The rules of Sushi Go Party! take two minutes to explain. The menu takes longer, and it is the only part of the box that stops people playing.
You open it, find 22 menu tiles and a board full of empty slots, and realise the game is asking you a question before it will let you start.
This article answers that question properly: what the menu tiles are, what the rulebook will and will not let you put on a menu, and what to pick so you can get on with it.
What a menu tile actually is
A menu tile is not a card you play. It is a reference tile that sits in a slot on the board for the whole game.
Each one names a dish and prints its scoring. When the tiles are in the board, the table can see which dishes are in play and exactly what each one is worth, all game, without anyone looking anything up.
That is the clever part of the design and it is most of why the game teaches so fast. Nobody has to remember that three sashimi are worth 10, because it is printed on the board in front of them.
It does not do the whole job, though. A tile tells you what a dish scores. It does not stop a new player misreading what that means, and a couple of dishes get misread more than the rest. More on those below.
The cards themselves are the 181 in the box. The tiles just tell you which of them you are using tonight.
The five categories
Every dish belongs to one of five groups, and that matters because the rules for building a menu are written in terms of these groups.
| Category | Dishes | What they tend to do |
|---|---|---|
| Nigiri | Nigiri | Plain points, always available |
| Rolls | Maki Roll, Temaki, Uramaki | A competition against the whole table |
| Appetizers | Tempura, Sashimi, Dumpling, Eel, Tofu, Onigiri, Edamame, Miso Soup | Sets you collect for yourself |
| Specials | Chopsticks, Soy Sauce, Tea, Menu, Spoon, Special Order, Takeout Box, Wasabi | Cards that bend the rules rather than score on their own |
| Desserts | Pudding, Green Tea Ice Cream, Fruit | Scored once, at the very end of the game |
The rule for building a menu
You cannot put any eight dishes you like on the board. The rulebook is specific, and a menu has to be made of exactly this:
- Nigiri cards are used in every game.
- 1 type of rolls.
- 3 types of appetizers.
- 2 types of specials.
- 1 type of dessert.
So every game has nigiri, one kind of roll, three appetizers, two specials and one dessert. That shape never changes. What changes is which dishes fill it.
There are two restrictions on top of that, both from the rulebook:
- Menu and special order cannot be used in a 7 or 8 player game. Both of them dig into the deck, and with eight people there is not enough deck to go around.
- Spoon and edamame cannot be used in a 2 player game. Both depend on there being other people at the table doing things.
If you ignore those, the game still functions, but it stops working the way it was balanced to.
The eight ready made menus
Here is the part most new owners miss. You are not expected to design a menu. The rulebook prints eight of them, each with its own one line description.
| Menu | The rulebook’s own description |
|---|---|
| My First Meal | A mellow menu that goes down easy for first time players. |
| Sushi Go! | The classic menu from the original game. |
| Party Sampler | Taste what is new in Sushi Go Party! |
| Master Menu | For seasoned Sushi Go! players who want to think! |
| Points Platter | Score big points! |
| Cutthroat Combo | Interactive and in your face! |
| Big Banquet | Works well with 6 to 8 players. |
| Dinner for Two | Works well with 2 players. |
Four of those are worth knowing by name from day one.
- My First Meal is the one for a first game. That is literally what the rulebook says it is for.
- Sushi Go! is the original game’s card set, so if you have played the small tin, this is the menu you already know.
- Dinner for Two and Big Banquet exist because the game plays very differently at two and at eight. If your table is at either end of the range, use these rather than defaulting to something else.
There is also Create Your Own Menu, which the rulebook describes as picking your own card combination to play with. That is the one to leave alone until you have played a few times.
Every dish, and what it does
This is the reference. If you are holding a menu tile and wondering whether to put it on the board, find it here. Scoring is exactly as the rulebook prints it.
Nigiri and rolls. Nigiri is in every single game. You pick one type of roll and it stays for the whole evening.
| Dish | What it scores |
|---|---|
| Nigiri | 1, 2 or 3 points depending on the type |
| Maki | Most 6, second 3. With 6 to 8 players: most 6, second 4, third 2 |
| Temaki | Most 4, fewest minus 4. No penalty in a 2 player game |
| Uramaki | A race to 10 icons. First 8, second 5, third 2, scored immediately |
Appetizers. You choose three of these eight. They are the part of the menu that most changes how an evening feels.
| Dish | What it scores |
|---|---|
| Tempura | Two of them are 5. One on its own is nothing |
| Sashimi | Three of them are 10. One or two are nothing |
| Dumpling | 1, 3, 6, 10, then 15 for five or more |
| Eel | One is minus 3. Two or more are 7 |
| Tofu | One is 2, two is 6, three or more is 0 |
| Onigiri | By different shapes: 1, 4, 9, 16 |
| Edamame | 1 per opponent who also has edamame, up to 4 a round. 3 to 8 players only |
| Miso Soup | 3 points, but discarded if anyone else plays one the same turn |
Specials. You choose two of these eight. Most of them do not score at all on their own: they let you break a rule once.
| Dish | What it does |
|---|---|
| Wasabi | Triples the next nigiri you play. One nigiri per wasabi |
| Tea | 1 per card in your biggest single colour set at the end of the round |
| Soy Sauce | 4 if you have the most different coloured cards at the end of the round |
| Chopsticks | Swap it back into your hand to play two cards on a later turn |
| Spoon | Name a card and take it from the first player to your left who holds it. 3 to 8 players only |
| Menu | Draw 4 from the deck, play 1, return the rest. 2 to 6 players only |
| Special Order | Copies a card you already played. 2 to 6 players only |
| Takeout Box | Flip over cards you already played. They become worth 2 each |
Desserts. You choose one. Desserts are not scored at the end of each round like everything else. They sit in front of you for the whole game and score once, at the very end.
| Dish | What it scores |
|---|---|
| Pudding | Most 6, fewest minus 6, at the end of the game. No penalty at 2 players |
| Green Tea Ice Cream | 4 of them are 12, at the end of the game |
| Fruit | Per type at the end of the game: 0 is minus 2, then 0, 1, 3, 6 and 10 |
Two things worth noticing while reading that. Eel and tofu can go negative or worthless, which almost nothing in the original Sushi Go! does. And temaki, pudding and fruit punish the player with the fewest, so ignoring a dish is itself a decision.
Why the menu changes the game so much
Swapping two dishes does not just change the numbers. It changes what kind of game you are playing.
- Some dishes are a race against the table. Temaki pays the most and punishes the fewest. Uramaki is a sprint to 10 icons where only the first three places score. Put those in and people start watching each other.
- Some dishes are a set you build alone. Tempura, sashimi and dumpling only care about your own pile. A menu made mostly of those is calm and parallel.
- Some dishes punish you. Eel is minus 3 on its own and 7 if you get two. Tofu rewards one or two and gives you nothing for three.
- Specials change the shape of a turn. Chopsticks let you play two cards later. Spoon lets you take a named card off somebody. Takeout box flips cards you already played.
This is the real answer to why the same box feels different from one evening to the next, and it is why the menu is a feature rather than an obstacle.
What to do tonight
- First game ever: My First Meal. Do not explain that other menus exist.
- You already played Sushi Go!: the Sushi Go! menu, so nothing is new except the board.
- Two players: Dinner for Two.
- Six to eight players: Big Banquet.
- Everyone has played twice: Party Sampler, then Master Menu.
My take: this is one of the games that almost never fails, and choosing a menu in front of people can feel like a test, which is the one part of the box that asks for a decision before anyone has played a card.
Pick a preset out loud, slot the tiles in, and start dealing.
Two dishes get misread no matter what the tile says, and they are the reason for the caveat above.
The rule I always have to explain twice is how some dishes score depending on how many you collect. Eel is the classic example: one eel costs you 3 points, but two or more are worth 7.
Tofu is even worse. One is worth 2, two are worth 6, and three or more are worth nothing. Four tofu do not count as two pairs.
Both of those are on tiles, the tiles are correct, and people still get them wrong. Worth saying out loud at the table when those dishes are on the menu.
FOTO: las fichas de menu colocadas en el tablero
What to read next
- Is Sushi Go Party! good for beginners?, if you have not bought it yet.
- Sushi Go vs Sushi Go Party!, which of the two boxes to buy first.
- Sushi Go Party! in the beginner hub.
- Easy board games for beginners, the main hub.
How this article was written
Every rule, category, restriction and menu name above comes from the official Gamewright rules of play for Sushi Go Party!. The descriptions of the eight preset menus are quoted from the rulebook, not paraphrased.
I have played this game many times, physically and on Board Game Arena, though my original copy is Sushi Go, my brother’s version.
Using the Amazon links in this article helps me keep working on Board Game Newbie, at no extra cost to you.