Sushi Go! Modification for Younger Kids

We recently acquired Sushi Go! and have really enjoyed playing it.  We are always on the market for games that work well for two players, are easy to learn, and can be played in 30 minutes or less and Sushi Go! fits that category.  The card drafting mechanic is fun and allows for different strategies even in a two player game.  

As we mentioned earlier, our 5-year-old loves playing games.  Even though Sushi Go! is aimed at ages 8+, she has been able to play it with just a few modifications and absolutely loves it.  As you can see in the picture, the pudding cards are her favorite. 

Here's how we simplified it for her:

• We removed the Tempura, Sashimi, Chopsticks, and Wasabi cards to keep the math simple enough.
• We started with only 5 cards per player to make it easier for her to hold the deck and pick a card.

The scoring of the Maki Rolls was a little confusing to her at first, but she quickly figured it out.  After playing a few times with increased the hand size to 6 and added the Wasabi cards.  We'll probably try adding in the Chopsticks cards soon.

As a bonus, she is getting a lot of arithmetic practice adding up her points at the end of the game and the Wasabi cards have served as an introduction to multiplication.

Do you have any games that you play with younger kids using modified rules?