Nightmares of Sushi
Nightmares of Sushi Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Component List
- x30 Sushi cards: Sake (Salmon), Tamago (Egg), Maguro (Tuna), Saba (Mackerel), Hirame (Flounder), Ika (Squid)
- x4 Special Chef cards (Spitz)
- x6 Player tokens
- x1 Starting Player token
- x12 Scoring tokens
- x30 Ability cards
- x2 Scoring cards
Game Setup
For Each Player
Each player chooses a type of sushi and takes all the cards of that type/colour:
- 5 Sushi cards: Grade A, B, C, D and F
- 5 Ability cards: Fortune Cat, Ninjutsu Chin, Swelling Tongue, What's Up? Wasabi, Where's the Sauce?
- 1 Player token and 2 Scoring tokens
Randomly appoint a starting player.
Table Setup
4-player example:
- Players must choose one of their Sushi cards and place it face-down at the side to form a row.
- Leave some space beside the selected Sushi cards for used Sushi cards during the game.
- Place both Scoring cards at the side with Scoring tokens near each Scoring card.
- Leave some space at the centre of the table for playing cards during the game.
- Shuffle the 4 Special Chef cards and place 3 of them at the side of the play area, face-down. The leftover card will not be used for the game.
- Leave some space at the side of the table for a discard pile.
Summary of Each Round
The game is played over 4 rounds.
Each round consists of the following phases:
Choose Cards → Eat Sushi → Reveal Cards → Scoring
Gameplay
Choose Cards
To simulate making Sushi, players must choose a grade of Sushi card from their hand and place it face-down at the centre of the table.
Then, players may play an Ability card (optional) from hand and place it face-down in front of them. In the example shown below, the green player chose not to play an Ability card.
Illustration: four players place their chosen cards. Speech bubbles read "Don't eat it!", "Please eat it!", "It's delicious!" and "......." (the green player's silent bubble).
Eat Sushi
To simulate eating Sushi, players must choose a piece of sushi by placing their Player token either next to other player's Sushi card or a Special Chef card:
- Players place their Player token in clockwise order, starting from the first player.
- Players are not allowed to choose their own Sushi card.
- More than one player is allowed to choose the same Sushi or Special Chef card.
In this example:
- Blue and red player chose to eat green player's Sushi.
- Purple player chose to eat red player's Sushi.
- Green player chose to eat one of the Special Chef's Sushi.
Reveal Cards
Players must first reveal their selected Ability card, and then activate its ability.
Refer to the last page for card descriptions.
Next, reveal all the Sushi cards, including the Special Chef cards if chosen.
Scoring
Players will be awarded their points with:
- Gold points (Positive)
- Penalty points (Negative)
Scoring (Awarded Points)
Illustrations: three Ability cards (Fortune Cat, Ninjutsu Chin, Where's the Sauce?) and two Ability cards (Swelling Tongue, What's Up? Wasabi).
- Some Ability cards award points during the 'Reveal Cards' phase.
- Some Ability cards affect the score for the current round.
Points will be awarded based on the grade of the Sushi Cards eaten or chosen by the player.
- If multiple players chose the same Sushi or Special Chef card, each player will receive the same type and number of points.
- Any player whose Sushi card was not chosen by other players will eat their Sushi themselves and receive that type and number of points.
Grade reference:
- Grade A and B award Gold points.
- Grade C doesn't award points to other players, but 1 Gold point if the owner ate his/her own Sushi.
- Grade D and F award Penalty points.
Scoring (Example)
For this example:
- Blue Player: 4 Gold points, 1 Penalty point.
- Ate green player's Sushi.
- Ate his own Sushi.
- Activated Ability card.
- Purple Player: 1 Gold point, 2 Penalty points.
- Ate red player's Sushi.
- Ate his own Sushi.
- Red Player: 2 Gold points.
- Ate green player's Sushi.
- Green Player: 2 Gold points.
- Ate Special Chef's Sushi.
Scoring (Scoring Cards)
- Players will move their Scoring tokens within the Scoring cards based on the received Gold and Penalty points for the round.
Setup for Next Round
- Sushi cards that were played will be discarded face-up next to the players' own used Sushi card area.
- During subsequent rounds, the next discarded Sushi card will be placed on top of the previous, and players are not allowed to look through the discard piles.
- Chosen Special Chef card(s) and used Ability cards will be discarded face down into the discard pile. They will never be taken back throughout the game.
- Pass the Starting Player token to the player with the highest current Gold points. If there is a tie, the closest tied player clockwise from the previous starting player will take the token.
End Game Victory Condition #1
The game ends after 4 rounds.
Players will determine their final score by adding their final Gold points and then subtracting their Penalty points.
Gold points − Penalty points = FINAL SCORE
The player with the most points wins the game.
- If there is a tie for most points, the tied player with the least Penalty points wins the game.
- If there is still a tie for Penalty points, then the player closest to the last Starting Player in clockwise order wins the game.
In this example:
- Blue player had 7 Gold points.
- Blue player had 2 Penalty points.
- The final score for Blue player would be 7 minus 2 equals to 5.
End Game Victory Condition #2
The first player(s) to reach 10 Penalty points wins the game.
- If more than one player reaches 10 Penalty points in the same round, those players will share the victory.
2 Player Variant
For a 2-player game, there will be a third non-human player without Ability cards.
While the player and game setup are similar to those shown on pages 2-3, the Third Player will randomly place a face-down card at the side, then the four remaining Sushi cards will be shuffled and placed in its deck face-down at the centre of the table.
During the 'Eat Sushi' phase, players can choose the Third Player's deck and receive the points from its Sushi card. The Third Player will not be able to choose a Sushi card or receive points.
At the end of each round, the Third Player's current Sushi card will be discarded face-up to the used Sushi card area, regardless of whether it is chosen.
Ability Card Descriptions
Fortune Cat: (Activates First) Convert 1 Penalty point into 1 Gold point per played Fortune Cat for the round.
- This card only affects the current Penalty points when first revealing the Ability cards, and before revealing Sushi cards.
Ninjutsu Chin: The player will choose a target player (including themselves) to receive one Penalty point, if they is the only one playing this card.
- Swelling Tongue's effect doesn't change this Penalty point to a Gold point.
Swelling Tongue: The player will have Gold points eaten as Penalty points, and Penalty points eaten as Gold points for the round.
What's Up Wasabi?: Points earned while eating other player's or Special Chef's Sushi will be doubled.
- This card effect doesn't apply to eating the player's own Sushi.
Where's the Sauce?: The player receives 2 Gold points, if they is the only one playing this card.