To set up, place the sumo wrestlers card in the center of the sumo ring. (The sumo ring has only three positions: left, center, and right.) One player sits on the left of the ring, the other on the right. Deal each player a hand of eight cards from a deck that contains 20 cards: 1-5 in four suits.

Each player plays and reveals a card, with the high card playing first in the first trick; if the cards are tied, repeat this action until one player wins or all eight cards have been revealed, in which case you shuffle and re-deal.

The first player plays a card, then the other player must follow suit, if possible. If the second player is off suit, the first player wins; if not, whoever played the higher card wins. In either case, the winner pushes the sumo wrestlers card away from them, then leads to the next trick.