Basic Information for Sushi Go!
Number of Players: 2-5
Age: 8+
Time: 15 minutes
Price: Low
Introduction to Sushi Go!
Sushi Go is a fun family card game where players are trying to collect certain types of sushi to get the maximum amount of points. It’s a great game to play with anyone aged from 8 to adults. Its fluid play style makes it easy to learn and teach to new players which makes it a great game to pull out at small parties or family dinners. I own both the base version and Sushi Go party which has additional sushi types and goes up to 8 players which I play often at family dinners.
How to Play Sushi Go!
First take out all the puddings and set them aside and shuffle the remaining sushi together. Then take a number of puddings as listed in the rules and add them to the deck and shuffle again. Deal out the sushi cards and then place the rest to the side (including the unused puddings). Each player then choses one sushi from their hand and places it face down in front of them and hands the rest of their cards to the player to their left. Before people pick up their new hand of cards they reveal their chosen sushi that is face down in front of them. Players then pick up the new hand of cards they just received and play continues until there are no more sushi left to pass on. Players then count up their score and keep note of it on a piece of paper. Whoever had the highest score at the end of 3 rounds is the winner.
Common Sushi Go! Mistakes:
Puddings are added in the deck at the start of each round. They do not count towards individual rounds but to the final score at the end of the three games. Players keep their puddings that they play throughout the game next to them until the game is over. The player with the most puddings gets an extra 6 point on their final score and the player with the least gets negative 6 points.
Chopsticks are a way to take two cards from a single hand, when a player places the chopsticks down in front of them instead of a regular sushi, they are creating a placeholder for a sushi when they see two that they want to get in a single hand. Please note that they do not necessarily need to use it in the next hand of cards they receive. Once a player has taken two sushi from a hand of cards, they place the chopsticks back in the hand of sushi and pass that hand to the next player who may also chose to play the chopsticks.
Maki Rolls are another slightly tricky one. You want to collect the most of them so that you get the most points (6). The individual Maki rolls on the cards have not point value themselves.
Notes on Sushi Go
The first time I played sushi go the owner had not read the rules properly at all so even though it’s a relatively simple game to play we initially played a hugely broken variant. From this experience I always insist on reading the rules as I feel that it’s important to try and play the game as intended and to avoid any misinterpretations of the rules which can lead to some severely broken mechanics. With Sushi go just make sure you read the rules and keep an eye out for the puddings, chopsticks, and Maki rolls.
