Sushi Go! is a fun, quick game that’s easy to pick up and is flexible enough that it works for two or more players.
The goal of the game is to get the most points by accumulating sets or combinations of point-value cards (with a few standalone singles) over three rounds.
At the start of each round, hands of nine cartoonish, sushi-themed cards are dealt to the players, each of whom selects one card to keep and lays it face-down on the table. When everyone has made their choice, all cards are revealed at the same time.
The hands, now with eight cards each, are all handed clockwise one player, and those players then select one card to keep from their new hands. Then the remaining seven cards are handed clockwise.
Play continues until one card is handed over, which each player keeps by default. This ends the round and points are added up before cards are dealt for the start of the next round, which repeats the pattern of play.
Brief annotations at the bottoms of all cards explain how you get points from them specifically, to help you as play progresses: In some cases, you need two of the same card to get points (and only having one of that kind gets you nothing). Some cards need a set of three for points, while others may be worth points just on their own. For some, whether or not you get points depends on how many of that kind of food item you have compared to other players, including a dessert that can either help you with a point bump at the very end of the game (if you have the most of those kinds of cards) or hinder you (with a point subtraction if you have the fewest of them).
It takes some planning ahead–“Aha!” You may shrewdly note to yourself. “I’ll take this card so I’m handing that many of that kind of card to the next player, and there are only three of us, so I’ll definitely be seeing one or two more of those come back to me in a couple of handoffs and I can build up this set…”–and a little bit of luck, because the set of cards you were hoping to start collecting half way into the round may be exactly the same kind another player has just decided to start collecting, too, and you won’t know it until your chosen cards are revealed and you realize that’s one less card you’ll be able to add to a set that’s not going to net you any points if you don’t complete it.
I’ve only played Sushi Go! twice so far, but I’ve really enjoyed it both times. I’m looking forward to the next time it hits our table.
The second game of the evening was Fast Flip Pizza, which I already dove into explaining yesterday but, while no Sushi Go!, was still fun.