Kabuto Sumo Board Game Night

Disclosure: I received this Asmodee game from Tryazon in order to facilitate this review. All opinions are my own. I may collect a share of sales from the links on this page if you decide to shop from them.

      Because I am a big fan of Japan, I really like that the concept of the Kabuto Sumo board game is comprised of Japanese based elements. This game is probably inspired by Japan's Rhinosaurus Beetle fighting and sumo wrestling. What I find really enjoyable about Kabuto Sumo is getting to become an active player instead of just being a spectator. This game allows participants to step into the ring and play in the competition. You can even imagine yourself standing in for a beetle bug or Sumo wrestler by proxy.

      The Kabuto Sumo board game reminds me of a cross between pool and the Wizard of Oz arcade game. I think it's reminiscent of pool because you can use your uniquely shaped playing piece to push it out of the ring, much like a pool stick is used to knock balls into pockets. In addition, just like the Wizard of Oz arcade game, the player's goal is to make tokens push out as many tokens as possible. In Kabuto Sumo the disks being pushed do not always go straight. Instead, they get pushed in a circular motion causing the disks to remain in on the board.

      Prior to trying out Kabuto Sumo, I did not anticipate that a game would last as long as it did.  However, due to my friends being very competitive, it made the play time last longer. We were definitely thinking about what strategy to follow, several steps ahead. If you play with a group of four, then you have to take into account what your teammate might do or offer suggestions.

      The Beetle that I had is named Kimarite. which allows me to use the signature move Shiko during my turn. This means that I had the option to think at least one turn in advance if I wanted to place any green discs on top of my blue sumo playing piece. The following turn, I then could choose to activate the special signature ability called Tsukidashi. If my team did not have any green discs, then I would
not qualify to use the signature move. Additionally, if we were running low on discs then it would be unwise to use Shiko as we might run out of discs and end up losing via submission.  Overall, my friends commented that they had fun playing this game together. Hence, my Kabuto Sumo board game night was a Beetle good time, and my friends and I cannot wait to play it again sumo time soon.  

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Kabuto Sumo: amzn.to/3mZxLGg