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How to Win at Rock, Paper, Scissors
By Yahoo! Games | Plugged In – Mon, Aug 15, 2011 5:55 PM EDT
By: Natalie Wolchover, LiveScience.com
In the game Rock, Paper, Scissors, two opponents randomly toss out hand gestures, and each one wins, loses or draws with equal probability. It's supposed to be a game of pure luck, not skill — and indeed, if humans were able to be perfectly random, no one could gain an upper hand over anyone else.
There's one problem with that reasoning: Humans are terrible at being random.
Our pathetic attempts to appear uncalculating are, in fact, highly predictable. A couple of recent studies have provided insights into the patterns by which people tend to play Rock, Paper, Scissors (and why). Abide by them, and you'll be riding shotgun and eating the bigger half of the cookie for the rest of your life.
According to Graham Walker, veteran player and five time organizer of the Rock, Paper Scissors World Championships, there are two paths to victory in RPS: Eliminating one of your opponent's options — for example, influencing her not to play Paper — and forcing her to make a predictable move. In both cases, Walker wrote on the website of the World RPS Society, "the key is that it has to be done without them realizing that you are manipulating them."
Read more: http://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged-in/win-rock-paper-scissors-215511514.html
By Yahoo! Games | Plugged In – Mon, Aug 15, 2011 5:55 PM EDT
By: Natalie Wolchover, LiveScience.com
In the game Rock, Paper, Scissors, two opponents randomly toss out hand gestures, and each one wins, loses or draws with equal probability. It's supposed to be a game of pure luck, not skill — and indeed, if humans were able to be perfectly random, no one could gain an upper hand over anyone else.
There's one problem with that reasoning: Humans are terrible at being random.
Our pathetic attempts to appear uncalculating are, in fact, highly predictable. A couple of recent studies have provided insights into the patterns by which people tend to play Rock, Paper, Scissors (and why). Abide by them, and you'll be riding shotgun and eating the bigger half of the cookie for the rest of your life.
According to Graham Walker, veteran player and five time organizer of the Rock, Paper Scissors World Championships, there are two paths to victory in RPS: Eliminating one of your opponent's options — for example, influencing her not to play Paper — and forcing her to make a predictable move. In both cases, Walker wrote on the website of the World RPS Society, "the key is that it has to be done without them realizing that you are manipulating them."
Read more: http://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged-in/win-rock-paper-scissors-215511514.html