I have a disabled sister who loves to play games. In situations like this, I know not getting cards would be super frustrating for her so rolling dice is what we do to keep it fun. We got some awesome dice from our local game shop and the largest number takes the card. It also helps the game progress a bit faster

I'd be tempted to solve it by dealing out a number of cards equal to the number of players plus half (e.g. 4 players = 4 + 2 = 6). Then I'd resolve as follows: 1) unique bids take their donut 2) clashed donuts are discarded 3) the players who clashed now have to pick from what's left, starting with the player with the lowest score. In case of a draw for lowest, roll dice or something :P 4) now replenish the cards I feel this works better than just people missing cards forever or drawing random cards as compensation as it means that while you'll get a card it'll be likely a less desirable one than a random from the top might give you, plus those penalty cards most people avoid become a lot more frightening when they turn up >:3

I've played this game 3 times. I bought a copy after playing it twice. I like this game. And everyone I've played this game with has liked this game. I've played this with probably 12-15 different people. Tom's major complaint is what I actually think IS the fun part. You're trying to guess what other player's are going to choose. Then you do the Princess Bride thing where you think "Clearly you want the donut in front of you, which means I should chose the donut in front of me... but as a smart man, you know that I would know this, so clearly I should choose the donut in front of you..."

Wow, I've played this multiple times with different families (with kids ranging from 5-10) and we have a lot of fun each and every time! The kids especially like the bluffing and acquiring part of the game (even if they don't manage to acquire the donut that they want!). The artwork is great and there is even a strategy using "Old-Fashioned Donuts" that you can take if you seem to have bad luck getting a lot of donuts. My 9 yo nephew discovered this strategy and won many games with it so sometimes not taking donuts is a good idea too!

I love this game and those I’ve introduced it to have loved playing it as well. We started off playing it incorrectly, where we didn’t remove a card when two or more people blocked each other and that didn’t seem to cause too many problems, just friendly ‘needle’ between friends (“quit going for the same card as me!”). I’d definitely recommend this as a party game and it’s up there with SushiGo for playability in my opinion.

I think the game is great the way it is, but seems to have def rubbed Tom the wrong way! Its currently rated a 7.0 on bgg and I have really enjoyed it so far with 3 and 4 players. The mechanic of not getting a donut because one or more of the other players also selected it is the tension/challenge that drives the game. I've gone 4 plus rounds with no donuts, but still had fun playing. I like what Kenny Johnson said "Tom's major complaint is what I actually think IS the fun part. You're trying to guess what other player's are going to choose."

My daughter and her friends enjoyed it quite a bit. They howled with laughter each time they blocked each other.

I don't know about Sushi Go sequel... Gonuts for donuts is made by a different company. It was sold after the kickstarter campaign to Gamewright.

Interesting review. I don't disagree with your identification of the weakness in the game, but I do disagree with how significant you think this weakness is vis-a-vis the fun of the game. I've played this with my kids, and various friends, on a bunch of occasions and it's gone over well every time. Yes, occasionally (although certainly not every play through) someone seems to be the unlucky player who just can't seem to get many cards. But the whole thing moves so fast that there's little time to sulk about it. Oh well.

I agree with tom on this, a winner takes all on every round does mess it up a bit. there could be a roll off if multiple people go for a card so if you are greedy you are basically a high roller now. big risk big reward. this game could still work with the right group. maybe a variation where you have two more cards then people so you will still have people bumping off each other but not as often. Great review Tom it still looks a like a fun solid game and you pointed out some potential pitfalls.

Nooooo we love this game we have both sushi go and this and go nuts for donuts in our opinion is our 1st place we laugh so much playing this and block each other we have never had someone not getting a donut card at all we all seem to get plenty honestly this is the best me and my hubby play this so much give it another go!

This game is absolutely NOT a sequel to Sushi Go and he couldn't be more wrong about the level of entertainment. I have played this dozens of times with large numbers of people and it is a hit with 90% of those who played. The other 10% really hated it, like Tom. I vastly prefer it to Sushi Go, because you actually have to make choices and it becomes much more of a mind game... I judge this review - not accurate!

Your review started out so positive I bought it on amazon before I finished your review lol. It was only like 8 bucks so maybe I can modify the rules or can it be played like sushi go?

Personally, I had a blast playing this game! Very fun!

I feel like calling it a sequel to sushi go is false. its just too different.

It's not a sequel to Sushi Go! in any way. It just kinda looks like Sushi Go! That was picked up by Gamewright from Daily Magic Games.

To each their own i guess. My kid and his friends that come over love this game.

I always appreciate that your concerned for overall enjoyment of the players of a game, Tom. I loathe games where a player (often me, I admit!) gets left behind or doesn't get to do something of significance. Before you even got to your review, I saw the same flaw of bouncing off other people -- and no way to mitigate! Heck, what they could have done was added tokens (or cards with $ values on them) that got added to the conflicted cards, making them more and more inciting on later turns. In the long run, someone might get a lot of points, but while they're attempting that, other players are racking up points from other cards. It'd also be nice if they had a frequency count on the cards so you could get an idea how many of a single type are left in the deck. Are some cards more rare than others? Lots of ways to fix the game; sounds like the designers were simply okay with overly simple gameplay.

This game is awesome. I agree with what others have said in that it is NOT a sequel to Sushi Go. Also, I would say the element that Tom dislikes so much is exactly what the groups I've played it with find to be fun.

"It's even possible... to get no dougnuts. And i cannot fathom how that is fun'" Sounds alot like Catan to me... .>

It is NOT a sequel to Sushi Go.

Personally i didnt felt it was that bad. It wasnt as good as Sushi Go, but hey... even Sushi Go is bad if you play it all the time. I kinda liked it that you wanted to have the same donut as another player.... it's quite fun to see who is the chicken first. But if you do something else, you can screw that another players game with some other donuts power. So it's not end of the life to be a chicken, you might get your revenge by doing something else. But yeah... not the best of the fillers, but quite fun.

This game is not a sequel to sushi go.

I think you can have a house rule that the round doesn't end with a collision- every player who didn't get a card then selects another number they didn't select and it keeps going until every player gets a card(or all the cards on the board are ones they've already selected).

I thought it had a similar feel to Get Bit!, which you liked, although I've noticed it's fallen off the Top 100 in recent yrs.

Now I'm really hungry for donuts and I don't even particularly like donuts lol

Maybe a rule like "if you number mach with other player, draw a card from the deck" can fix the game a little

We've never had that issue with our group, played it a lot and no one has ended up with no cards. And as everyone else said, it's not a sequel to sushi go

Eh it's not that bad. Also I don't get the "sequel to sushi go" it has the same art, that's it. If you're not getting anything it's because you aren't willing to diversify enough in your card selection. Its a fast game. Like under 20 minutes even with 6 players. Of course someone who gets blocked a lot isn't having fun. *Their losing*. Anyways 2 thumbs up from me, especially if you're tired of sushi go.

This mechanic is the same one Get Bit! uses, but hearing Tom's review it seems to me as well that it could be frustrating game to play, unlike get bit! where even if you have same numbers and don't move, it wont mean that shark will bite you (there could be someone else behind you).

I usually agree with your reviews. But we LOVE this game. Even when we keep trying to get the same card as other people, we still have fun, and we laugh about it. We have gifted this game to several other people, and everyone else has loved it, too. I like that it's unpredictable and you have to try to figure out what other people are going to want. And it always makes us hungry for donuts, haha. I think the strategy of the game is good, because it's different based on who you are playing with. Different people are drawn to different cards. So just so people know, a lot of people really love this game.

Hmm so many donut themed games lately. Might start flooding the market like Zombies and cthulhu. "Zombie donuts for the Elder Gods" game confirmed

I agree with people this review is clearly UNFAIR. I haven't played this game yet, I have played "Crossing", which have the same main mechanic, though. I usually lose, and half of the time I don't get gems because I choose same spot as others and I can't blame the game for this. It's just I'm either to greedy or can't read people. Or both. Anyway it's pretty fun and we laugh when it happens. I think the scoring in cards kind of adds a new layer of strategy here.

I'm wondering could you just use the drafting rules from Sushi Go as an alternative to the not fun base game rules.

What about just having a house rule saying if you clashed and got nothing you just take a card from what wasn’t won in the round? Sure it isn’t exactly what you wanted for your strategy because someone else got it but st least it’s something?

If your opinion matches Tom's, you can limit the number of players to 4 and lay out 3 more cards than there are players. (Drafting these cards probably wouldn't work - they're just not designed for it.)

But the important question is: did you like the box better than the tin? ;D

Tom, I think, like yourself, I'd prefer Sushi Go. I have that and the party version, (though I don't eat real sushi).

thanks! I think I just dodged a 'mass of family arguments' bullet. I really appreciate it!

Possible fix: If two people pick the same one, instead of getting nothing they each draw top card of deck and the one they picked is replaced.

The common bids blocking each other is a major drag.

That's Just How The Cookie Crumbles

Is this game fun, then? 😅

What if you put 2-3 more donuts out than players, instead of just one? I mean of course in a 2-3 player game.

It's not a sequel!!!!!!

Tom sure didn't have a problem with the auction system when it was in Viceroy...

Wow. What an ill-informed review. As people have said, this isn't connected to Sushi Go in any way. If you don't get any cards you're playing badly. No game needs to mitigate bad play, that isn't the job of the rules and isn't a reflection on the quality of the game. My group plays this a lot as a starter game. It's fast, fun and the scores are usually close. The gameplay is about second-guessing the other players and trying not to be obvious yourself. I've come to expect more from the Dice Tower. This lacked any insight.

Not sure why they didn't have people who clashed draw off the top of the deck. You still get something bit it might not be useful...but it could lead you in a new direction. Light, fluffy games would NOT be punishing.

Wow! 0 for 2 with 2017 donut games for Tom! The apocalypse is nigh!! :)

Sounds like house rules would make it more fun

Maybe have the players who bid the same draw a card instead of getting the one they bidded on?

Sushi go is better

Anyone here from Dope Or Nope?

The selection process is much more akin to something like "Get Bit" (e.g. - if multiple players select the same number/donut, neither gets any beneficial effect). My wife and I have taken to playing "double handed" Donuts because the more fun cards are at the higher player levels; so, we'll select 2 donuts per round rather than 1, and treat it as a faux-4P game. And, for those people saying "shame, it looked interesting..." Find someone to play it with you and try it for yourself. Tom and the gang do a lot for the gaming community, but letting a singular review by a single person dictate your entire view of that game is, with due respect, absolutely stupid. It wasn't for Tom; but surprise (!!!), you might have vastly different tastes.

I like that the plain donuts are sad, because no one likes them. ;P

As soon as you described the mechanics I immediately wondered what happens when you keep not getting a card? Answer is nothing. Shame as it looks really nice

Replace the bidding with more of 12 Days and I could see this game being alot better. You could also try and implement Sushi Go rules where everyone just draws up and does the same thing.....but really if you are doing that then play 12 Days or Sushi Go they do it better. Shame too I really wanted to like this game and considered it to be more competition to Sushi Go, but sadly that bidding mechanic ruins it.

Love sushi go , thought I would get this as a change, wow I think I have to pass based on this description.

Big miss on this "review".

Yep didnt get any doughnuts first 4 turns, started randomly picking a card after that....terrible

Completely agree. This game sucked.

Makes me has a sad :(

Art looks great, game-play looks meh. I'd play Sushi Go, Crossing, or Diamant over this any day.

I often have trust issues with this kind of channel because it feels like all games are reviewed positively (probably so publishers sends their games to be reviewed positively and get more known), so seeing a negative review really helps with that sorta thing, subscribed :)