jokers to complete a payment if you lack the required tiles or expansions.[4]

3. Place a garden expansion: You may select a garden expansion from your storage and pay its cost,[3] or take a face-down garden expansion from the supply by spending exactly 6 points on the scoring track.[3] Place the expansion on a free area around your fountain board in any orientation, following the same placement rules as tiles.[3]

4. Pass: You may pass if you do not want to acquire or place any more hexagons, and you must pass if you cannot perform any of the aforementioned actions.[3] If you pass, you may discard any number of hexagons from your storage and score the values of all discarded hexagons as minus points.[3] The first player to pass receives the first player marker and moves their scoring marker back 1 space.[3] Once a player passes, they cannot take further turns in Phase 1.[3]

Phase 2: Scoring

Starting with the first player, each player calculates their round score:[5]

1. For each hexagon in your garden matching the pattern or color indicated by the rotary wheel, score the indicated number of points.[5] A single hexagon can be scored twice (once for pattern and once for color).[5]

2. Score 1 point for each visible pavilion in your garden.[5]

Phase 3: Prepare the Next Round

1. Turn the rotary wheel clockwise to its next position.[5]

2. Discard all remaining tiles from face-down garden expansions in the display area into the tower, and return all remaining garden expansions to the supply by turning them face down.[5]

3. Place the next round stack in the display area and fill the top of that stack with 4 tiles drawn randomly from the bag.[5]

4. The owner of the first player marker places it near the next round stack and starts the new round.[5]

End of the Game

The game ends after all players have passed during the 4th round.[6] A final scoring takes place:

1. Players empty their storage, scoring 1 point for each remaining joker and minus points for each remaining tile or garden expansion based on its pattern.[6]

2. The evaluation marker is moved to the first step of the evaluation track (a blue hexagon).[6]

3. Proceeding from top to bottom, each color and then each pattern is evaluated; players score any group of at least 3 hexagons matching the current evaluation.[6]

4. Players score 6 additional bonus points for each group of 6 hexagons.[6]

5. The player with the most points wins; in a tie, tied players share the victory.[6]

[1] RULEBOOK Azul: Queen's Garden — Rulebook · p.2 · Object Of the Game · Pattern · Each round consists of the following 3 phases: · phase 1: players actiOns · a) acQuire tiles and Garden expansiOns

[2] RULEBOOK Azul: Queen's Garden — Rulebook · p.3 · example · b) place a tile · Paying a cost:

[3] RULEBOOK Azul: Queen's Garden — Rulebook · p.4 · Paying with jokers: · c) place a Garden expansiOn · d) pass

[4] RULEBOOK Azul: Queen's Garden — Rulebook · p.3 · Paying with jokers:

[5] RULEBOOK Azul: Queen's Garden — Rulebook · p.4 · phase 2: scOrinG · phase 3: prepare the next rOund

[6] RULEBOOK Azul: Queen's Garden — Rulebook · p.5 · end Of the Game · final scOrinG · Game Variant · Development by: · Final Scoring Example

The sage rests. The game continues.

🔧 debug — where this ruling came from

outcome: ANSWERED — Answered
corpus profile: live,vps
answerer pin (deploy-frozen, attribution only): gemma4:26b think:false 5571076f3d70
timings: search 79 ms · ask 6171 ms · total 15954 ms
single-flight (PR-5): queued 9702 ms · generation 6252 ms
retrieval refs (raw) — what the PASSAGE SEARCH returned, not what the answerer read: [{"page": 5, "score": 0.047379, "snippet": "The game ends after all players have passed during the 4 th round. A last 'end-of-round' scoring takes place, as usual, followed by the final scoring. Each player empties their storage. For each remaining joker, they score 1 point. For each remaining tile or garden expansion, they score minus points", "headingPath": "end Of the Game · final scOrinG · Game Variant · Development by: · Final Scoring Example", "sharpsignalDocId": 248}, {"page": 3, "score": 0.046696, "snippet": "Michael plays first and chooses to acquire tiles and garden expansions. He has the following options. He may: take all hexagons with the same color (ex.: all blue tiles), OR take all hexagons with the same pattern (ex.: all bird tiles). Michael chooses the blue hexagons. He takes the 3 blue tiles an", "headingPath": "example · b) place a tile · Paying a cost:", "sharpsignalDocId": 248}, {"page": 2, "score": 0.032787, "snippet": "During 4 rounds, your objective is to create the most beautiful garden by arranging patterns and colors that will score you points and lead you to victory. The 6 patterns are the heart of the game and will allow you to decorate your garden. Their design has been developed to allow you to remember th", "headingPath": "Object Of the Game · Pattern · Each round consists of the following 3 phases: · phase 1: players actiOns · a) acQuire tiles and Garden expansiOns", "sharpsignalDocId": 248}, {"page": 4, "score": 0.032258, "snippet": "Starting with the first player, each player calculates their round score. The rotary wheel indicates the 3 scored patterns or colors for the round. For each hexagon in your garden matching the pattern or the color indicated by the wheel, you score a number of points. The same hexagon can be scored t", "headingPath": "phase 2: scOrinG · phase 3: prepare the next rOund", "sharpsignalDocId": 248}, {"page": 1, "score": 0.031746, "snippet": "Each player chooses a color and receives: 1 garden board (A) and places it in front of them, 1 storage (B) and places it next to their garden board, 1 fountain board (C) and places it in the middle of their garden, 3 jokers (D) and places them on empty spaces of their storage. Place the scoring boar", "headingPath": "Game Setup", "sharpsignalDocId": 248}, {"page": 4, "score": 0.030769, "snippet": "The selected tile must be placed on a free space (not occupied by a hexagon or garden element) of your garden either: without any adjacent hexagons, OR adjacent to one or more hexagons. In this case, the pattern or the color of the tile must be the same as at least one of the adjacent hexagons. A gr", "headingPath": "Paying with jokers: · c) place a Garden expansiOn · d) pass", "sharpsignalDocId": 248}, {"page": 3, "score": 0.029851, "snippet": "If you do not have enough tiles and/or garden expansions of the jokers back to the supply. required pattern or color in your storage, or if you do not want to use them, you may complete the payment with jokers. In this case, you must minimally have the hexagon you want to place (a joker cannot be pl", "headingPath": "Paying with jokers:", "sharpsignalDocId": 248}, {"page": 6, "score": 0.029412, "snippet": "Queen's Garden Queen's Garden Rulebook", "headingPath": "Final Scoring Example", "sharpsignalDocId": 248}]
citations (raw) — what the answer cited, chosen from a retrieval this page cannot show: [{"page": 2, "quote": null, "headingPath": "Object Of the Game · Pattern · Each round consists of the following 3 phases: · phase 1: players actiOns · a) acQuire tiles and Garden expansiOns", "sharpsignalDocId": 248}, {"page": 3, "quote": null, "headingPath": "example · b) place a tile · Paying a cost:", "sharpsignalDocId": 248}, {"page": 4, "quote": null, "headingPath": "Paying with jokers: · c) place a Garden expansiOn · d) pass", "sharpsignalDocId": 248}, {"page": 3, "quote": null, "headingPath": "Paying with jokers:", "sharpsignalDocId": 248}, {"page": 4, "quote": null, "headingPath": "phase 2: scOrinG · phase 3: prepare the next rOund", "sharpsignalDocId": 248}, {"page": 5, "quote": null, "headingPath": "end Of the Game · final scOrinG · Game Variant · Development by: · Final Scoring Example", "sharpsignalDocId": 248}]
boost provenance — errata + base rulebook (E2/E3): no registered errata card matched this query; base rulebook doc 248 boosted; rulesage.errata.boost-enabled=true, rulesage.errata.supersedence-enabled=true
base rulebook doc 248 boosted
answered-before recall: this ruling was answered, so past rulings were not offered
similarity threshold in force: 0.55 (rulesage.answered-before.similarity-threshold; the exact-question tier is not gated by it)
answer fence: passed — letter density 0.92205 of 3579 non-space chars (floor 0.45); 0 glyph-index tokens (max 2)
debug row recorded: Aug 27, 2026 08:53 UTC

retrieval — what the passage search returned

what this block IS: the PASSAGE SEARCH's own results — the same search that fills this page's closest-passages list — and NOT the passages the answerer read. Answering runs its OWN retrieval: a far wider candidate pool, re-ranked down to a final handful, plus floors this search never applies — the base rulebook, surviving errata corrections, and one slot per book on a multi-book read. Each of those armed only if THIS ask sent what it needs: the boost block names the ids it forwarded, and the scope line names the books it read. A document the answer CITES that no row here names is therefore EXPECTED, not a defect: two searches, two candidate pools, two orders. The answerer's own final rows are shown in their own block below, beside these and never mixed into them.

score = the fused retrieval score (reciprocal-rank fusion over the search arms) — NOT a cosine similarity. This ruling ran the THREE-ARM fuse (full-text + vector + the doc-priority boost arm, which carried the base rulebook and/or the errata corrections this query matched), whose arithmetic ceiling is 0.04918 — all three arms ranking the same chunk #1 (ceiling = arms/(k+1) at k=60). The measured healthy band 0.016–0.033 was measured on TWO-arm asks and does not bound this one: its high end is the two-arm ceiling, and a third arm has room above it. A chunk only one arm ranked highly lands near 0.016 (that one arm's #1 vote), so 0.03 here is an excellent hit, not a 3% match.

per-arm ranks (the rank each search arm gave a chunk): NOT DISCLOSED by the gateway. Fusion happens gateway-side and only the FUSED score crosses the wire, so rulesage cannot show them without a gateway change. The rank column below is the FUSED rank (position in the returned list), which is real.

token count per chunk: NOT DISCLOSED — chunk token counts are not reported on the ask path. The character counts below are of the bounded snippet/quote rulesage actually received — a real measurement of what we hold, never an estimate of the chunk.

fused rank	document	heading	page	fused RRF score	snippet chars
#1	RULEBOOK Azul: Queen's Garden — Rulebook (corpus doc 248)	end Of the Game · final scOrinG · Game Variant · Development by: · Final Scoring Example	p.5	0.047379 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	300
#2	RULEBOOK Azul: Queen's Garden — Rulebook (corpus doc 248)	example · b) place a tile · Paying a cost:	p.3	0.046696 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	300
#3	RULEBOOK Azul: Queen's Garden — Rulebook (corpus doc 248)	Object Of the Game · Pattern · Each round consists of the following 3 phases: · phase 1: players actiOns · a) acQuire tiles and Garden expansiOns	p.2	0.032787 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	300
#4	RULEBOOK Azul: Queen's Garden — Rulebook (corpus doc 248)	phase 2: scOrinG · phase 3: prepare the next rOund	p.4	0.032258 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	300
#5	RULEBOOK Azul: Queen's Garden — Rulebook (corpus doc 248)	Game Setup	p.1	0.031746 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	300
#6	RULEBOOK Azul: Queen's Garden — Rulebook (corpus doc 248)	Paying with jokers: · c) place a Garden expansiOn · d) pass	p.4	0.030769 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	300
#7	RULEBOOK Azul: Queen's Garden — Rulebook (corpus doc 248)	Paying with jokers:	p.3	0.029851 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	300
#8	RULEBOOK Azul: Queen's Garden — Rulebook (corpus doc 248)	Final Scoring Example	p.6	0.029412 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	38

what the answerer read — the passages it actually had in front of it

what this block IS: the passages the ANSWERING read put in front of the answerer, in the order it read them — the other half of the two reads described above, and the one that decides what the answer could possibly say. Each row names the book it came from and where in that book it sits, what it scored when the search arms were fused, which arm carried it there, and whether the re-ranker chose it or a floor guaranteed it a slot. A row here that no passage-search row names is EXPECTED: a far wider pool, re-ranked, with floors the passage search never applies.

candidate pool: the answering read scored 8 passages, out of a ceiling of 80 set gateway-side. Both figures are reported by the gateway for THIS ask — measurements of what actually happened, not constants read out of anyone's source and printed here on faith.

floors armed for this ask: the base rulebook — armed · surviving errata corrections — not armed · one slot per book on a multi-book read — not armed. Every floor is stated on every ask, armed or not, so a floor that did not apply here is never mistaken for one this app does not know about.

arms fused for this ask: vector + full-text + the doc-priority boost arm. Stated separately from the rows because an arm that ran and carried nothing is a different fact from an arm that never ran.

read at	document	heading	page	fused rank	fused RRF score	carried by	how it got its slot
#1	RULEBOOK Azul: Queen's Garden — Rulebook (corpus doc 248)	Game Setup	p.1	#5	0.031746 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	vector + the doc-priority boost arm	the re-ranker chose it
#2	RULEBOOK Azul: Queen's Garden — Rulebook (corpus doc 248)	Object Of the Game · Pattern · Each round consists of the following 3 phases: · phase 1: players actiOns · a) acQuire tiles and Garden expansiOns	p.2	#3	0.032787 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	vector + the doc-priority boost arm	the re-ranker chose it
#3	RULEBOOK Azul: Queen's Garden — Rulebook (corpus doc 248)	Paying with jokers: · c) place a Garden expansiOn · d) pass	p.4	#6	0.030769 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	vector + the doc-priority boost arm	the re-ranker chose it
#4	RULEBOOK Azul: Queen's Garden — Rulebook (corpus doc 248)	Paying with jokers:	p.3	#7	0.029851 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	vector + the doc-priority boost arm	the re-ranker chose it
#5	RULEBOOK Azul: Queen's Garden — Rulebook (corpus doc 248)	Final Scoring Example	p.6	#8	0.029412 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	vector + the doc-priority boost arm	the re-ranker chose it
#6	RULEBOOK Azul: Queen's Garden — Rulebook (corpus doc 248)	end Of the Game · final scOrinG · Game Variant · Development by: · Final Scoring Example	p.5	#1	0.047379 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	vector + full-text + the doc-priority boost arm	the re-ranker chose it
#7	RULEBOOK Azul: Queen's Garden — Rulebook (corpus doc 248)	example · b) place a tile · Paying a cost:	p.3	#2	0.046696 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	vector + full-text + the doc-priority boost arm	the re-ranker chose it
#8	RULEBOOK Azul: Queen's Garden — Rulebook (corpus doc 248)	phase 2: scOrinG · phase 3: prepare the next rOund	p.4	#4	0.032258 (healthy, below this ruling's 3-arm ceiling 0.04918 (the measured band 0.016–0.033 was taken on two-arm asks and does not bound a 3-arm one))	vector + the doc-priority boost arm	the re-ranker chose it

chosen chunks — what the answer actually cited

#	document	heading	page	quote chars
[1]	RULEBOOK Azul: Queen's Garden — Rulebook (corpus doc 248)	Object Of the Game · Pattern · Each round consists of the following 3 phases: · phase 1: players actiOns · a) acQuire tiles and Garden expansiOns	p.2	no quote on the wire
[2]	RULEBOOK Azul: Queen's Garden — Rulebook (corpus doc 248)	example · b) place a tile · Paying a cost:	p.3	no quote on the wire
[3]	RULEBOOK Azul: Queen's Garden — Rulebook (corpus doc 248)	Paying with jokers: · c) place a Garden expansiOn · d) pass	p.4	no quote on the wire
[4]	RULEBOOK Azul: Queen's Garden — Rulebook (corpus doc 248)	Paying with jokers:	p.3	no quote on the wire
[5]	RULEBOOK Azul: Queen's Garden — Rulebook (corpus doc 248)	phase 2: scOrinG · phase 3: prepare the next rOund	p.4	no quote on the wire
[6]	RULEBOOK Azul: Queen's Garden — Rulebook (corpus doc 248)	end Of the Game · final scOrinG · Game Variant · Development by: · Final Scoring Example	p.5	no quote on the wire

generation — timing and the path taken

timing split: retrieval 79 ms · first delta 1159 ms · total 15954 ms (retrieval and first-delta both measured from the START of gateway work, so first-delta INCLUDES retrieval — do not subtract)
full breakdown: queued 9702 ms · retrieval 79 ms · ask 6171 ms · gateway work 6252 ms · total 15954 ms
tokens in (the prompt the answerer read): 3541
tokens out (what the answerer generated): 985
tok/sec: 197.3 tok/sec — 985 output tokens in 4.993 s of generation
live seat (read from the running child): answering — gemma4:26b think:false · num_ctx 32768 (live-verified 10s ago)
answerer host (measured by rulesage): reachable (for 22h, checked 9s ago)
answerer node (the seat proxy's own header — this probe, not this ask): node1
stream path: streamed — the gateway pushed at least one accumulated draft
watchdog: first-token watchdog: 30s per arming window (rulesage.table.first-token-watchdog-seconds), re-armed once by the passages frame — so the worst case before a reader falls back to polling is 60s. Whether it actually fired is a BROWSER-side decision that never reaches the server, so it is not recorded here. The stream path above is the server's half of that story: whether a delta was emitted at all.
num_ctx · think posture: both are the CHILD's settings, not rulesage's, and no ask reply carries them — an answer never states which context window or think posture produced it. The live-seat line above reads them from the running child instead, where the gateway can answer for itself; it describes the child NOW, not this ask.

disposition

outcome: ANSWERED — Answered
abstain rationale (n/a — this ruling answered): answered — no abstain rationale applies

setup-shape — why the checklist band did or didn't render

decision: NOT_SETUP_SHAPED — no setup-shape pattern matched this question

errata registry — what the gate above had to match against

this game registers NO errata cards (edition 174), so "no registered errata card matched" above could never have matched one

Errata scope: the gate above matched this ruling's own edition only. When an ask also reads an expansion, that expansion's own registered errata cards stay outside the match — a stated phase-1 limitation, not a failed lookup.