We play with chips and dice: Sushi Bar.

Do you like simple and fast games? I admit that I am a big fan of games of eternal games that get complicated, but to play with my son and his friends we need simple games that are learned in a moment and with quick games so that they do not get tired and give them time to finish them. And Sushi Bar is perfect in that regard.

My son is very given to bringing children home in the afternoons to play because it is very cold on the street, so we are always taking out board games to entertain them. The only problem is that if we take out very complex games that we like the most, children are half an afternoon trying to learn and do not enjoy.
Solution?: quick and easy games that if they also serve to take anywhere, are a sure success in my house.

So today I want to recommend Sushi bar, a marvel of a game created by Reiner Knizia and edited by Mercurio that has hooked us since day one.

Sushi Bar is a dice game in which chance and strategy influence equal parts.
In the box we will find 24 chips to play, 5 dice and instructions. I love it because it is very practical to put those chips and dice in a cloth bag and take it on a trip, on a field trip or to school.

It is indicated from 8 years and for 2 to 5 players. On the web they indicate the duration per game of 20 minutes, but once you get loose they are much faster.

Objective and instructions:

The objective of the game is simple: you have to feed the chickens and for that we have to get as many Sushi points as possible at the end of the game.

Of course, we have to use the brain and plan the rolls well because we have chips that add and chips that subtract … and it is mandatory to have both classes.

How to play? The mechanics are simple, rolling the dice to choose which chips we will take according to what comes out. Chickens want Sushi, but the full menu includes bones, so it’s time to choose both.

First you have to know that the chips are divided into two groups: sushi and thorns.
Sushi is positive and adds, thorns are negative and subtract. And no, you can not stay only with Sushi, since in the count you can only add as many Sushi chips as you have thorns. The others are withdrawn.

SEPARATE AND PLACE THE TABS.

To start we separate sushi chips and thorns, mix well and put them upside down in two rows: the sushi above and the thorns below. When they are already in place, we turn them over.
To simplify what we usually do is mix them in a bag and place them one by one as we take it out at random.

ROLL THE DICE.

The game begins. In turns, you have to roll all 5 dice. In each game you can throw them up to 3 times maximum, as long as in each spin you keep at least one.
When you throw them away the first time, you think you want to stay: sushi, thorns or chopsticks.
You have to look at the chips we have placed to see our options. We are interested in taking high values of Sushi and very low values of thorns.

Example of roll: in the first roll we have left 2 sushis, 2 chopsticks and 1 spine. We set aside the 2 sushi to go for a piece of Sushi of +4 or +5 that are in the 3rd and 5th position and throw again the other 3 dice.
In that second roll we get another Sushi and add it to our retired dice. Our goal now is to go for the No. 5 piece of Sushi that has 5 points. For this, we need 5 dice of Sushi.
We collect the remaining 2 dice and roll them again to see if we get the 5.

COLLECT PORTIONS.

The dice determine the position of the tile that we are going to take. With 4 sushi we will take the sushi token nº4, with 3 thorns, the thorn nº3, etc. So as we roll dice we see the position of the chips to decide which one suits us.
When all the dice are rolled, we collect our sushi or thorns chip or steal it from a partner if we have gotten the chopsticks.

The use of chopsticks is simple: with 3 red or 3 blue chopsticks, we can steal the top sushi or thorns chip from another player. If we have 4 chopsticks or more we can choose the chip we want, but without seeing them, for this we will have to have been attentive to see the position of the highest sushi chips or the lowest thorns.

DO THE COUNT.

When there are no chips left to steal, it’s time to do the count. This is where you will understand why it is mandatory to take thorn chips if the chickens do not want them: we can only add as many sushi chips as we have thorns. That is, if there are 5 sushi and 3 thorns, the top two sushi are removed to match our towers of sushi and thorns.
In the event that there are more thorns than sushi, they are not removed.
That is why it is important that we choose thorn chips as low as possible (-1).

When we have the piles equalized, we make the sum total of sushi points and the sum of thorns. We subtract the result of the thorns from the result of the sushi and what remains is our score.

END OF THE GAME.

The player with the most points wins the game. And beware!, the one who took the most sushi points does not always win because it may be the one with the most thorns.

Benefits of playing Sushi Bar in elementary school children.

When we choose games, we mainly look at their mechanics and that they are to our liking, because the main thing is that we like them so much that we want to play again and again. Of course, once you have chosen our favorites, I like them to be games that have hidden benefits when playing with them. That is, without realizing it, children can acquire skills or favor their cognitive development while playing.

In the case of Sushi Bar I have found 4 positive aspects to take into account to take advantage of it with primary school children:

Mental calculation. When it comes to doing the count, let them be the ones who do it, it is very good for them to do that quick mental calculation of addition and subtraction to obtain the result.

Strategy. The first games will surely be crazy, but over time they will see that if they plan their moves well they have more chances of winning by taking high pieces of sushi and the lowest pieces of thorns. Little by little they will test that strategy to achieve their objectives.

Memory and concentration. When they discover the strategy they also discover that it is convenient to steal rations from other players, and for this it is very positive to remember in which position the highest sushi chips are to be able to ask for them in their turn.

Decision making. Once they master the game to go win, they will know that the decisions they make from the first roll of the dice can be decisive in the outcome. Will I go for the sushi or for the thorns?, What if I pass and touch the thorn of -5?, What if I only take the sushi of +1? Let them decide their moves and learn from them.

Fast, fun and for the whole family, this is Sushi Bar. Another point that I love is that it is also ideal for playing only 2 people, something my son and I do many nights before going to sleep.
There are games that with only 2 players is boring or lacking in excitement, but this one is perfect.

Behind the game.

Reinier Knizia is a well-known game creator who has a few successes and awards in his history of more than 600 books and games published. In fact, Sushi Bar is a game of mechanics similar to the famous Piko Piko worm (Pickomino), creation of Knizia and that has several versions, including an expansion.

Mercurio distribuciones, publisher of Sushi Bar, has been publishing games for all ages since 2005 and has such a wide catalog that you will need several hours to see it and choose which one you will take home.
They are responsible for well-known games such as La Morada Maldita, Lama, Speed Cups, Saboteur or Bohnanza.

In its catalog there are hundreds of fun games and many of them with pedagogical values for being useful in various areas such as mathematics, vocabulary and phonemes, concentration and attention, memory or visual discrimination. They are very suitable games to have at home and in the classroom because of their great potential.

But the main thing is that these are games that are fun and encourage socialization. Almost all of their games are 2 to 5 players and have a special section for group games, perfect for parties and gatherings of friends or family.

What we like most about Sushi Bar:

I keep the amount of hours that my son and I are spending playing this game that we love, see how the little one has been overcoming his frustration when he loses and at the same time, improving his strategy so that that does not happen. I feel that the more he plays, the more mature his reasoning and logic, as well as improving the speed of mental calculation.

If we ask the child, he tells us that what he likes most is that it is a game of quick games and so he can seek revenge again and again without getting tired.

We leave you with our video-tutorial of the game with an example of departure.

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