Go Nuts for Doughnuts, Sushi Go!, and Bamboleo Review

We are back with another edition of Parental Guidance. The article series where I pull games off the shelf and play them with my parents in the hopes of helping you find new and diverse gateway games to play with your family. As always, I’ll start with a quick summary of what the game is, why I chose it, and then my mother will chime in with her thoughts on the game. So let’s get to it.

Go Nuts for Donuts (review)

Quick Summary:
A tasty looking party game, Go Nuts for Donuts has players collecting doughnuts to try and earn victory points. Each round, a few doughnut cards are laid out in the center of the table. Then players secretly choose a doughnut card to take. If you are the only person to select a card, you claim it. However if more than one player picks the same doughnut, no one gets it!

My Take:
This one seemed easy enough to pull off the shelf. The rules are intuitive and most of the cards have a simple set collection mechanic to them. This one isn’t super high on my list of games I enjoy, but I thought my parents might have fun with it.

Mom’s Take:
I was excited to play this one as I saw this in the store and was going to buy it to play with my granddaughter who loves donuts! Great artwork, and a fast paced game. I like that you could keep an eye on what your opponent was going after and bid on that too so they don’t get it. There is enough strategy in the game to make it a bit more challenging than other similar games. This is one you want to play over if you don’t win to try again!

2-6 Players • Ages 8+ • 20 minutes • $10

Sushi Go! (review)

Quick Summary:
Next to 7 Wonders, Sushi Go! is the quintessential card drafting game. It’s probably the #1 card drafting gateway until people are ready to take on 7 Wonders. The rules are simple, play a card from your hand, and pass the rest to your neighbor. Repeat. The goal is to try and collect sets of points from various cards.

My Take:
The card drafting genre has to be one of my favorite mechanics in all of tabletop gaming, so I’m always itching to find new people to play them with. As I figured 7 Wonders was a bit too advanced for my parents at this point, Sushi Go! was the logical choice.

Mom’s Take:
This is the third or 4th time I’ve played this game, and still was confused as to some of the scoring and what to do with the chopstick card. If I played again, I would probably need to review the directions once again. I also didn’t like that one time you pass to the left and then the other time to the right. I thought the Go Nuts for Donuts was more fun.

2-5 Players • Ages 8+ • 15 minutes • $10

Bamboleo

Quick Summary:
A dexterity game where you are removing wooden pieces from a large, unsteady plate. On your turn, you pick a piece and claim it. If the plate topples over, you lose four points. If not, you earn a point and the next player goes. The goal is to be the first to collect 20 points.

My Take:
My parents have an crazy love affair with the dexterity game Hamsterolle. So when I found another dexterity game from the the same publisher, I figured they’d take to it pretty readily. While I like Hamsterolle much better, Bamboleo is not without it’s charm.

Mom’s Take:
We had a little problem setting this up and getting it to balance. I think it was because we were playing on a table with a top protector, so I would recommend setting it up on the table itself, even though it can be loud when the pieces fall! It’s a nice game that all ages can play, as long as they understand it’s not so easy and you really have to be careful taking off the pieces. If you get frustrated easy, I think you should pass on playing this game. I enjoy dexterity games a lot, and this one was as much fun and as challenging as I was hoping it would be.

2-7 Players • Ages 6+ • 30 minutes • $70