Wasabi

Customer Reviews

Great fun for the family Review by JustADad

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I bought this game because it was a recommended 'casual' family game with a some strategy in it, but not bogged down by complicated rules or taking too long. It fit the bill!

Brings everyone to the table including my non-gamer wife and daughter. Everyone loves the vibrant artwork and how easy it is to play.

Great time had by all! (Posted on 2/28/10)

As enjoyable as the cuisine itself Review by Jasmine

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Wasabi is a simple game that is great for a casual crowd. The rules are fairly basic and the strategy involved is also pretty simple. The aim of the game is to fill your sushi recipes by grabbing ingredients and laying them down on the board in a specific order. There are also special power cards that you can take to help you fill your recipes and the first to complete all the required recipes win the game.

The components of the game is perhaps my chief complaint. However, for the price of the game, they are fairly decent. The ingredients themselves are simply hard cardboard tiles and the menu/screens that are used to hold your recipes is flimsy at best. The Soy Sauce tray, the artwork, and the wasabi cubes are nice, however.

If you are a "core" gamer that loves games like Puerto Rico, stay away! This game is definitely not for you and you will find it bland and boring. The main selling point is the theme itself that helps draw in a casual gamer. The game is very non-threatening and plays quick enough so that you will have enough time to convince your casual friends to try something a little more "core". (Posted on 12/8/09)

A great game with a unique theme Review by Murray

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If you live or visit Vancouver, BC, Canada, you must try out the local sushi as it is unlike any that you can find elsewhere due to the fresh salmon of the area. Even when travelling to places like Hawaii, I tend to crave the deep red salmon sashimi from back home.

This being the case, the sushi themed Wasabi game has a special spot in my heart and in the minds of my gaming groups. It also helps that the game has some decent and unique game mechanics to back it all up, offering an original gaming experience overall.

At the start of the game, you pick ingredients for another player and then draw recipes from a random pile. The production quality of the game is fairly decent and includes some fun containers, like the soy sauce dish for the wasabi cubes and menus to hide your recipes in. The ingredients themselves are just tiles and you will need a good amount of room on your table to lay out all the pieces for the game.

Players take turns placing ingredients on the board and drawing new ingredients. Their goal is to create a horizontal or vertical line that matches their recipe, which will allow them to progress and collect a special power card as well. If they complete a recipe exactly the way (in order) it is shown on their recipe, then they have completed it "in style" and earn a wasabi cube.

As players race to complete all the requisite number of recipes, they can use their special power cards to clear up and/or rearrange the ingredients on the crowded board. Additionally, the dreaded wasabi card can really mess up people's plans by freezing up part of the board.

The game plays well for 4 players but in a 2 player game, typically the first player to earn a special power card has a better chance as, with good planning, they can run a strong chain of recipe completions.

Wasabi is a neat idea and will definitely give you something new to do if you are bored with all the Euro games in your collection. It is pretty quick to play and easy to learn and is decent for casual players to boot. Well recommended. (Posted on 10/5/09)