Sushi Go is an exceedingly cute card game in which players use card drafting to select a set of cards in order to try to get the high score and win. The basics of Sushi Go are easy enough that a child can understand them, but the real strategy of the game appeals to adults and young adults. The basic action of the game, choosing a card from a hand of cards and then passing the rest to a neighbor, is also the basic mechanism that is used in the award-winning game 7 Wonders.
Sushi Go is made of a fat deck of 108 cards of several different types. All of the cards have very cute, kawaii, depictions of sushi and other foods. Three of the card types are nigiri, and each is worth points. One card type is wasabi, and triples the value of nigiri that is played on it — so you have to play the wasabi on a turn before you play the nigiri on it. Roll cards show one, two, or three rolls on them, and the two player that have the most total rolls in front of them score points at the end of the round. There are four types of collection cards; sashimi and tempura only earn points if you get enough of them — two tempura and three sashimi to score. Dumplings are also scored by collecting, except their score grows the more dumplings you have. Finally, there are puddings — puddings operate a little different from the other collection pieces. With puddings, the player with the most puddings at the end of the game scores bonus points, but the player with the fewest puddings loses points. Finally, there is one card type that is not food. The chopsticks go down in front of a player and the player can use then on a later turn to exchange them for second card in the passed set of cards.
In each round, players are dealt a hand of cards, choose one, and pass the remaining hand to the next player. Once all the players have selected a card, they reveal them simultaneously. Players continue to this for the course of the round, selecting one card, passing the hand, and adding the new card to their play area. At the end of the round, players will have their selected cards and score them. After scoring, all the cards are cleared away (except for pudding, which hangs out until the end of the game). Players play three rounds, and the winner is the player with the highest points.
Sushi Go strategy uses elements of risk assessment and memory. While the cards pass around the table, players will have some information about what cards are available in the round, and players can use this knowledge to determine what cards would make the best selections, e.g. that there is enough sashimi in the round to give it a shot, or that grabbing dumplings will pay off with a good score. In addition, there is an element to the game of denying cards to opponents, for example you might choose to take a piece of nigiri to keep the next player from getting it to play on wasabi for triple points. Overall, Sushi Go is a fast and light game that
Sushi Go retails for $15.00 and is available at Target, and from online sources.