A penalty goal after the siren from Blues five-eighth Ihaia West on Saturday night denied Queensland their first win of the Super Rugby season.
Second-half tries from Eto Nabuli and Jake McIntyre put the Reds 10 points in front and seemed set to give co-interim coaches Nick Stiles and Matt O'Connor their first victory, but substitute halfback Billy Guyton dived over six minutes from time and then the penalty after the siren left the game all-square at 25-25.
The Blues went into the second half at Suncorp Stadium with a 15-13 advantage thanks to tries by West and Bryn Hall, against one from Chris Feauai-Sautia.
The visitors, who have not won an away game since a June 2014 victory over the Western Force, looked the better side for most of the game but, at times, seemed to be doing all they could to keep the game competitive.
As exciting as they were in attack, though, with flair throughout their backline and forwards, their indiscipline was just as evident with a 14-7 penalty count against them.
The first try came in the ninth minute when, after a Blues lineout, miscommunication from McIntyre and Anthony Faingaa gifted the Blues the opening score.
West flicked a pass to debutant Reiko Ioane who broke the line untouched inside Faingaa and fed back to his No.10 inside for an easy score.
McIntyre made amends, aiming a high ball at Blues diminutive winger Tevita Li three minutes later and he was beaten in the air by Chris Feauai-Sautia who ran 40 metres after grasping the ball, shrugging off despairing tacklers.
Disjointed Reds defence enabled the Blues to score again as quick long passes found Lolagi Visinia out wide just inside his own half and, after dummying to Li, he passed inside to Hall on the 10m line and he scored.
The game turned in the 54th minute when Nick Frisby passed to the exciting Nabuli, in off the Reds' left wing, who broke the line midfield, raced towards the tryline and passed inside for Samu Kerevi to score.
Five minutes later, McIntytre's try came after superb play from Frisby. McIntyre broke through on the left flank, passing inside to Nabuli who then sent the ball to Frisby. The halfback expertly drew three Blues close to the line before passing wide to McIntyre to dive in on the touchline.
Guyton dived over from close range to keep the Blues in the game and, despite the sin-binning of Sione Mafileo, they camped inside Reds territory, before eventually taking the penalty for a draw.
The Blues have a win and a draw from four games, while the Reds stay at the foot of the Australian Conference with a draw and three defeats.
Blues coach Tana Umaga defended his decision to go for a draw rather than the win, with his side camped inside the Reds' 22-metre line after the siren.
"The players wanted to go for the lineout, (but) we were a man down," Umaga said.
"It had been a long evening in this heat and we weren't assured of winning the game.
"In those terms we thought it better for us to go get the points and come away from this encounter with half the points."
Reds skipper Rob Simmons, meanwhile, rued the lineout lost minutes earlier which gave the ball to the Blues when the chance was there to see out the game.
"They put pressure on us and we panicked a bit," Simmons said.
""We went away from our drill and under threw it. It's very disappointing.
Despite missing out on victory, O'Connor felt the Reds' play in the second half gives them something to build on for the rest of the season.
"There was some real intent and endeavour with what we tried to do with the footy, probably for the first time this year," O'Connor said.
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