7 Rock Paper Scissors Variations (With Full Rules)
Classic rock paper scissors has three signs and one rule: rock blunts scissors, scissors cut paper, paper wraps rock. It is quick and fair, but with only three choices, draws come up a lot. Over the years people have invented bigger, louder and sillier versions. Here are the best ones for friends, parties, PE lessons and icebreakers, with the full rules for each.
1. Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock
The most famous variation adds two signs. It was created by Sam Kass with Karen Bryla, and became widely known after it appeared in The Big Bang Theory episode "The Lizard-Spock Expansion" in 2008. The signs are: rock (fist), paper (flat hand), scissors (two fingers), lizard (a hand shaped like a mouth, like a sock puppet) and Spock (the Vulcan salute, fingers split between the middle and ring finger).
Each sign beats two others and loses to two others:
- Scissors cut paper
- Paper covers rock
- Rock crushes lizard
- Lizard poisons Spock
- Spock smashes scissors
- Scissors decapitate lizard
- Lizard eats paper
- Paper disproves Spock
- Spock vaporises rock
- Rock crushes scissors
With five signs instead of three, draws happen less often: two random players pick the same sign one time in five, instead of one time in three.
2. Bear, Hunter, Ninja
A whole-body version that works well for big groups and young children, because the "signs" are poses and everyone can see them from across the room.
- Hunter: pretend to aim a bow or a camera.
- Bear: arms up, claws out, and a roar.
- Ninja: a karate chop pose.
Hunter beats bear, bear beats ninja, and ninja beats hunter. Two players (or two teams) stand back to back, count to three, jump round and strike their pose. Teams have to agree on their pose in a quick huddle first, which adds a bit of strategy.
3. Hoop hop (a PE favourite)
Lay a line of hoops, cones or chalk circles on the ground between two teams.
- One player from each team hops from hoop to hoop, starting from opposite ends.
- When they meet, they play one round of rock paper scissors.
- The winner keeps hopping forward. The loser runs back to their team, and the next player on that team sets off at once.
- A team scores when a player reaches the other end. Play for a set time.
4. Evolution
An icebreaker for a class or a meeting. Everyone starts as an egg (crouching, hands over head). Find another egg and play rock paper scissors. The winner evolves to the next stage, the loser drops back one stage (an egg stays an egg). You can only play someone at your own stage.
A common ladder is egg, chicken, dinosaur, human, superhero, each with its own walk or noise, so players can find each other. Anyone who reaches the top stage steps out and cheers on the others.
5. Cheerleader tournament
A loud warm-up for large groups. Everyone finds a partner and plays. The loser becomes the winner's cheerleader and follows them, chanting their name. Winners find another winner and play again, and the loser of that round, plus all their cheerleaders, join the new winner's crowd. It ends with two players in the middle and the whole room cheering for one of them.
6. Team rock paper scissors
Two teams line up facing each other. Each team huddles and secretly agrees on one sign, then everyone shows it at the same time on "shoot". The winning team scores a point, or in a chasing version, the losing team runs to a safe line while the winners try to tag them. Tagged players join the other team.
7. RPS-101
For people who think five signs is not enough, David C. Lovelace designed a version with 101 signs, in which every sign beats 50 others and loses to the other 50. It is more of a puzzle than a party game, since few people can remember which of 101 things beats which, but it shows how the idea can scale: any odd number of signs can be arranged so that every sign wins and loses equally often.
House rules worth agreeing first
- "Rock, paper, scissors, shoot" or on "scissors"? Decide whether you throw on the third word or on a fourth "shoot", so nobody is accused of throwing late.
- Best of three or best of five. One round is quick but feels unfair to the loser. Best of three is a good default.
- Late throws lose the round.
- No "dynamite" or other made-up signs, unless everyone agreed beforehand.
Play online
No partner? Play classic rock paper scissors against the computer, which picks its move with your browser's cryptographic random number generator, so it cannot read your habits or cheat. To see how people really play, and how to use that against a human opponent, read our rock paper scissors strategy guide. The game's story, from Chinese and Japanese hand games to the rest of the world, is in the history of rock paper scissors.
FAQ
What are the rules of Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock?
Scissors cut paper, paper covers rock, rock crushes lizard, lizard poisons Spock, Spock smashes scissors, scissors decapitate lizard, lizard eats paper, paper disproves Spock, Spock vaporises rock and rock crushes scissors.
Who invented Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock?
Sam Kass, with Karen Bryla. It became famous after The Big Bang Theory used it in 2008.
What is Bear, Hunter, Ninja?
A whole-body version of rock paper scissors played with poses: hunter beats bear, bear beats ninja and ninja beats hunter.
How do you play rock paper scissors with a big group?
Try the cheerleader tournament, where losers follow and cheer for the player who beat them, or Evolution, where winners move up from egg to superhero.