Sushi Roll

24th September 2019

Tuesday evening is here and we're at 'The Sovereigns' in Woking for games night.

It was an evening of several short games.
We begun with 'Sushi Roll', this game is a follow up to the rather good 'Sushi Go!'. Will Sushi Roll live up to expectations? Let's see.


What's in a game
Sushi Roll comes in a largish box and a whole bunch of components. These are solidly made and of a good quality.

• Dice: There are 30 custom dice. There are 5 different types of dice. Nigiri dice, maki dice, appetiser dice, pudding dice and 'specials' dice. Specials dice have symbols for wasabi, chopsticks and menus.
• Dice bag: For the dice!
• Conveyor belt tiles: There are 5 of these. One of them has a red outline.
• Personal game boards: There are also 5 of these. One of them is given to each player. They basically explain the game and show the results of all the dice and how they are scored.
• Tokens: Lots of tokens. Scoring tokens, pudding tokens, chopstick tokens and menu tokens. Lots of tokens!

How's it play?
We begin with set up:

• Give each player a player board, 2 chopstick tokens and 3 menu tokens.
• Shuffle the conveyor belt tiles and deal one out face-down to each player. They are then turned face-up and whoever has the tile with the red outline is first player.

And we're ready to go.

• Each player draws dice out of the dice bag. The number of dice drawn is dependant on the number of players.
• All players simultaneously roll their dice.
• First player goes first!
• Players may use tokens are a 'free action': Using a chopstick token allows a player to swap a die on their conveyor belt with a die from another player's conveyor belt. Using a menu token allows the active player to re-roll any number of dice on their conveyor belt.
• During their turn, the active player may take one die from their conveyor belt and place it on to their personal board. If the die taken depicts menus or chopsticks, then the active player immediately takes the pertinent tokens
• Play progresses clockwise until all players have taken a die and placed it on their personal board.
• Now all players move their conveyor to the player to their left.
• Players now simultaneously roll dice they have in front them and the new first player starts.
• Play progresses until all the dice from the conveyor belts have been taken by players: The round has ended.
• The dice on each player's personal board are all scored, except for 'pudding dice'. Players receive pudding tokens equal to their pudding dice instead.
• All dice are returned into the dice bag, which is thoroughly shaken. Players draw dice from the bag again and a new round begins.
•  3 rounds in total are played. After the final round final scores are tallied. Highest score wins.

Scoring is essentially identical to Sushi Go!

• The nigiri dice have 3 different types of nigiri. Each nigiri scores 1-3 each, tripled if placed on a wasabi die.
• The player with the highest amount of maki rolls scores 6, the 2nd highest scores 3.
• Appetisers: There are 3 different 'sets' of appetisers. The more you collect of a particular appetiser, the more the set scores. Some sets score more but are harder to collect. Classic 'risk & reward'.
• Puddings are only scored at the end of the 3rd round: Highest amount of puddings scores 6, lowest loses 6 points.
• Each 2 chopstick and/or menu tokens earn a point each.

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Overall
There's a lot to like about Sushi Roll.

There's a pleasant tactile sensation to be had when you slide or hand the conveyor belt tile over to another player.
The same is true when using chopsticks to snatch away a die from someone else's conveyor belt. The theme fits the game perfectly. 

The mechanics with the dice is very clever. You can see what dice are coming your way, but since the dice are rolled again, you don't know exactly what you're getting. It does a very good job of replacing the card mechanic from Sushi Go!. No need to try and memorise cards now!
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Everyone I've played this game with, preferred this version to its predecessor. It's less portable and takes a little set up time, but it feels more tactile, it's a little more 'open', therefore giving players more choices to make. The scoring and pudding tokens make it a bit more 'user friendly'. Meanwhile the chopsticks and menus lend the game a bit more strategy.

​So, is it worth getting Sushi Roll if you've played Sushi Go!? In a word; yes!