A little bit of style applied to simple game mechanics can go a long way in game design. That’s a methodology Canadian developer Frima has taken to heart with its first Facebook title, Rock Paper Sumo. Filled to the brim with well-done visuals and satisfying animations, the game is certainly nice to look at — although its simplicity leaves open the question of whether the core mechanics are enough to bring in the users.

As one might expect, Rock, Paper, Sumo is basically a glorified game of rock, paper, scissors, determining the outcome of matches through luck and intuition. Players start out learning the ropes quickly and easily enough. Each day, they can issue a set number of challenges to friends and other Sumo players, earning points and coins along the way. For each challenge, players will select rock, paper, or scissors for three rounds or simply select a pre-chosen “gambit” (i.e. Avalanche, for three rock throws). Frima also makes use of an older social mechanic, requiring the challenged player to accept within a finite amount of time or forfeit the match.

As players win, they also earn points to move up the game’s leaderboard, which is presented in a rather unique pyramid of Facebook profile images. However, in order to earn greater volumes of points, faster, players must periodically train.

Sumo training comes in two parts: physical training and, of course, eating. The physical training is actually fairly reminiscent of many Facebook role-playing titles as each of the four routines available has some semblance of a cool down time before it can be performed again. This ranges from a “weekly allowance” at every five minutes, to a practice fight every 12 hours. Additionally, for every seven practice fights, players can participate in a “Master Battle.” For each of these tasks, the reward is an in-game currency called Bento Bucks, which is used to purchase needed items in order to progress.

Each day, players can also consume up to three high calorie meals to increase their sumo avatar’s weight. Two can be bought via Bento Bucks, while a third can be received as a gift from friends. Each meal is given a star rating — one to three — and is typically more expensive the more effective it is. The bigger the meal, the more weight you gain, and the heavier the avatar, the more points are earned with each victory. Obviously, this ends up moving players up the leaderboards at a much faster clip.

Beyond food, Bento Bucks, as well as yet another purchasable virtual currency dubbed Dojo Dollars, can be used to customize a player avatar. Considering that the wrestlers don’t exactly wear much, there is a surprising amount of customization to be had, ranging from tattoos and shades to mawashis and top knots.

Once players get into the swing, the biggest problem with the game quickly becomes apparent: the requirement to challenge random individuals, and for those opponents to either accept within a set period of time or forfeit.

Frankly, there really is no reason to have players consciously accept challenges. The decision to do so was likely made to let players select their trio of rock, paper, scissors throws, but with so many games allowing users to select pre-planned defenses (e.g. NanoStar Siege), requiring acceptance and waiting seems both unnecessary and boring. Moreover, forcing the challenger to wait takes away the pleasure of watching a match. One of the stand out features of newer Facebook RPG, Mercenaries of War is that you can actually watch your mercenaries battle, take and react to damage, and explode when killed in a detailed and satisfying way. It’s visually rewarding, and watching two stylized sumo go at it could be just as fun and addicting, yet that is lost because, again, you have to wait for a a player to accept a challenge before anything happens.

On another note, the weight mechanic doesn’t feel like it’s truly part of the game’s core mechanic. It is almost like it was added as an afterthought to enhance the results of a match, rather than help determine the match itself. It is, usually, infinitely more gratifying to incorporate training that can make the user feel stronger.

Overall, Rock, Paper, Sumo is a well-made game and does a lot with its overly simplistic concept. It has a wonderful style to it, and is actually pretty amusing to watch. Unfortunately, the methods of integrating the challenges and core elements of the game feel extraordinarily outdated and do not grant the user any immediate gratification. Further, the weight mechanics, while not bad, just don’t feel all that deeply integrated into the core of the game itself. In the end, Frimo’s app is good, proven by the fact that it is steadily growing, and is now north of 24,000 monthly active users, but it could still be something much, much greater.