Sushi Go! Pudding Strategy and the Final Round

Pudding is the slowest race in Sushi Go!. You collect it across all three rounds, it stays in front of you between rounds, and it scores only once, after the third round. That makes it easy to forget and decisive at the end. This lesson covers what pudding is worth, how ties work, and how to play the final round. Everything here follows the official rules.

The rules in short

• Most pudding scores 6. Ties split the 6, ignoring any remainder.
• Fewest pudding, counting players with none, loses 6. Ties split the loss, ignoring any remainder.
• Everyone tied: nobody scores anything for pudding.
• Two players: nobody loses points for pudding. Only most pudding scores.
• Tiebreaker: if players tie for the most points at the end, the one with the most pudding cards wins.

How many puddings a game deals

There are 10 pudding cards in the deck. Not all of them come out, because some of the deck is never dealt. Here is the average number dealt over a full game, worked out as cards dealt in three rounds times 10, divided by 108:

So in a four-player game, each player gets about two puddings on average if they are shared evenly. Three puddings is often enough to lead or tie for the lead. Zero almost always means last.

What one pudding is worth

With three or more players, the gap between most and fewest is 12 points: plus 6 at the top, minus 6 at the bottom. A single pudding can move you across that gap or nowhere at all.

• Your first pudding is often the most valuable. In a four-player game, going from zero to one can move you out of last place. If you would otherwise be alone at the bottom, that card is worth 6 points.
• Sharing last place splits the loss. Two players tied for fewest lose 3 each. Three tied lose 2 each.
• Your pudding that breaks a tie for most is worth 3 points in a two-way tie: from 3 to 6.
• A pudding that changes nothing is worth nothing, except as the tiebreaker.

The cheapest points in the game

Avoiding last place is usually cheaper than winning first. The player chasing most pudding has to outpace everyone. The player avoiding last only has to beat one person. When pudding comes around and you have none, it is often the best card in the hand, even over a sure 2 or 3 points.

At two players, this flips. There is no penalty for fewest, so pudding is a 6-point race for one prize. Take it when it is close; ignore it when your opponent is far ahead.

Round by round

Round one. A pudding in your first hand is worth a look. Taking one early means you are not at the mercy of round three. But do not give up a sure set for it.

Round two. Count. Write the pudding totals on the score sheet. If you have zero and others have one or two, start fixing it now.

Round three. Every pudding left is the last chance anyone has. Know the counts and know how many puddings are probably still out: the deck has 10 in total, and you can subtract the ones already taken.

Playing the final round

The last round has no future to plan for, so judge every card on its points this round plus its effect on pudding and the final standings.

• Know the score. Ask the scorekeeper for totals before round three starts. A player 15 points behind needs big swings; a player 3 points ahead needs safe ones.
• Leading? Block. Take the card that finishes your closest rival’s set, even if it scores less for you.
• Trailing? Take risks that can pay: a sashimi start, the maki lead, the pudding that moves you off the bottom and maybe pushes a rival onto it.
• Close on points? Pudding is the tiebreaker. One extra pudding can decide a tied game.

The last few picks

In round three, once a hand has gone all the way around the table, you know every card left in it. The last picks of the game are fully known. Lesson 11 shows how to count them, so the final cards you take and the final cards you pass are both chosen on purpose.

The habit

Track pudding on paper. A line at the top of the score sheet, updated after each round, turns the slowest race in the game into an easy one to win, or at least an easy one not to lose.