Sunday, November 05, 2006

Rock, scissors, paper - a favourite game in disputes


from W
A game our adults kids used to play actually comes from Japan. It was a way to end a dispute over which TV program to watch, or who will buy the fish and chips at the shop across the road etc.

Actually, wouldn't you just like to see the Fiji Commish playing this game with Frank? Or Lai and Frank? When they have their one-on-one meetings it would be excellent, in my opinion.

Rock, scissors, paper from Wikipedia

Rock, Paper, Scissors, also known as Rochambeau, Ching Chong Cha in South Africa and in Japan as Janken, is a hand game most often played by children. It was designed in Japan at the end of the nineteenth century and it was transmitted from Japan all over the world in the twentieth century. It is often used as a selection method in a similar way to coin flipping, Odd or Even, throwing dice or drawing straws...

Game play
The players count together to 3 counts, most commonly either using the name of the game (e.g. Rock! Paper! Scissors! or Ro! Sham! Bo!) or simply numbers. At the end of the third count, the players simultaneously change their fists into any of three "objects", which they then "throw" by extending it towards their opponent:
Rock: represented by a closed fist with the thumb resting at least at the same height as the topmost finger of the hand. The thumb must not be concealed by the fingers. Note: To accommodate different throwing styles, it is considered legal for the first knuckle of the thumb to point downward.
Scissors : is delivered in the same manner as rock with the exception that the index and middle fingers are fully extended toward the opposing player. It is considered good form to angle the topmost finger upwards and the lower finger downwards in order to create a roughly 30–45 degree angle between the two digits and thus mimic a pair of scissors.
Paper: is also delivered in the same manner as rock with the exception that all fingers including the thumb are fully extended and horizontal with the points of the fingers facing the opposing player. Use of the "vertical paper" (sometimes referred to as "the handshake") is considered exceptionally bad form.
The objective is to defeat the opponent by selecting a weapon which defeats their choice under the following rules:
1. Rock smashes (or breaks or blunts) Scissors (rock wins)
2. Scissors cut Paper (scissors win)
3. Paper covers Rock (paper wins)
If both players choose the same weapon, the game is a tie and is played again.

Typically, the game is played in a "best 2 out of 3" match.

Cheating
One of the first tricks learned by a Rock-Paper-Scissors novice is to hold back a throw of paper until the last possible moment to dupe an opponent into believing that one may actually be throwing a rock.

6 Comments:

Blogger The Moody Minstrel said...

Janken is still very important in Japan. They use it to decide everything including who bats first in pro baseball. There is also a whole series of childrens' video games based on janken, and my son is hooked on them. (He also likes to play the traditional game any chance he gets.)

Don't forget some of the important, modern additions:

Dynamite - (fist clenched, thumb sticking up) Blows up rock or paper, but scissors cuts the fuse. (Also, see below...)

Pistol - (hand held in shape of...wait for it...a pistol) Shoots and kills everything except dynamite (means both lose) or stone, which deflects the bullet.

Spock - (hand held up, palm forward, fingers split into two groups, i.e. the Vulcan salute) Through genius and impeccable logic, he wins against everything except pistol (no weaseling out of a bullet, I'm afraid) and paper, on which is written something either "fascinating" or "most illogical" that succeeds in distracting him.

There are others, too, but those are the only ones I remember.

8:58 PM  
Blogger Peceli and Wendy's Blog said...

And I thought it was the simplest of games! We only do it in our household when someone is lazy about doing a chore. The game solves it - up to a point - as the loser does the chore!
W.

10:00 PM  
Blogger Um Naief said...

great idea for deciding who will do chores in the house!! i love that. i think i'll keep that one in the back of mind for when the time comes.

we used to play this when i was younger but just for fun. i've never used it to decide anything but maybe it's time to put it into use!! :)

3:05 AM  
Blogger Um Naief said...

oh and moody, great to read the other additions. i had no idea that other things had been added. did the japanese come up w/ these additions??? great thinking.

3:06 AM  
Blogger The Moody Minstrel said...

No, most Japanese have never heard of those. They are definitely American/Canadian. I have a blast surprising the kids with them. (Of course, explaining who Spock is takes a bit of work...)

4:05 AM  
Blogger Peceli and Wendy's Blog said...

If you look at the Fiji news on line there's a pic of the Commish with some hand actions. I reckon he is practicing for a game with an opponent.
Sorry, the going-on in Suva are a bit too serious to be so flippant.
W.

2:46 PM  

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