Play rock paper scissors online on one phone, tablet or computer, with a friend or against the computer. Both players pick in secret, a quick “rock, paper, scissors” count plays, and the two hands are revealed together with the rule that decided the round in plain words. Play a best of 3, 5 or 7, or keep a running score in Endless mode. Add lizard and Spock for the five-gesture version. It is free, needs no sign-up and keeps working offline once the page has loaded.
How to play Rock Paper Scissors
- Two players pick one gesture each, at the same moment or in secret.
- Rock crushes scissors, scissors cut paper and paper covers rock. Each gesture beats one and loses to one.
- The same gesture twice is a tie. Ties are replayed, so a tie never counts as a win for anyone.
- Win the series: in a best of 3 the first to win 2 rounds wins, in a best of 5 it is 3 rounds and in a best of 7 it is 4.
- Five gestures adds lizard and Spock. Every gesture then beats two and loses to two, which makes ties rarer.
- On this site you tap your gesture, then the reveal shows both hands, the rule in words and who won the round. Dots next to each name count the rounds won.
The full Rock Paper Scissors rules cover the five-gesture chart, what to do with ties, best-of series and the house rules people argue about.
Play Rock Paper Scissors on one device
Rock paper scissors is normally played face to face with hands, which is exactly what makes it hard on a single screen: whoever picks second could see the first pick. Here each player picks behind a pass screen.
- Choose With a friend in the setup and type both names.
- The first player taps their name on the pass screen and picks a gesture while the second player looks away.
- The screen hides the board again and asks to pass the phone. The second player picks.
- The reveal shows both hands at once, the rule in words and the score. Tap Next round and the phone goes back to the first player.
A round takes a few seconds, and Rematch lets the other person pick first next time. Undo takes back a whole round, never half of one, so nobody can undo their way into seeing the other person’s pick. The game is saved after every pick: a reload, even in the middle of a round, comes back behind the pass screen.
It works well as a fair way to decide who goes first in another game, as a quick break in a classroom, or on a long car ride. For other quick games on one screen, try Tic-Tac-Toe or Hangman, or browse all the two player games.
Play against the computer
Choose vs Computer for a game on your own. You pick first, then the computer picks from what it has seen of the rounds already played, never from your current pick, and the reveal follows straight away.
- Easy picks completely at random. You will win about one round in three, lose one in three and tie the rest, whatever you do.
- Medium counts the gestures you have played. After a few rounds it often throws the gesture that beats your favourite, so playing rock again and again gets punished.
- Hard learns your habits: what you play after rock, and what you do after a win, a loss or a tie. It mixes in a random pick now and then, so it can’t be read back easily.
The computer levels make a good experiment. Try to be as random as you can against Hard, then try to beat Medium on purpose. More games against the computer are on the site too.
Quick tips
- Don’t fall into a rhythm. Repeating a winning gesture, or always switching after a loss, is the pattern most people fall into, and the Hard computer looks for it.
- Watch your friend’s last throw. If they keep their winner, play what beats it. If they switch after losing, think about where they will switch to.
- In the five-gesture version, look for the gesture that beats two likely picks. If your friend keeps throwing rock and scissors, Spock beats both of them.
The beginner’s tutorial goes through these habits one by one and shows how each computer level decides, so you can see why it wins when it wins.
