Many people may sum up rock, paper, scissors as a simple game of chance. However, there may be a little bit more skill to the game than what appears.

Rock, paper, scissors was originally played in China around the time of Christ before making its way to Japan and eventually the rest of the world in the 1700s.

According to Evan Deforest (‘20) his game has little to do with strategy. He almost always chooses rock first because he can “slap his hand harder than if you used paper or scissors.” Evan brings up an interesting point; if a game is started rather spontaneously, especially with a male, you should play paper because your opponent is likely to throw rock according to the Telegraph.

You can also tell that your opponent is going to play rock depending on whether their thumb is tucked inside their fist or not when counting 1, 2, 3. If their thumb is tucked in they are more likely to play rock.

Derek Rodriguez (‘20) likes to leave it up to chance choosing a random one each time. With people like Rodriguez, it may behoove you to say what you are going to throw before the game. This usually makes your opponent think you won’t actually play what you said, influencing them to play the item that would not beat you. This is an easy way to secure a tie or win almost every time (disclaimer: it may only work the first few times).

Reese Williams (‘22) would play paper to start because he thinks most people will start with rock. Similarly to reading people’s tells in poker, you can in fact read peoples tells in rock, paper, scissors. Jonathan Monaco, winner of the 2009 USA Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament (yes this is a real thing) wears sunglasses to prevent his opponent from reading his expressions according to the Telegraph.

So no matter what strategy you use, if you use one, the main point of the game is to have fun, unless you really want that last piece of pizza.