Sushi Go Rules 2026: How to Deal, Pass and Score Every Card

This page follows the Gamewright Rules of Play for Sushi Go!, copyright 2014 Gamewright, game by Phil Walker-Harding, as of November 2026. It covers the original game and nothing else.

What's in the deck

Card	How many
Tempura	14
Sashimi	14
Dumpling	14
Maki roll, 2 icons	12
Maki roll, 3 icons	8
Maki roll, 1 icon	6
Salmon nigiri	10
Squid nigiri	5
Egg nigiri	5
Pudding	10
Wasabi	6
Chopsticks	4
Total	108

You'll also want paper and a pencil for scoring. Nothing else is needed.

Dealing for 2 to 5 players

Players	Cards dealt to each player
2	10
3	9
4	8
5	7

Shuffle all 108 cards, deal by player count, and keep your hand secret. The rest go face down in the centre as a draw pile. One player is the scorekeeper.

A turn: choose, reveal, pass

1. Everyone chooses any 1 card from their hand at the same time and places it face down in front of them.
2. Everyone reveals together.
3. You pass your remaining hand face down to the player on your left.
4. You pick up the hand you've been passed, which is smaller each turn.
5. Repeat until the last card of each hand is passed on and placed face up with the cards you've collected.
6. Score the round.

Face-up cards stay in front of you until the end of the round. That's the whole engine of the game: you're building sets from the cards everyone else chose not to keep.

The score for every card

Card	What it scores
Tempura	5 points for each set of 2. A single tempura scores nothing.
Sashimi	10 points for each set of 3. One or two score nothing.
Dumplings	1, 3, 6, 10 or 15 points for 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 or more
Maki rolls	Most icons scores 6, second most scores 3
Squid nigiri	3 points, or 9 on a wasabi
Salmon nigiri	2 points, or 6 on a wasabi
Egg nigiri	1 point, or 3 on a wasabi
Wasabi	Nothing on its own; triples the next nigiri you play
Chopsticks	Nothing
Pudding	Scored at the end of the game: most scores 6, fewest loses 6

You can score several tempura sets in one round, so four tempura cards is two sets. The same goes for sashimi in threes.

How maki ties work

Add up the maki icons at the top of your maki cards. The most icons scores 6 points and the second most scores 3. Tied players split the points evenly and ignore any remainder.

The rule book's own example: Chris has 5 maki icons, Phil has 3, Amy has 3 and Lisa has 2. Chris scores 6. Phil and Amy tie for second, so they split the 3 points and get 1 each. Lisa scores nothing. And if players tie for the most icons, they split the 6, and no second place points are given out at all.

Wasabi and chopsticks

If you already have a wasabi in front of you when you choose a nigiri, the nigiri must go on top of the wasabi, and it scores triple. You can have several wasabi, but only 1 nigiri can sit on each. A wasabi with no nigiri on it scores nothing, so playing one is a bet on the cards still to come.

Order matters. A wasabi only triples a nigiri that comes after it, so a salmon you've already played stays at 2 points.

Chopsticks let you take 2 cards in one turn, but only on a later turn after you've played them. Here's how it goes:

1. Have a chopsticks card already face up in front of you from an earlier turn.
2. On your turn, choose your first card as normal.
3. Call out Sushi Go!
4. Take a second card from the same hand.
5. Put the chopsticks card back into that hand before you pass it on.

You may have more than one chopsticks card, but you can only use 1 per turn, and a chopsticks card scores nothing.

Between rounds, and the pudding count

At the end of each round, announce your scores, discard your cards face up beside the draw pile, and deal a new hand the same size as the last one. Don't discard puddings. They stay in front of you until the end of the game.

After the third round, any cards left in the draw pile are ignored and puddings are scored. The player with the most pudding cards scores 6 points. The player with the fewest, including anyone with none, loses 6 points. Ties split the points evenly, ignoring any remainder.

Another example from the rule book: Chris has 4 puddings, Phil has 3, and Lisa and Amy have none. Chris scores 6. Lisa and Amy tie for the fewest, so they share the lost 6 and lose 3 each. If everyone has the same number of puddings, nobody scores anything for them. In a 2 player game, nobody loses points for puddings.

Whoever has the most points after 3 rounds wins. If there's a tie, the player with the most pudding cards wins.

The two variants in the box rules

Pass Both Ways changes how players interact: pass each hand to the left in rounds 1 and 3, and to the right in round 2.

The Two-Player Variant adds a third dummy player that alternates between you:

1. Deal 3 players' worth of cards, which is 3 hands of 9.
2. Put the dummy player's cards face down between you as a draw pile, and choose who controls the dummy first.
3. When you're in control, draw the top card from the dummy pile and add it to your hand.
4. Choose 1 card for yourself and 1 for the dummy. Your opponent plays 1 card as normal.
5. Reveal, then switch hands, leaving the dummy pile in place.
6. Your opponent now controls the dummy. Take turns until all the cards are played out, and play 3 rounds scored as normal.

Mistakes that cost points

• Expecting singles to score. One tempura, one or two sashimi, or a lone wasabi all earn nothing.
• Playing the nigiri before the wasabi. It has to be the other way round.
• Using chopsticks the turn you take them. They have to be on the table already, and they go back into the hand you pass on.
• Throwing puddings away between rounds. Keep them for the end.
• Forgetting that a maki tie for first means nobody gets the 3 second place points.

My verdict for a first game

I'd keep the scoring table on the table for your first game, because nobody remembers the dumpling ladder or the sashimi threes on round one. I'd teach wasabi and chopsticks with one example each before you deal, since those two cause most of the questions.

I'd skip Pass Both Ways until everyone has a full game under their belt. If your group likes quick card games with a clever twist, Skyjo and Exploding Kittens sit nicely alongside it, and Codenames is the one to reach for when more people turn up.

Frequently asked questions

How many cards do you deal in Sushi Go?

10 cards each with 2 players, 9 with 3, 8 with 4 and 7 with 5.

How many rounds are in Sushi Go?

3 rounds, then pudding cards are scored at the end of the game.

How does wasabi work in Sushi Go?

A nigiri played onto a wasabi you already have triples in value. Only 1 nigiri can go on each wasabi, and a wasabi with no nigiri scores nothing.

How do you score dumplings?

1, 3, 6, 10 and 15 points for 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 or more dumplings.

What happens in a tie?

Whoever has the most pudding cards wins.