Sushi Go Party! is the very successful lightweight drafter follow up to Sushi Go! from 2016. It is basically the same game but it has a few tweaks and can accommodate more people. This is a great one for anyone looking for something quick and easy to learn but with enough strategy to make it interesting. And the accommodating a big group is huge, not many strategy games can comfortably work for 8 players. A true party. Games are very fast at around 20 minutes apiece and 2 – 8 players can play. This is how to play Sushi Go Party!
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HOW TO PLAY SUSHI GO PARTY! – WHAT IS IT!?
Sushi Go Party! is a drafting party game. Drafting is, usually with cards but doesn’t have to be, where players each get a stack of something, pick one thing, pass the remainders to their neighbor and get the remainders from the player on the other side. You pick again and repeat this process until everything is gone. You are a diner at a deluxe sushi fest and you are fighting against other players to get your ideal meal. The various options have their own scoring rules the typically rely on getting a specific number of one type of card. After each round, you score up your points, move your marker, and go again 3 rounds total.
HOW TO PLAY SUSHI GO PARTY! – STEP BY STEP
Time Needed: Approximately 20 minutes.
This is a step by step guide for how to play Sushi Go Party! the popular drafting party board game. Additional notions and special rules can be found below the list. These will be referenced for your convenience.
1. SETUP | Put out Board
To kick off the setup in how to play Sushi Go Party, the board is folded in half in the tin, pull it open and put it out. The Nigiri is always part of the board, but all other spots have empty holes for the cards you choose for that game.
2. SETUP | Choose Game Cards
There are pre-set setup recommendations (see below) but you can also choose whatever cards you want to make your own “menu”. The important thing is that you match the type (appetizer, roll, etc) that the slot on the board says. Every game needs to have Nigiri, 1x Roll, 3x Appetizers, 2x Specials and 1x Dessert.
3. SETUP | Build Draw Deck
Now that your menu is set and the tiles have been added to the board, you need to pull the cards that match those tiles to build the deck for the game. Pull out all the cards that match, Nigir have 12, Rolls have 12, Appetizers have 8 and Specials have 3. Based on the spots on the board and how many of each card there are, that means your constructed deck should have 54 cards.
4. SETUP | Set Aside Dessert Cards
Desserts need to be pulled too but those are slightly different. For 2 – 5 players set aside 10 adding 5 to the deck in round 1, 3 in round 2 and 2 in round 3. For 6 – 8 players set aside 15 adding 7 / 5/ 3 in rounds accordingly. The point is that more are added over time and stick around until they are finally drawn.
5. SETUP | Place Player Tokens
Each player who is playing grabs one of the color pawns to represent them on the score track. Place each one being used on the “0” square on the board, this will move up each round when you calculate the score.
6. GAMEPLAY | Deal out Cards for Round 1
After you added the desserts and shuffled the deck, deal out the cards. For 2 – 3 players give out 10 cards each, 4 – 5 players 9 each, 6 – 7 players 8 each and 8 players 7 cards each. This kicks off gameplay in how to play Sushi Go Party!
7. GAMEPLAY | Pick Your Cards
Each player is going to look at the stack of cards they were dealt and needs to pick one for a card to keep. You want to look at what you have and think about what is going to come back to you, you will see these cards again after each other player gets to take one. After everyone chooses, players flip their card to reveal all at the same time. The remaining stack is passed to the player to the left. This process is repeated until all the cards are gone.
8. GAMEPLAY | End of Round 1 Scoring
Every card is scored at the end of each round except for Desserts, those are set aside to the very end after the three rounds. Each card has its own points and will say what you got on it. Each player adds up their total and moves their pawn along the score track that many spaces. All the cards (except desserts) are then shuffled back into the deck in preparation of the next round.
9. GAMEPLAY | Repeat for Rounds 2 & 3
There are 3 rounds total and you do the same thing you do in round 1 for the latter two. The only difference is the adding of desserts which is outlined above. Nothing special for this step of how to play Sushi Go Party.
10. GAMEPLAY | Score Final Dessert Total
At the very end, the only addition scoring is that you finally score the dessert cards. Each player combines all the dessert cards you got in all three rounds and add (or subtract) points based on the scoring condition.
11. WINNING | High Score After 3 Rounds
The game is always three rounds no matter what. At the end of the game, the highest point total wins. See, It is as simple as that to learn how to play Sushi Go Party.
HOW TO PLAY SUSHI GO PARTY! – KEY INFORMATION
STARTING SETUP RECOMMENDATIONS
You can choose your own menu or there are some recommended setups. If you are making your own, just look at the board and match the amount of the various types it has spots for. If you want to go with a setup, they are built to put cards that work together in interesting ways into the same game. Here are the ones that the publisher recommends.
MY FIRST MEAL *A mellow menu that goes down easy for first-time players.
Nigiri, Maki Roll, Tempura, Sashimi, Miso Soup, Wasabi, Tea, Green Tea Ice Cream
SUSHI GO! *The classic menu from the original game.
Nigiri, Maki Roll, Tempura, Sashimi, Dumpling, Chopsticks, Wasabi, Pudding
PARTY SAMPLER *Taste what’s new in Sushi Go Party!
Nigiri, Temaki Roll, Tempura, Dumpling, Tofu, Wasabi, Menu, Green Tea Ice Cream
MASTER MENU *For seasoned Sushi Go! players that want to think.
Nigiri, Temaki Roll, Onigiri, Tofu, Sashimi, Spoon, Takeout Box, Fruit
POINTS PLATTER *Score big points!
Nigiri, Urmaki Roll, Onigiri, Dumpling, Edamame, Special Order, Tea, Green Tea Ice Cream
CUTTHROAT COMBO *Interactive and in your face!
Nigiri, Temaki Roll, Eel, Tofu, Miso Soup, Spoon, Soy Sauce, Pudding
BIG BANQUET *Works well with 6 – 8 players.
Nigiri, Maki Roll, Tempura, Dumpling, Eel, Spoon, Chopsticks, Green Tea Ice Cream
DINNER FOR TWO *Works well with 2 players.
Nigiri, Uramaki Roll, Onigiri, Tofu, Miso Soup, Menu, Special Order, Fruit
GAME CONTENTS
181 Cards + 22 Menu Tiles + 8 Pawns + 1 Game Board
- NIGIRI – 12x Nigiri
- SUSHI ROLLS – 12x each – Maki Roll, Temaki, Uramaki
- APPETIZERS – 8x each – Tempura, Sashimi, Dumpling, Eel, Tofu, Onigiri, Edamame, Miso Soup
- SPECIALS – 3x each – Chopsticks, Soy Sauce, Tea, Menu, Spoon, Special Order, Takeout Box, Wasabi
- DESSERTS – 15x each – Pudding, Green Tea Ice Cream, Fruit
IN CLOSING
I hope you can now say you know how to play Sushi Go Party! board game. The quick games with deep strategy will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. To boot, it can be fun with three people or it could be fun with eight. The adorable artwork and ease to learn make this a fantastic choice for any group or age.
