Sushi Roll Review

Sushi Go is the fast-paced set collection game that became a staple filler game in our home years ago. Sushi Roll is the new dice-chucking sibling to the original game from Gamewright Games. Today I’m taking a look at the new mechanics and asking the question “Does this game deserve the space on your family game shelf?”

Sushi, in Dice Form

If you’ve played Sushi Go or Sushi Go Party, you’ll already have the basics you need to play Sushi Roll. Everyone is given a player board along with a conveyor belt where dice will be placed during your turn. This game is packed with high-quality, colorful dice that are sure to hold up with kids playing the game. Dice are drawn randomly from the bag at the start of each of the three rounds. Players simultaneously roll their dice and place them on their conveyor belt. Starting with the player with the red conveyor belt, players draft a single die and add it to their player board.

Like the original card game, players are trying to collect sets of maki rolls, tempura, sashimi, and dumplings. Pudding make an appearance and are scored at the end of the game. Wasabi will triple the value of the nigari dice just like in the original game. Chopsticks and menus also make an appearance on the dice and give you special abilities.

Turns become more strategic when players use their chopstick tokens during a round. Players can use a chopstick token to take a die from another player’s conveyor belt. Menu tokens are used to re-roll any number of dice on your conveyor belt. Sushi Roll gives players enough opportunities to adjust poor die rolls that you rarely feel that you’re at the mercy of the dice.

Once each player has drafted a single die, players pass their conveyor belt to the left and everyone rolls their new set of dice. You’ll be able to look around the table and see your odds of getting what you need based on the die colors. Players need to be strategic with the dice they draft based on what’s on the table during the round.

After each round, players are awarded pudding tokens for each pudding icon they drafted and victory point coins to represent their score that round. After 3 rounds, players total up their score to determine who won.

Same Family, Different Traits

Sushi Roll is an easy purchase for anyone that loves the original game. It takes about 2 minutes to explain the new mechanics and is still really simple to teach someone who has never played a game in this series. The question I’ve heard the most has been “Do I need this game if I own Sushi Go?”

With over a dozen plays of the game with kids and adults, I feel like the answer is yes. We own all three games (Sushi Go, Sushi Go Party and Sushi Roll) and they all fill a different role on our game shelf. Sushi Roll is different enough that it’s in our rotation of filler games that show up when we are looking for a light game during a game night. The setup is quicker than Sushi Go Party but it’s not as small and portable as Sushi Go.

The dice in Sushi Roll are excellent and rolling dice has a tactile feel that cards can’t offer. The chopstick tokens give the game a “take that” element that isn’t in any of the other games in the series. Managing your use of these tokens can give you a real advantage.

For the dice lover in your life, Sushi Roll is a great buy. Kids (and adults) love chucking a fistful of dice and this is what Sushi Roll does well. It’s still one of the best set collection games for families, just in a different format.

You can purchase Sushi Roll at your local game store, Barnes & Noble or online through Amazon.

Gamewright provided us with a retail copy of Sushi Roll for this review. This in no way influenced our opinion of the game.

Highs

• Excellent components and presentation
• Players are rarely at the mercy of bad die rolls
• Easy to teach new and veteran Sushi Go players
• Colored dice mean you know what options are coming your way

Lows

• Larger game box means more room on the shelf
• Less portable than its siblings