You don’t often find a boardgame that is hard to compare with anything you’ve ever played. Kabuto Sumo falls into this category. This beetle wrestling game involves shoving pieces into an arena. But the simplicity of it can be misleading. It’s a game that is both exciting and unpredictable, just like a real wrestling match. We had a great time playing this with Petrana Radulovic in our latest episode of Overboard.

In a match Kabuto Sumo players try to push their opponent’s wrestler piece out of their arena. They can do this either individually or in a two-person team. The players do this by pushing small, medium or large pieces into a board of discs, beetles and other objects. It is common for one or more pieces of the board to be knocked off. It’s possible to knock out a player’s beetle, which means that their opponent wins. Most likely, however, they will just move a few regular pieces that are added to the player’s stock for future turns.

We couldn’t think of a better comparison to this “disc-pushing” gameplay than a boardgame. It was the coin-push games that you find at Chuck E. Cheese and bowling alleys.

These “games” may be very different from Kabuto Sumo but they share one thing: They both trick players into believing that pushing discs along a straight path will be simple.

When you push two or three discs together, they can move in all kinds of unexpected directions. It pays off just enough to make it worth the risk, if, for example, you can push a desirable piece out of the ring, or maybe even a competitor, from across the arena. You (and your partner) will need to make a decision at every turn whether you want to be safe or risk everything. This is what makes feel as a thrilling bout of wrestling, even though you are only pushing discs.

The wrestlers add even more color and chaos. Each player chooses a wrestler who has two signature moves at the beginning of a Kabuto Sumo game. You can add a new tactical element to your game by using one of these moves. You can steal pieces from your opponent if they touch your wrestling piece or get an extra turn if you are on the edge.

You can also use your signature piece to push into the arena in place of a standard piece. These signature pieces are extremely useful but they usually cost a few pieces.