Rock paper scissors rules

Rock paper scissors is a hand game for two players. Both choose one of three shapes at the same moment, and each shape beats one of the others and loses to the third. It needs no equipment, takes seconds to learn and settles everything from who goes first in a board game to who gets the front seat. This guide covers the classic rules, the count, ties, best-of series, the five-gesture version with lizard and Spock, and the house rules people argue about. It also states exactly which rules the game on this site uses.

Overview

Hand games of this kind have been played in East Asia for centuries. The version most of the world knows came from Japan, where it is called janken, and spread across the world in the twentieth century. Today it goes by several names: rock paper scissors, roshambo, scissors paper rock, stone paper scissors. The rules don’t change with the name.

What makes the game work is that the three shapes form a circle. Rock beats scissors, scissors beat paper and paper beats rock, so there is no strongest shape. If both players chose at random, each would win a third of the rounds, lose a third and tie a third. The interesting part is that people are not random, which is where strategy comes in (see the rock paper scissors tutorial).

What you need

• Two players.
• One hand each. The usual shapes are a closed fist for rock, a flat hand, palm down, for paper, and the index and middle fingers spread in a V for scissors.
• On this site: one phone, tablet or computer. Each player taps a gesture instead of showing a hand.

Objective

Win the round by showing a shape that beats your opponent’s. Most games are played as a short series: the first player to win the majority of the rounds wins the series.

How a round works

1. Face each other. Each player holds out a fist.
2. Count together. Both players pump their fist up and down while saying “rock, paper, scissors”. Most groups add a fourth beat, “shoot”, and show the shape on it. Some show it on “scissors” instead. Agree on which before you start.
3. Throw. On the agreed beat both players turn the fist into a shape at the same moment.
4. Compare. The winning shape wins the round. If both shapes are the same, it is a tie.

What beats what

Every shape wins against exactly one shape and loses against exactly one, so over many random throws no shape has an edge.

Ties

When both players show the same shape, nobody wins the round. In the usual rules both throw again at once, and a tie never counts for anyone. A run of several ties in a row is common between friends who know each other’s habits.

Playing a series: best of 3, 5 or 7

A single throw is over fast and very lucky, so most people play a series.

• Best of 3: the first to win 2 rounds wins.
• Best of 5: the first to win 3 rounds wins.
• Best of 7: the first to win 4 rounds wins.

The series ends as soon as someone reaches that number. In a best of 3, a player who wins the first two rounds has won, and the third is never played.

Do ties count as a round?

There are two common ways to treat ties in a series:

• Ties are replayed (the usual rule and the default on this site). A tie isn’t a round at all, so a best of 3 can take five or six throws but always ends with a winner.
• Ties count as a round. The series is a fixed number of rounds, and a tie just uses one up. A best of 3 can then end 1–0 after a tie and a second tie, or 1–1 after a tie, which is a tied series. If one player is so far ahead that the other can’t catch up with the rounds left, the series stops early.

Endless play

Some people don’t play a series at all and just keep a running score until they stop. On this site that is the Endless option: there is no series, the score keeps counting, and you tap End when you are done. The higher score wins, and level scores are a draw.

The five-gesture version

The best-known expansion adds two shapes, lizard and Spock, and was invented by Sam Kass and Karen Bryla. With five shapes, each one beats two and loses to two, so ties happen less often: one throw in five between random players instead of one in three.

The hand shapes are:

• Lizard: the hand shaped like a sock puppet, fingers together above the thumb, like a mouth.
• Spock: an open hand with the thumb out and the fingers split into two pairs, a gap between the middle and ring fingers.

The ten rules are:

1. Rock crushes scissors.
2. Rock crushes lizard.
3. Paper covers rock.
4. Paper disproves Spock.
5. Scissors cut paper.
6. Scissors beat lizard.
7. Lizard eats paper.
8. Lizard poisons Spock.
9. Spock smashes scissors.
10. Spock vaporizes rock.

A quick way to remember it: put the five in a ring in the order rock, Spock, paper, lizard, scissors. Each gesture beats the two that come just before it, going around the ring. Rock beats scissors and lizard, the two before it when you wrap around.

The rules this site uses

The game on this site plays the rules above, with these choices:

• Gestures: Classic (rock, paper, scissors) or Five gestures (adds lizard and Spock), chosen in the setup.
• Series: best of 3 (the default), 5 or 7. The first to win the majority of the rounds wins.
• Ties: replayed by default. Under More options you can make a tie count as a round, or choose Endless for a running score with an End button.
• Secret picks: with two people, each player picks behind a pass screen that hides the board. The first pick is sealed and shows only as Picked until the second player has chosen, then both hands are revealed together. There is no count to keep in time with and no way to throw late.
• Against the computer: you pick first and the computer picks without seeing your pick; it only knows the rounds already revealed. Easy is random, Medium looks for your favourite gesture and Hard learns your habits after wins, losses and ties.
• Undo takes back a whole round, never just one pick, and Rematch lets the other person pick first.

Variants and house rules

• Throw on “scissors” or on “shoot”. Both are common. The four-beat count with “shoot” gives a clear moment to throw, which makes late throws easier to spot.
• Janken calls. In Japan the count is “jan, ken, pon”, and after a tie both players call “aiko desho” and throw again at once, without starting the count over.
• Odd one out. With three or more people, everyone throws at once. If all three shapes appear, or everyone shows the same one, throw again. Otherwise the players with the winning shape stay in and the rest drop out, until one player is left. This version isn’t on the site, which is for two players.
• Longer series for bigger decisions. A single throw is fine for who deals the cards. For something that matters more, a best of 5 or 7 gives the better reader of habits more time to show it.

Why the game is fair, and when it isn’t

With three shapes in a circle, no shape is stronger than another. A player who throws each shape exactly a third of the time, with no pattern at all, can’t be beaten in the long run, and can’t beat anyone either. That is why the game works so well for settling a choice: neither side has an edge before the first throw.

It stops being fair as soon as one player becomes predictable. Someone who always opens with the same shape, or always switches after losing, gives the other player something to aim at. Over a best of 7 those habits show up. The tutorial looks at the most common ones and how the computer on this site uses them.

Common disputes

• Throwing late. If one hand comes out after the other, replay the round. Watching the other hand and then choosing is the only real way to cheat.
• Unclear shapes. A half-open hand between rock and paper is a common argument. Ask for clear shapes before you start, or replay unclear throws.
• Changing the shape after the throw. Not allowed. The shape you show on the beat is the one that counts.
• What “best of” means. Agree on the number of wins needed, and whether ties count, before the series starts.

Glossary

• Throw: showing a shape on the beat.
• Round: one throw by each player that has a winner (or, if ties count, any throw).
• Tie: both players showing the same shape.
• Series: a set of rounds played to a target, such as best of 3.
• Gesture: the shape of the hand: rock, paper, scissors, or lizard and Spock in the five-gesture version.

Play it now

Ready to try it? Play Rock Paper Scissors with a friend on one phone, or against the computer on Easy, Medium or Hard. The tutorial explains the habits people fall into and how the computer levels pick. For more quick two-player games, see the two player games page.

Written by the Pass and Play Games team.