Sumo Sumo Slot Review 2024

Sumo Sumo from ELK Studios takes us to Japan for a taste at their latest game centred around the ancient Japanese sport.

Sumo (相撲, sumō) wrestling originated as a performance to entertain Shinto deities, and along with it came many rituals, like the symbolic purification of the ring with Salt. Japan is very much a country of conservative tradition with practices that are passed through the ages, and many are alive and well today.

The rules of Sumo Wrestling are simple. The first wrestler to exit the ring loses. We’ve a feeling that the innovative ELK Studio might make Sumo Sumo more complicated than the sport itself with their tendency to include innovative features.

Sumo Sumo Slot – The Base Game and Features

Sumo Sumo is a 5 reel slot with up to 259 ways to win. Forming a win requires at least 3 of any symbol to connect from left to right on adjacent reels starting from the left-most reel.

The highest paying symbol is the Red Sumo, and he’s followed by the Blue Sumo.

Sumo Sumo is playable from as little as £/€0.20 per spin and as much as £/100 per spin.

Sumo Stacks

Brace yourself for this one because the explanation for Sumo Stacks is quite in-depth

Sumo Symbols may appear stacked atop each other. Only in this state is the stack Walking Multiplier Wild Symbol. The amount of sumo symbols stacked within a Wild Sumo Stack determines its multiplier value.

When a win line connects through multiple Wild Sumo Stacks, The Wild Sumo Stack Multipliers are applied multiplicative to provide the final winline multiplier.

Wild Sumo Stacks are created by winning on multiple sumos within a winline. Sumo Symbosl within that winline stack onto the last sumo symbol of the same type present in the inline to create a Wild Sumo Stack. When Sumos are contributing to multiple winlines, sumos may stack onto shorter winlines to provide multiple Wild Sumo Stacks

Creating Wild Sumo Stacks awards a respin. Sumo symbols that vacate their position respawn before spinning out. Wild Sumop Stacks initially begin to walk rightwards 1 reel during a respin. 1 Reel position is traversed during a respin. On reaching the last reel, the Wild Sumo Stack starts to walk leftwards 1 reel.

When Wild Sumo Stacks are on the reels, any win awards a respin. A horizontally adjacent Sumo symbol to a Sumo Wild Stack of the same type adds itself to the Wild Sumo Stack and awards a respin. During a respin, horizontally adjacent Wild Sumo Stacks of the same type merge.

Sumo Brawl

During a respin, when opposite type Wild Sumo Stacks are present on the same row, the rightmost Wild Sumo stack runs at the leftmos Wild Sumo Stack causing a brawl. The largest Wild Sumo Stack always wins the brawl, multiplying its value by the value of the losing Wild Sumo Stack. When equal value Wild Sumo Stacks brawl, the victor is chosen at random. The losing Wild Sumo Stack is removed from the reels. Wild Sumo Stack interactions may redirect the direction the Wild Sumo Stack travels.

Speedboat Bonus

The Speedboat Bonus game is awarded by landing 3 bonus symbols in the normal mode or within Free Spins, and 3 lives are awarded.

The Speedboard symbol is awarded at the start of the bonus game with an initial x-bet value, and unoccupied positions on the reels spin to reveal a symbol, consuming a life in the process. If a symbol lands in the line of sight, north, south, east or west to the Speedboat symbol, the lives are reset to 3. The Speedboat travels across the reels to collect the landed symbol.

Collecting a symbol removes the symbol from its position, and the multiplier from the collected swimmer symol is added to the speedboat value.

If the Speedboat Sumo collects a Wakeboarder Sumo, then the Wakeboarder sumo adds the collected symbol x-bet to its own value. The Wakeboarder counter is then activated. The Wakeboarder sumo attaches itself to the back of the Speedboat symbol, and for every new position the Wakeboarder Sumo symbol travels it will increase its value.

The Wakeboarder counter increases its step value per additional Wakeboarder Sumo collected. When the collected symbol is a Ramp symbol then the speedboat x-bet value and wakeboarder counter is multiplied by the value of the ramp. When the collected symbol is a Harpoonist symbol or Turbo Harpoonist symbol, the speedboat adds the collect symbol xbet value to its own.

Harpoonist and Turbo Harpoonist symbols increase the values of all uncollected Swimmer Sumos and Wakeboarder Sumos by its own x-bet value on landing and for subsequent speedboat bonus game spins while uncollected.

The speedboat bonus game ends when all lives are lost and no collection is possible. The win amount is the summation of the Speedboat Value and the Wakeboarder counter value.

Sumo Sumo Free Spins

The Sumo Sumo Free Spins looks to showcase the potential of the Sumo Stacks.

To land it you’ll need 2 Free Spin symbols, and 6 Free Spins are awarded. Wild Sumo Stacks stay in place between Free Spins, and they do not spin out of play on reel 1.

This can result in some huge sumo stack symbols, and subsequently, huge wins.

Sumo Sumo X-iter Bonus Buy

Those outside of the UK are able to utilise a Bonus Buy Feature.

• Bonus Hunt – Costs 2x the bet and increases the chance for a Speedboat Bonus or Free Spins.
• Brawl Mode – Costs 25x the bet for a guaranteed Brawl
• Speedboad Bonus – Costs 100x the bet for a Speedboat Bonus
• Free Spins – Costs 500x the bet for Free Spins

The RTP for all X-iter game modes are 94%

Sumo Sumo – Our Verdict

ELK Studiso has shown their mettle this year with a bunch of slots that shows everyone what they’re made of.

Sumo Sumo is a very complicated game to explain. You could well read this review and leave with no idea on how it works, and there’s even a chance that you could be even more confused. ELK Studios has pushed their imaginations to the limits with this one with innovative features and an entertaining theme.

When we first loaded Sumo Sumo we thought we were getting a fairly straightforward slot based on the Japanese sport of Sumo Wrestling, but the Speedboat Sumo Feature was both surprising and funny. Again though, it’s confusing and it’s one of those slots where you’ll want to play it a couple of times before you can figure it out, and even then you might just have to watch, wait and hope for big things to happen.

For the Speedboat bonus you want as many symbols as possible within the line of sight of the Speedboat Sumo, and for the Free Spins round you want the Sumo Stacks as high as they can possibly go. If memory serves us correctly, Sumo Sumo is the first where their ‘Super’ Bonus Round is completely different to that of the normal round. 2 Scatters are needed to trigger the Free Spins mode, but the cost of the X-iter Bonus Buy feature might suggest that it’s as hard to land as any other Super Bonus at 500x the bet.

We tested both a fair amount, and both had enormous appeal. The Sumo Sumo Free Spins is obviously the better mode, but you wouldn’t be disappointed with a Speedboat Bonus at all.

Win potential in Sumo Sumo looks great at 25,000x. It might not be as high as other ELK Slots, but it’s a very respectable figure nonetheless.

All in all, Sumo Sumo is quite complex but very worth a spin if you’re open to surrending yourself to confusion while you figure it out.