Rock paper scissors (also known by several other names and word orders) is an intransitive hand game, usually played between two people, in which each player simultaneously forms one of three shapes with an outstretched hand. These shapes are "rock" (a closed fist: ✊), "paper" (a flat hand: ✋), and "scissors" (a fist with the index finger and middle finger extended, forming a V: ✌️). The earliest form of a "rock paper scissors"-style game originated in China and was subsequently imported into Japan, where it reached its modern standardized form, before being spread throughout the world in the early 20th century. A simultaneous, zero-sum game, it has three possible outcomes: a draw, a win, or a loss. A player who decides to play rock will beat another player who chooses scissors ("rock crushes scissors" or "breaks scissors" or sometimes "blunts scissors"), but will lose to one who has played paper ("paper covers rock"); a play of paper will lose to a play of scissors ("scissors cuts paper"). If both players choose the same shape, the game is tied, but is usually replayed until there is a winner. Rock paper scissors is often used as a fair method of choosing between two options, similar to coin flipping, drawing straws, or throwing dice in order to settle a dispute or make an unbiased group decision. Unlike truly random selection methods, however, rock paper scissors can be played with some degree of skill by recognizing and exploiting non-random behavior in opponents.
Names The modern game is known by several other names such as Rochambeau, Roshambo, Ro-sham-bo, Bato Bato Pik, and Jan-ken-pon. While the game's name is a list of three items, different countries often have the list in a different order. In North America and the United Kingdom, it is known as "rock, paper, scissors" or "scissors, paper, stone". Additionally, there are records of the game being referred to as "Rock, scissors, paper" in North America, dating to the early to mid 1900s. If this name is chanted while actually playing the game, it might be followed by an exclamation of "shoot" at the moment when the players are to reveal their choice (i.e. "Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!"). In Australia; it is referred to as "scissors, paper, rock" in New South Wales, "rock, paper, scissors" in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia, and "paper, scissors, rock" in Queensland. In New Zealand, the most common name in English is "paper, scissors, rock". In Māori, it is known as pēpa, kutikuti, kōhatu (lit. 'paper, scissors, rock').
Etymology The name "rock paper scissors" is simply a translation of the Japanese words for the three gestures involved in the game, though the Japanese name for the game is different. The name Roshambo or Rochambeau has been claimed to refer to Count Rochambeau, who allegedly played the game during the American Revolutionary War. The legend that he played the game is apocryphal, as all evidence points to the game being brought to the United States later than 1910; if this name has anything to do with him it is for some other reason. It is unclear why this name became associated with the game, with hypotheses ranging from a slight phonetic similarity with the Japanese name jan-ken-pon, to the presence of a statue of Rochambeau in a neighborhood of Washington, DC.
Gameplay
The players may start by counting to three aloud, or by speaking the name of the game (e.g. "Rock! Paper! Scissors!"), raising one hand in a fist and swinging it down with each syllable onto their other hand (or in a less common variant, holding it behind their back). They then "throw" or "shoot" by extending their selected sign towards their opponent on what would have been the fourth count, often saying the word "shoot" while doing so. Variations include a version where players throw immediately on the third count (thus throwing on the count of "Scissors!"), a version including five counts rather than four ("Rock! Paper! Scissors! Says! Shoot!"), and a version where players say "Scissors! Paper! Rock!", and a version where players shake their hands three times before "throwing".
History
Origins The first known mention of the game was in the book Wuzazu by the Ming-dynasty writer Xie Zhaozhe (fl. c. 1600), who wrote that the game dated back to the time of the Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE). In the book, the game was called shoushiling. Li Rihua's book Note of Liuyanzhai also mentions this game, calling it shoushiling (t. 手勢令; s. 手势令), huozhitou (t. 豁指頭; s. 豁指头), or huaquan (划拳).
From China the game was brought to Japan. Throughout Japanese history there are frequent references to sansukumi-ken, meaning ken (fist) games "of the three who are afraid of one another" (i.e. A beats B, B beats C, and C beats A). The earliest sansukumi-ken in Japan was apparently mushi-ken (虫拳), a version imported directly from China. In mushi-ken the "frog" (represented by the thumb) triumphs over the "slug" (represented by the little finger), which, in turn prevails over the "snake" (represented by the index finger), which triumphs over the "frog". (The Chinese and Japanese versions differ in the animals represented; in adopting the game, the Chinese characters for the venomous centipede (蜈蜙) were apparently confused with the characters for the slug (蛞蝓)). The most popular sansukumi-ken game in Japan was kitsune-ken (狐拳). In this game, a fox (狐), often attributed supernatural powers in Japanese folklore, defeats the village head, the village head (庄屋) defeats the hunter, and the hunter (猟師) defeats the fox. Kitsune-ken, unlike mushi-ken or rock–paper–scissors, requires gestures with both hands.
Today, the best-known sansukumi-ken is called jan-ken (じゃんけん), which is a variation of the Chinese games introduced in the 17th century. Jan-ken uses the rock, paper, and scissors signs and is the direct source of the modern version of rock paper scissors. Hand-games using gestures to represent the three conflicting elements of rock, paper, and scissors have been most common since the modern version of the game was created in the late 19th century, between the Edo and Meiji periods.
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