Kabuto Sumo

About the game

What is Kabuto Sumo?

Spring time in Japan means the return of the rhinoceros beetles — "Kabutomushi", which is Japanese for "helmet bug" — and their athletic contests of dominance. Out in the wild, you can find them butting heads trying to show off their strength and impress their insect friends with their wrestling skills. This is the origin of the phenomenal World Insect Wrestling Championship. In Kabuto Sumo, you are one of the contending beetles that is battling for supremacy in the ring and your place in the pantheon of legendary wrestlers. The gameplay of Kabuto Sumo resembles the coin-pusher arcade games in which you strategically drop quarters and anxiously anticipate coins cascading off the platform. This game features a similar experience, with you trying to strategically slide pieces onto the board and push the other players out of the ring. It's an exciting combination of dexterity, strategy, and luck. —description from the publisher

How it plays

Mechanics

On the shelf

Categories

Questions players ask

Questions to bring to BoardGameBrain

• How do setup and the first turn work in Kabuto Sumo?
• When does scoring happen and what ends the game?
• How should the table resolve an unusual timing or rules interaction?