Sushi Roll: The Charming Sushi Go! Sequel for Dice Lovers
Listen up, fans of painfully adorable dice and anthropomorphic sushi, we’ve found the perfect game for you. It’s basically a sequel to everybody’s favorite sushi game - Sushi Go!. And if you’re familiar with the original, you’ll have a very good idea what you’re getting into.
Disclosure: We received a copy of Sushi Roll from Gamewright with no expectations for this article. All thoughts and opinions are our own.
If you’re unfamiliar with Gamewright’s hit card game Sushi Go!, a brief overview is in order. The first thing to be aware of is the variety of charming cartoon sushi people that will endear the game to the hearts of kids and adults alike. You’ll most likely run out and buy a set of stuffed animals featuring your favorite sushi characters after playing.
The basic idea of the game is to collect different kinds of sushi to score as many points as possible. And it’s a fun twist on making sets, because each type of sushi has its own scoring system. It’s a fantastically entertaining game with very interesting strategy, and it topped our list of the best card games for families.
The genius behind the game is that you’re collecting your sushi at the same time as your competitors - one card at a time. In the original, you are passing hands of cards around in a circle. During each round, you only get to select one card from your hand to add to your collection, and then you pass your remaining hand to the left for the next round. In Sushi Roll, however, the hands of cards are replaced by groups of dice that you roll and choose from.
One thing I love about the original card version is that there is a good bit of memory involved - because you have to try and remember which types of sushi are in the hands being passed around - and I absolutely love playing memory games with the kids. And there’s a great deal of pressing your luck as well - because one of your opponents could grab that last piece of sushi you need to complete your set at any time.
Sushi Roll loses a bit of both of those things that I like about Sushi Go!. There’s no real memory element involved, other than remembering which types of sushi are on the different colored dice. And the press-your-luck mechanics are changed quite a bit. Much of the press-your-luck of Sushi Roll is now against the luck of the dice instead of against other humans’ decisions.
With that said, Sushi Roll also adds a couple of its own new mechanics that give this game its own personality altogether. One of the new mechanics gives you the ability to steal a die from the conveyor belt of another player, while another gives you the ability to re-roll any of your dice on your turn. Both actions are fun twists that make up for some of the elements of the original that were lost.
Because of that, I think that Sushi Roll has been very successful in carving out its own niche on our shelf. My wife says that she vastly prefers the new dice version, while our son slightly prefers the cards. For my part, I’m on the fence about choosing a favorite. Sushi Go! is still much more portable with no small pieces to worry about, but Sushi Roll is a great looking tabletop game with undeniably adorable dice.
I do miss the elements of memory involved with the card version, but there’s definitely something to be said about the joy of rolling dice and passing them around on a little conveyor belt. Ultimately, I would definitely prefer to take Sushi Go! camping, but we’re probably going to be pulling out Sushi Roll around the house more often.
Even though the recommended age of both the original and the sequel is 8+, I’d be willing to bet that most 6-year-olds with game experience could handle this one. Our 7-year-old understood the rules of Sushi Roll very easily, perhaps because he was already familiar with the card game, and our 4-year-old is happy to team up with Mom or Dad and be in charge of the dice rolling. In fact, it’s much easier to involve her with Sushi Roll as opposed to Sushi Go! because of that job!
If you already love Sushi Go! and you only need help deciding if Sushi Roll is worth trying, just ask yourself if you think you’d enjoy playing the game with dice instead of cards. Deep down you probably know if you’re a dice person or a card person. There are certainly a handful of differences between the games too, but you probably already have a good idea if this sequel is for you.
Another thing that Sushi Roll has in common with Sushi Go! is that it accommodates 2-5 players. So if you have a larger family than that, or if you want to bring your sushi-themed fun to a party, the game for you is actually Sushi Go Party! - the version that allows up to 8 players. At this point it seems like there’s a Sushi Go! for whatever your needs are. Collect them all or choose which one is best for your family.
Since our family seems to have split opinions on which sushi game comes out on top for them, I’m happy to have both options on the shelf. I’m not one to complain about more of a good thing. Keep them coming as far as we’re concerned. Bring on an RPG or tower defense expansion of the Sushi Go! universe. Those adorable sushi characters still have some life left in them.
You can buy Sushi Roll - or any of Gamewright’s sushi games - now at your friendly local game store, or find them online at Amazon (affiliate links):
Sushi Roll
Sushi Go!
Sushi Go Party!
Are you a Sushi Go! fan too? Have you tried Sushi Roll yet? Which one gets your vote? Let us know in the comments!
