Sushi Go!

13 Sep 2015

The What

A light party game for 2 to 5 players. Best with 4 to 5 players.

The Summary

Sushi Go is a drafting game, themed around Sushi, traditional sides, and condiments.

At the start of each round each player will start with a hand of cards. From this hand the player will select a card. After all players finish selecting, players will reveal their chosen cards. Finally player will pass their hand to the player (counter-)clockwise from them. From this new hand they repeat the process, until all the cards in hand have been spent ending the round. At the end of a round all players count their points for that round. After 3 rounds the player with the highest total wins.

The Puzzle

Mastering Sushi Go requires a careful balance of risk taking with short and long term investments.

Nigiri cards are the simplest they give a raw points value.

However most of the cards have conditions that are need to be fulfilled before yielding points. For example from the core set:

• Wasabi triples the points of the next nigiri a player plays.
• Tempura scores 5 for two.
• Sashimi scores 10 for three.
• Dumplings
• Chopsticks allow you to have a placeholder. Essentially save a position with which you to take an additional card from the same hand.

Tips

• Know what everyone else is playing and anticipate their strategy.
• Remembering the hands that you’ve seen will aid your choices.
• Counting cards will help you guess what cards are in play in a round.

The Verdict

Simple and quick. Sushi Go is great as a quick filler, or a family game. It is a bit lackluster and thus maybe not the best introductory game, but is good at teaching some fundamental gaming concepts that are applicable to modern games.

Other Games

• Citadels
• Patchwork
• Blood Rage
• Inis