A frantic party game for 8-24 hands.
The game of Sushi Hands was born in 1974, by the young Japanese exchange student Harushi Makamoto, trying to make new friends in Finland.
Born outside Kyoto, Japan in 1958, Harushi was a shy child.
His only friend was a Finnish Moomin doll, brought back to Japan by his grandmother, from one of her numerous Interrail-trips. He spent hours with the doll, telling it his biggest secrets, grinding it in his sleep. He called it Booloo.
One day, Grandmother died. Her last breath was spent whispering:
Harushi! Touch people with your gift!
Harushi booked a ticket to Helsinki that same night, determined to find his destiny in the land of the kind but silent Moomins.
But now, sitting in a downtown Helsinki bar, Harushi felt strangely lonely. Everyone else here was like him, honorable but quiet, drinking their beer. But no one said a word.
A tap on the shoulder made Harushi turn around. Beside him was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen: she had skin smooth as the Moomin and a smile like Julia Roberts. She did not seem shy at all.
The girl introduced herself as Miinna, but Harushi could not form a single sentence in response. Stuttering a few Japanese phrases, Miinna laughed, her blonde hair dancing around her face.
Frustrated, Harushi put down his fist on the bar.
Miinnas eyes lit up. Slowly, she teased her finger down the darky, sweaty hole of his fist. As Harushi felt the soles of his feet come alive, images of him and Grandmother rolling sushi fell over him.
Maki!, he exclaimed.
Maki!, Miinna nodded enthusiastically.
They repeated this, over and over, making up new sushi pieces and involving the others in the bar.
Nigiri! Temaki! Octopus! The fun would not end.
They made a lot of new friends that night, and when the bar closed, Harushi escorted Miinna home and finally experienced Moomin love:
Harushi rubbed Miinnas wasabi into his sauce, she covered his spicy with her caviar. Embraced and satisfied, they sighed together:
Itadakimas!