Tips sushigoparty

Highest points per card

4.5 points

• x1 Nigiri Squid on x1 Wasabi

4 points

• x2 Urakamaki 5 icons if 1st place
• x4 set of Onigiri unique shapes
• x1 Fruit with 2 fruit types (without any fruit at all)
• x1 Tea and x4 set of 4 of anything
• x1 Soy Sauce most (not tied) colors. May score multiple.

3.5 points

• x2 set of EEL May not score multiple sets

3.3 points

• x3 set of Sashimi

3 points

• x2 set of Tofu
• x1 Fruit with 1 fruit type (without any fruit at all)
• x3 set of Onigiri unique shapes
• x4 set of Green Tea Ice Cream
• x1 Miso Soup (can be guaranteed with Chopsticks, Spoon or Menu)
• x1 Nigiri Salmon on x1 Wasabi
• x1 Nigiri Squid
• x5 set of 5 Dumpling
• x1 Tea and x3 set of 3 of anything

2.5 points

• x4 set of 4 Dumpling
• x2 set of Tempura
• x2 Urakamaki 5 icons if 2nd place

2 points

• x1 flipped over cards with Takeout Box

Tips

• Spoon and Chopsticks if taken 2nd to last round won't be able to get rid of so 0 points.
• Spoon and Chopsticks last round won't be able to use.
• 4pts x3+ Temaki most is tough but just try not to get -4pts least
• 4+ players games Edamame possibly can be 3 points or more each
• Special Order good to copy Green Tea Ice Cream, Miso Soup, Fruit, EEL, Pudding, Uramaki 5 icons,

• Pay attention to who your cards are passed to, which is displayed in the log. With Pass Both Ways Round 2 it switches.
• Last turn in round give next player Tofu if they have 2 Tofu already to give them 0 points.
• Deny EEL even if you have 2 already to give next player -3 points.
• Spoon can help you with that missing EEL, Sashimi or more Desserts.
• Takeout Menu flip over cards to 2 points each such as:
• x3 Tofu 0 points to 6 points, 1 EEL -3 points to 2 points, 1 Tempura 0 points to 2 points and 2 Sashimi 0 points to 4 points.
• Uramaki can still score if no one placed 2nd or 3rd for instance. Not always a race.
• Fruit card is worth minimum 2pts and maximum 8 points.
• Fruit 2 type card 8 points if both fruit types are the 5th type.
• Fruit same type card 7 points if 4th and 5th type.

Strategies for 2 players:

When there are only two players, stopping your opponent from scoring is just as important as scoring, so there's a metric that's more helpful than points per card. I call it value per player (VPP), and I'm going to be using it a lot. It's easier to define for some cards than others, but generally it's the average of how many points you get for playing it and how many points your opponent would get for playing it. Ideally, you want to take the card with the biggest VPP.

Nigiris: For the nigiris, VPP is the same as points per card because they're worth the same for you as they are for your opponent. If there is no wasabi in play, the VPP is 1 for egg nigiris, 2 for salmon nigiris, and 3 for squid nigiris. If there is wasabi, the VPPs for the nigiri are higher because even if you don't have one, your opponent could get one, and take the nigiri will prevent them from playing it and getting more points.

Dumplings: The VPP for dumplings depends on the number of dumplings in play, and the more dumplings there are, the higher the VPP is. Remarkably, the VPP for dumplings doesn't depend on how many each player plays. The formula you could use to calculate it is (n+1)/2. If there's one dumpling, you should treat it like an egg nigiri. If there's three dumplings, you should treat them like salmon nigiris, and if there's five dumplings, you should treat them like squid nigiris. (To illustrate why this is the case, let's say there's 3 dumplings. If each player has one, then the third one is worth two to whichever play gets it. If one player has 2 and the other player has none, it's worth 3 to the player with 2 and 1 to the player with none. Thus, either way, the VPP is 2. For any number of dumplings, the VPP will be equal to what the formula says regardless of how many each player has. Check it if you don't believe me.)

Tempura: If there's an even number of tempura, the VPP for tempura is 2.5. This is because if all but one of them have been played, the last one is worth 5 points to whichever player has an odd number of tempura and 0 to whoever has an even number. If there's an odd number, VPP is harder to calculate. If there's one, then the VPP is obviously 0 because it doesn't give either player any points. If there's 3, then the VPP can be as high as 5 if you use the splitting strategy. (See that at the bottom.)

Sashimi: Obviously, if there are less than 3 sashimi, they're all worthless because there's no way to get a complete set, and if there's 3, you're probably not going to get all 3 of them. If there's at least 4, though, then sashimi should be a high priority. If there's 5, there's a way that you can guarantee that you get 3 and your opponent gets. First, take one sashimi from the hand that has an odd number of sashimis. Then, whenever your opponent takes one, you take one from the same hand. If you do this right, the VPP of the first one you take is 10, which is enormous.

Miso Soup: In two player, miso soup is essentially the same as squid nigiri because even if your opponent also plays a miso soup, you get the same number of points as them just like you would if you both got to keep it.

Onigiri: If there are no more than one of any shape, then the VPP for onigiri is equal to the number of onigirs in play, so you should treat them like egg nigiri if there's one, salmon nigiri if there's two, squid nigiri if there's 3, and a 4-point nigiri if there's 4. (To illustrate why this is the case, let's say there are three onigiris, and they're all different shapes. If each player has 1, then the third one will be worth 3 to each player. If one player has 2 and the other has none, the third will be worth 5 to the player with 2 and 1 to the player with 1. Either way, the VPP is 3.) It becomes a little more complicated when there are two of the same shape. If that's the case, the shapes that there's only one of have much higher value than the ones that there are two of, so go for those first.

Eels: If there's only 1, you should obviously avoid it. If there's two, you want as many as you can because even if you only get one, both players getting -3 is better than your opponent getting 7. If there's 3, using the splitting strategy should be a huge priority. (See that at the bottom.) If there's 4, the ideal scenario is for you to get 3 and your opponent to get 1. If there's at least 5, then eel doesn't have to be a super high priority because you're probably going to get at least 2 anyway.

Tofu: If there's 1 tofu, it's basically just a salmon nigiri. If there's 2, you should treat them like squid nigiris because the VPP is 3. If there's 3, your opponent probably won't take all 3 of them, so the best realistic scenario is for you to get 2 and your opponent to get 1. You can make that happen using the splitting strategy. (See that at the bottom.) If there's 4 or more, then the VPP will be negative, so avoid them.

Edamame: I'm pretty sure the game won't allow you to use edamame with 2 players, but just in case it does, I'm going to state the obvious: Don't get edamame when there's only 2 players. It can never be worth more than one point, and as soon as you have one, every edamame your opponent gets becomes worth one instead of 0.

Temaki: The value of temaki is significantly lower when there are only two players because there's no penalty for having the fewest. With two players, the two most ideal scenarios are either for you to have slightly more than your opponent or for your opponent to have a lot more than you. For example, let's say there are 5 temakis. If you get 3 and they get 2, then you get 4 more points than them, and you only had to take one more card than them. 4 points for one card is really good. However, if you get 1 and your opponent gets 4, they get 4 more points than you, but they had to play 3 more cards than you to do it, and 4 points for 3 cards isn't very good. If your opponent is over-prioritizing temaki, just let them have the 4 points. Otherwise, try to get just one or two more than them.

Maki: A lot of the principles behind temaki also apply to maki. The main differences are that some maki cards are more valuable than others, and if your opponent is going to get more than you, it can be good to at least grab one card so you get 3 points instead of 0. Keep in mind, though, that your opponent will get 6 whether you do or not, so the VPP for that one card is only 1.5.

Uramaki: Regardless of the number of players, uramaki should always be a high priority, at least at the start of the round. There are too many possible things that can happen with uramaki, so you're going to have to calculate the VPP as you go. I will point out that if there's only one uramaki card, it has a VPP of 8, so you should definitely take it.

Wasabi: The value of wasabi depends a great deal on what nigiris are in play. With more than two players, it's one of the best cards in the game. It's not as great with 2 players because there are fewer total cards, meaning fewer nigiris. If your first hand has a wasabi and multiple salmon or squid nigiris, definitely take the wasabi, but if it has no nigiris, you can't be certain that the other hand has any either, so there may be other cards that are more worth playing.

Tea: Tea is one of the best cards in the game, and that is especially true with two players because you get to play more cards. They will always be worth at least one, they will almost always be worth at least two, and they can end up being worth as high as five or six if you can get a really big set, so take tea whenever you can. Keep in mind that when you or your opponent has played tea, the VPP goes up for any card that contributes to that players biggest set. For example, the VPP for an egg nigiri is 1, but if a player has tea and the nigiris are their biggest set, the egg nigiri is worth two for them and one for the other players, so the VPP becomes 1.5.

Soy Sauce: Soy sauce is a very valuable card, especially with two players. More often than not, you're going to have at least as many unique sets as your opponent, and even if you don't, you're still preventing your opponent from scoring 4 points by taking the soy sauce. The VPP for soy sauce will always either be 2 or 4. It will be 2 if one player has more unique sets than the other player with or without the soy sauce, but otherwise, it's 4.

Chopsticks: How likely chopsticks are to benefit you depends on what appetizers are in play. They can be pretty good for sashimi, tempura, eels, and tofu, depending on how many there are in play. Generally, though, with two players, chopsticks are only worth taking if the hand they're in is significantly weaker than the other hand.

Spoon: I don't even know if the game allows spoons in a two player game, but if it does, you can only use it to take a card from the hand that you're about to get, so it's basically the same as chopsticks.

Menu: The best time to use a menu is when you think at least one of the four cards you draw will have higher value than any of the other cards in the hand that it's in. Don't overthink it.

Special Order: VPP works very interestingly for special orders. It's basically equal to the average of the number of points you can get by copying your best card and the number of points your opponent can get by copying their best cards, and usually, that's going to be pretty high, so special order should be a high priority.

Takeout box: You should be able to calculate the VPP for a takeout box based on what cards you have that are worth less than two points and what cards your opponent has that are worth less than two points. Most of the time, takeout boxes aren't going to be very valuable until near the end of the round.

Pudding: The strategy for pudding is pretty similar to the strategy for temaki. Just like with the temaki, there is no penalty for getting the fewest if there's only two players. The reward for getting the most is higher, but there will be more puddings in the whole game than there will be temaki in one round, so the value of each card is the same. The main difference is that you don't necessarily know how many puddings there will be, but you will usually need about 4 or 5 to get the most, so either shoot for that, or just let your opponent take all of the puddings and get about one point per card.

Green Tea Ice Cream: Green tea ice cream should be a much higher priority when there are two players than when there are more. Not only are your odds of getting a complete set higher because you have less competition, but you also make it really easy for your opponent if you don't take them. Every green tea ice cream you take can be the difference between getting 12 points and getting 0, and it can also be the difference between your opponent getting 12 and getting 0, so definitely make them a high priority.

Fruit: Fruit has high value regardless of the number of players, and it's no different with two players. The VPP for fruit can range anywhere between 2 and 8, so it should almost always be a high priority. If you have multiple fruit cards to choose from, you can usually better value by getting one that has at least one fruit icon for the fruit you already have the most of, provided it doesn't take you over 5.

Splitting strategy: This is a trick you can use any time there are 3 of a certain type of card and you want to have two and for your opponent to have one. This is most commonly the case with tempuras, eels, and tofu. First, take one of the three cards. If one hand has two and the other has one, the one you take must be from the hand with one. Then, there should be 2 in one hand and none in the other. Wait for your opponent to take one, and then take the other. The only way this strategy can fail is if your opponent gets a chopsticks or a spoon.