Sushi Go! – How to Play

As I mentioned in the Sushi Go! profile, Sushi Go! is a pretty easy game to pick up because the way the cards are laid out and their point structure makes it a simple task to figure out what it all means. If you’d like to see me guide you through Sushi Go!, here’s a video that will teach you how to play. If you’d prefer it in text form, read on below!

Sushi Go! is called a pick and pass card game because that’s what’s you do. At the start of each round, you’ll receive a hand of cards. Choose one card to keep, reveal it once everyone has picked, and pass along the rest, repeating this process until everyone runs out of cards. Once you run out of cards, the round is over and you should score each person’s board. Then, clear everyone’s board except for the puddings and play through 2 more rounds (for a total of 3 rounds).

When you’re playing Sushi Go, the card you keep may be worth points. To help you figure out which cards there are in this game, I’ve described all of the cards in detail below!

First off, you have the Nigiri cards. The Nigiri cards point values are all at the bottom, making it easy for you to figure out how many points you get if you keep each one. On top of that, if there’s a Wasabi card that can boost the power of your Nigiri cards. Play a Wasabi card and your next Nigiri card will be worth 3 TIMES the value! So your egg nigiri will be worth 3 points, your salmon nigiri will be worth 6 points, and so on.

Some cards aren’t worth points at all! At least, not as a standalone. Cards like Tempura and Sashimi need to come in sets for them to be worth points. For you to get points with Tempura, you’ll need a pair, but when you do, you’ll get 5 points. To get points with Sashimi, you need 3 of a kind, but when you do, you’ll get 10 points!

Some cards are worth a variable number of points. Dumplings falls under that category. Look towards the bottom of the card and you’ll see a row of numbers. That will tell you how many points the Dumplings will give you for each one you have. So if you have 1 Dumpling, you’ll get 1 point. Two Dumplings and you’ll get 3 points for the set. 6 points if you have 3 of a kind of Dumplings and so on up to 15 points for 5 dumplings!

Some cards give you points based on how many you have compared to other people. Maki rolls fall into that category. In looking at the card text below, you’ll see that the person with the most Maki rolls will receive 6 points and the person with the second most Maki rolls will get 3 points. But contrary to expectations, you don’t count the number of Maki roll cards you have. Rather, you count how many Maki roll symbols are at the top of each card. The person who has the most and second most Maki roll symbols in their collection will get the points. If there are any ties for first place, then divide the 6 points evenly and there is no second-place award. If there are any ties for second place, then divide the 3 points evenly.

There’s also a chopsticks card. Chopsticks aren’t worth points in of themselves, but they allow you to pick two cards from your hand instead of just one! But if you choose to do so, you’ll have to place the chopsticks you had in play back into the hand and pass that along to someone else.

Last, but not least, there’s the Pudding card. Now, unlike other cards, you don’t score the pudding at the end of the round. Rather, you score them at the very end of the game. When the game ends, the person with the most pudding cards gets 6 points and the person with the least pudding cards loses 6 points. And if you have no pudding cards, you automatically have the least pudding cards. If there are any ties, the people who are tied divide the points evenly.

And that’s it! Have fun with Sushi Go!