Rock, Paper, Scissors Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Rock, Paper, Scissors (sometimes with the elements in its name permuted and/or Rock replaced with Stone and/or Paper with Cloth, but also known as Roshambo, Rochambeau, Janken, Mora, Gawi-Bawi-Bo, JanKenPon or Farkle) is a popular hand game most often played by children. It is often used in a similar way to coin flipping, odd or even, throwing dice or drawing straws to randomly select a person for some purpose, though unlike truly random selections it can be played with skill if the game extends over many sessions, because one can often recognize and exploit the non-random behavior of an opponent.Various sports, including ultimate frisbee and university debating, may use Rock, Paper, Scissors to determine which team gets the opening play (rather than a coin toss). Similarly, uncertain calls, or even the whole game in case of rain, may be decided by a quick Rochambeau. It is also often used as a method for creating appropriately biased random results in live action role-playing games, as it requires no equipment.
The game originated in Egypt at around 2000 BC and was then passed to Greece and then on to the Romans. In ancient Rome it was named Micatio and playing it was called micare digitis, literally to "flash the fingers". As time passed the name became Mora which is a corruption of the verb micare. It was so common in ancient Rome that there was a proverb to denote an honest person: Dignus est quicum in tenebris mices, which meant: So trustworthy, that one might play Mora with him in the dark. It was so common that micatio was used to settle disputes over merchandise sales in Roman forums. This practice was later banned by Apronius, prefect of the city.History
| Each of the three basic hand-signs (from left to right: rock, paper and scissors) beats one of the other two. | ||
Two players each make a fist. They count together "1...2...3...Go!", "Rocks...Paper...Scissors... Shoot!" or "Rock...Paper...Scissors!" while simultaneously bouncing their fists. On "Shoot", "Go", or "Scissors", each player simultaneously changes their fist into one of three "weapons":
- Rock (or "stone"): a clenched fist.
- Paper: all fingers extended, palm facing downwards, upwards, or sideways (thumb pointing to the sky).
- Scissors: forefinger and middle finger extended and separated into a "V" shape.
- Rock blunts Scissors (rock wins)
- Scissors cuts Paper (scissors win)
- Paper covers Rock (paper wins)
Often times, the short game is repeated many times so that the person who wins two out of three or three out of five times wins the entire game.
Strategy between human players obviously involves using psychology to attempt to predict or influence opponent behavior. It is considered acceptable to use deceptive speech ("I'm going to play a rock") to influence your opponent.
Mathematically optimal play (according to game theory) is a simple matter of selecting randomly, and so the game may be considered trivial in that sense when played in a way that eliminates psychology, as with a computer. But "optimal" in this sense means only "incapable of being defeated more than expected by chance", while it does not imply that the random strategy is best at taking advantage of a suboptimal opponent. In fact, if the opponent is human or a non-random program, it is almost certain that he plays suboptimally and that a modified strategy can exploit that weakness. This is easily demonstrated by Roshambot, a computer program that easily defeats some human players (as does its author Perry Friedman, who won an $800 competition against seven opponents including former world poker champion Phil Hellmuth in August 2001). Poker player Darse Billings of the University of Alberta organizes a computer Roshambo competition to explore these possibilities, and their application to computer game play in other fields (notably poker, in which exploiting an opponent's non-random behavior is an important part of strategy).
One of the first tricks learned by a Roshambo novice is to hold back a throw of paper until the last possible moment to dupe an opponent into believing that you may actually be throwing a rock. This allows you the extra few milliseconds for fine-tuning your approach and delivery. Both paper and scissors also have this ability; however, unless you are employing a "double-back" strategy, cloaking a paper throw is likely to draw an instinctive paper from your opponent.
The opening ritual before the actual throws are made ("1..2..3..Go!"), called "priming", is intended to get both players in sync so as to ensure simultaneous delivery of throws. This can be used to an advantage when two players are meeting for the first time, since it is often unclear as to what the priming speed will be. The tendency is to default to the priming speed of the faster player. This allows the faster priming player the luxury of dictating the flow of play and causes their opponent to dedicate more energy to "catching the prime" rather than concentrating on delivering an effective throw.
There are multiple variations on Rock, Paper, Scissors of varying popularity and humor content. These roughly fall into three types: number of players, names of symbols (weapons), and number of symbols.
One of the most popular is called "Cat, Microwave, Tinfoil". Cat beats tinfoil by ripping it up, tinfoil beats microwave by starting a fire, and microwave beats cat by cooking it. This version was created because, to the creators of Cat Microwave Tinfoil, it doesn't make sense that paper beats rock by covering it (as it doesn't damage the rock, while on the other hand it can destroy the paper by tearing it).
Bulldog, Mongoose, Cobra is another variation, with Bulldog beating Mongoose, Mongoose beating Cobra, and Cobra beating Bulldog. This is the only known variation where sound effects are ritualized and crucial - if you fail to make the Cobra's hissing sound, for example, it is powerless against the Bulldog.
Hunter, Gun, Lion has Hunter beating Gun, Gun beats Lion, and Lion beats Hunter.
In Ninja, Cowboy, Lion, Ninja beats Cowboy, Cowboy beats Lion, and Lion beats Ninja.
In Cow, UFO, Microbe, Cow eats Microbe, UFO dissects Cow and Microbe contaminates UFO.
In another scheme, Hero beats Bear, Bear beats Maiden, and Maiden beats Hero. This version is typically played with the entire body; the specific stances vary. One version is called Bear, Housewife, Cowboy. Players begin by standing facing away from each other approximately 1 meter apart, as if preparing for a duel. They count to three, and on "Go", each player jumps 180 degrees into one of three poses. The Bear pose has legs apart and arms up with hands formed into claws with an optional roar sound effect. Bear eats Housewife. The Housewife pose has legs together and arms close to the body in a gesture of surrender with an optional eek sound effect. Housewife marries Cowboy. The Cowboy pose has legs apart with both hands at the hips in the traditional gun signals of thumbs straight up, index fingers pointing forward and other fingers curled, with optional bang sound effect. Cowboy shoots Bear.
Another variation was presented on That 70's Show: Foot, Cockroach, Nuclear bomb. Foot beats cockroach by smashing it, nuclear bomb beats foot by blowing it up, cockroach beats nuclear bomb by surviving the blast.
Australians often play the game as "scissors...paper...rock!", with emphasis placed on the word "rock".
Due to the influence of the Japanese-Brazilians, Brazilians prime the game as "jan...ken...po!", with emphasis placed on the "po". The throw is made as "po" is called, so Brazilians only have two calls to synchronize the play.
Piers Anthony presents a fictional variation of this game as a plot device in his fantasy series Xanth called Fire, Water, Sand. There are two different schools of thought on how the elements interact. Mermaids believe that Water quenches Fire, Fire melts Sand, and Sand covers water. Dragons believe that Fire evaporates Water, Water dilutes Sand, and Sand puts out Fire. This misunderstanding is the cause of a long-standing feud between the two clans.
Another version of this is Rock Paper Scissors Fire Water. This is a slightly more nuanced version, and is especially common among the ultimate frisbee community. Fire beats rock, paper, and scissors, but loses to water. Conversely, water defeats fire and loses to everything else. However, a player is restricted to one use of fire in the course of his or her life. Thus, the subject of when to "throw fire" is quite controversial.
The game of Monkey Kombat from Escape From Monkey Island is effectively a five-object variation, with stances (known as Anxious Ape, Bobbing Baboon, Charging Chimp, Drunken Monkey and Gimpy Gibbon) replacing the objects. The trickiest part of this exercise is the learning of the transitions between the stances (achieved by permutations of the four sacred monkey words Ack, Oop, Eek and Chee).
Dynamite is an example of a trump play. It is expressed as the extended index finger or thumb, defeats only rock, but is defeated by either scissors or paper. Therefore, anything dynamite will beat, paper will beat; and anything dynamite will tie, paper will tie or beat. Given that paper performs better by tying against another paper, it is always better to use paper than to use dynamite, and dynamite is useless. In game theory, it is said that paper has weak dominance over dynamite.
Fire and water are also potential "trumps", and have been used in ultimate frisbee tournaments. Fire will beat any of the standard weapons (rock, paper, scissors), but because of the power its play is restricted to a single use in the player's entire lifetime. Water may be played as many times as one wishes, but will lose to anything except fire.
Another possible addition is that of well to the original three. Well beats both rock and scissors, because when a rock or a pair of scissors are thrown down a well, they'll fall, but loses to paper because when a paper sheet is thrown, it is likely that it will simply float to the side of the well. The use of this new weapon makes for an extremely unbalanced game, since it doubles the chances of winning while retaining the same amount of chances of losing. In principle, this variation makes Rock useless (as Well beats Scissors and loses to Paper just like Rock does, yet Well beats Rock) and replaces it, leaving the players with the same game and different symbols.
Yet another variation includes string, which wraps around both Rock and Paper, but is cut by Scissors. As Well renders Rock useless, this variation renders Paper useless, as String defeats it and interacts with Rock and Scissors the same.
What makes this version unusual is first, that the hand symbols are different (involving poses with both arms); and second, that the game does not end when one player beats another, but rather when a player with the advantage gets the other player to follow this disadvantaged pose with another in which both players are displaying the same one of the three symbols.
This game is addictive because of its sudden reversals and the quick thinking it requires, and because it can be played anywhere with no props.
In the TV series South Park, Cartman and his friends play the game "I'll Rochambeau you for it", by kicking the opponent in the crotch. The first one to fall over loses the game. This of course means the first person to go is usually the winner. This is a way of choosing, and it's called Rochambeau, yet it is unrelated to the actual game of Rochambeau.
There are Roshambo tournaments held occasionally. The 2003 Molson Canadian Rock Paper Scissors International World Championships held in Toronto, Ontario were widely reported. Some of the Roshambo websites spoof comparable sites for other games. Real Roshambo tournaments are an interesting psychological exercise. Obviously, the strategy dictated by game theory is to pick each choice 1/3 of the time randomly. However, a human cannot be truly random, and the skill in the tournament would involve exploiting your opponent's nonrandom throws.
In Japan, Janken tournaments are often held on television variety programs, especially between popular actors, and the game is also often used by advertising kiosks as tool for audience participation.
Rochambeau is also often used as an example of the mathematical concept of non-transitivity. A transitive relation R is one for which a R b and b R c implies a R c. A reflexive, antisymmetric, and transitive relation on a set is known as a partial ordering, from which notions of "greater" and "less" follow. A game option which is "greater" than another is closer to being optimal, but such a notion does not exist in Rochambeau: The relation used to determine which throws defeat which is non-transitive. Rock defeats Scissors, and Scissors defeat Paper, but Rock loses to Paper. (In fact, Rochambeau could be called "antitransitive"'' because if A strictly defeats B, and B strictly defeats C, A necessarily loses against C.)
This is an Article on Rock, Paper, Scissors. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Rock, Paper, Scissors Strategies
Cheating
Variations
Number of players
The game is easily adaptable to more than just two players. This variant works remarkably well, even for large groups. The rules are the same, with the following exceptions:
Names of symbols
Another variation involves changing the names of the symbols. Each symbol has its own gesture associated with it. Number of symbols
The number of symbols and win conditions used in the game may be varied with most of the original strategy remaining intact. The number of symbols can be decreased to two, increased above three, or "trump" weapons can be added. Odd or Even (2)
In Odd or Even, one player selects odd or even. The only choice in weapons are "one" (a fist with outstretched thumb) or "two" (a fist with outstretched thumb and forefinger). The values signified by the players are added, with the first player winning on a correct prediction about the result. With a choice between two values (it does not matter that they are 1 and 2, only that they are not both odd or even) the game is balanced, and there is no benefit from making the call. Should you allow three (or any odd number) values to choose from, either odd or even would be a more probable outcome with both players acting randomly. (That is because n choices make n2 possible outcomes. Squares of even numbers are even, squares of odd numbers odd.)Five object variations
There exists a five-weapon variation called Rock Paper Scissors Spock Lizard, which is carefully crafted so that each weapon defeats exactly two other weapons, and is defeated by exactly two other weapons. Specifically, rock defeats scissors and lizard, paper defeats rock and Spock, scissors defeat paper and lizard, Spock defeats scissors and rock, and lizard defeats Spock and paper. The game can be similarly altered for 7, 9, 11, etc.. As long as there are an odd number of weapons, a balanced game can be created, with each weapon beating half the weapons and losing to half the weapons. The advantage of playing with more weapons is that ties become increasingly unlikely. The disadvantage is that an increasingly complex resolution table must be memorized (as well as any accompanying gestures).Trumps (3+)
Players often add other "weapons" to the game on an ad-hoc basis, but it is very likely that this will result in an unbalanced game. In particular, four (or any even number) of weapons cannot be made balanced, unless some pairs of weapons result in a draw; there will always be some weapons that will be superior to others. It also loses some of the aesthetic simplicity of the game, which is otherwise one of the simplest possible games of skill. Pointing Variation
In this variant the winner of each round of the game must make a pointing gesture - up, down, left, or right - with the aim of making their opponent look in that direction. If the loser of the initial rock-paper-scissors can avoid looking in that direction they steal the victory. However if they even glance in the pointed direction, they are confirmed as losers.Muk-Chi-Ba variation
While traditional Rock-Paper-Scissors (called "Gawi-Bawi-Bo" and pronounced "Kai-Bai-Bo") is popular among Koreans, a popular related game is Muk-Chi-Ba. A unique variant of Muk-Chi-Ba that adds a layer of complexity was reported in New York City, reportedly created by a Korean-American student at Columbia University.Osaka Janken
Originating in Kansai, Osaka janken follows the chant "Osaka janken, maketara kachi yo" (Osaka janken, the loser is the winner). Violent variations
Another variation is "Extreme rock paper scissors", in which the winner of each game may use their winning hand position to assault the loser. Paper becomes a slap, rock a punch and scissors a poke (usually in the sternum). This adds the extra challenge of trying to get the more painful positions without your opponent realizing it, and the mere brainless fun of legitimately hitting each other.Yakyu Ken (Strip Janken)
Another variation is "strip rock-paper-scissors:" a Japanese party/drinking game, where every time a player loses, he or she has to remove an article of clothing. This goes on until one of the players is completely naked.Tournaments
Other games related to Rock, Paper, Scissors
Non-transitivity
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