The answer is My First Meal, it takes thirty seconds to set up, and you can stop reading.
The rest of this is for the part that actually matters: why that menu and not another one, what is deliberately missing from it, and what to play on your second and third evenings so the game keeps opening up.
Use My First Meal
It is one of the eight menus printed in the rulebook, and the rulebook describes it as a mellow menu that goes down easy for first time players. That is not marketing, it is a design brief, and the menu delivers it.
What is on it:
| Slot | Dish | Why it belongs on a first menu |
|---|---|---|
| Nigiri | Nigiri | In every game. Plain 1, 2 or 3 points with no conditions |
| Roll | Maki | One simple competition: most is 6, second is 3 |
| Appetizer | Tempura | Pairs. Two are 5. Teaches the idea of a threshold |
| Appetizer | Sashimi | Threes are 10. The same idea, with a bigger gamble |
| Appetizer | Miso Soup | A flat 3, with one small catch |
| Special | Wasabi | Triples your next nigiri. One rule, big payoff |
| Special | Tea | Rewards collecting one colour |
| Dessert | Green Tea Ice Cream | Four of them are 12. Nothing negative |
The point of this menu is what it leaves out. Look at what is not there:
- Nothing goes negative. No eel at minus 3 for taking one. No temaki or pudding punishing whoever has the fewest. A first game where somebody ends on a negative score is a first game that does not get a rematch.
- Nothing scores mid round. No uramaki, so the game has one rhythm: pick, pass, score at the end.
- Nothing takes anything off anyone. No spoon, no special order, no takeout box. Nobody can do something to you that you then have to have explained.
- Nothing resets to zero. No tofu, where a third card wipes out the first two.
What is left is a menu where every card you take helps you, more is better, and the only thing to learn is that some dishes need two or three to pay out. That is one idea, and one idea is the right number for a first game.
Why not just build your own
You can. The rulebook lets you, as long as the menu has nigiri, one roll, three appetizers, two specials and one dessert.
The reason not to on night one is not difficulty, it is time and attention. Choosing eight dishes from 22 tiles while four people watch you read a box lid is the slowest part of the whole evening, and you will be choosing without knowing what any of them play like.
There is also a trap in building your own that is easy to walk into: stacking three appetizers that all need big sets. If tempura, sashimi and dumpling are your three, every card in the game is a long term commitment and the round feels like it never pays out.
The second and third evenings
Once everyone has played once, change one thing at a time. Changing the whole menu makes it a different game and people lose the thread.
| Evening | Menu | What it introduces |
|---|---|---|
| First | My First Meal | The core loop, and thresholds |
| Second | Sushi Go! | Dumplings and chopsticks, and pudding, which is the first dish that punishes the player with the fewest |
| Third | Party Sampler | The dishes the bigger box exists for |
| Later | Master Menu | The rulebook calls it the one for seasoned players who want to think |
Two more worth knowing by name, because they solve a problem rather than raise the difficulty:
- Dinner for Two, which the rulebook says works well with 2 players. If you are mostly a two player household, use this instead of My First Meal on your second game.
- Big Banquet, which works well with 6 to 8. Worth having in mind before a night where eight people turn up.
And one to approach deliberately rather than by accident: Cutthroat Combo, described in the rulebook as interactive and in your face. It is a great menu and it is the wrong one to spring on people who came for a gentle card game.
The full list, for reference
| 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. |
My take: this is one of the games that almost never fails, and choosing a menu in front of people can feel like being tested, which is the one part of the box that asks for a decision before anyone has played a card.
Say the name of a preset out loud, slot the tiles in, deal.
My first game was with the menu the rules recommend for beginners. It is the easiest one to play and to understand, and the more complex dishes are left out.
I have never put together a menu of my own.
For the record, the menu the rules recommend for beginners is My First Meal, which is the one this article opened with.
What to read next
- Sushi Go Party! menu cards explained, for what every dish on every menu does.
- How to teach Sushi Go Party! in 5 minutes, for the rest of the first evening.
- Sushi Go Party! scoring explained.
- Easy board games for beginners, the main hub.
How this article was written
The contents of the My First Meal menu, the composition rule, the eight preset names and their descriptions all come from the official Gamewright rules of play for Sushi Go Party!. The ordering of which menu to play on which evening is my own judgement, based on what each one adds.
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.