Roshambo, also called Rock-Paper-Scissors

“In my after-school program I had two boys that were arguing over who was going to go first. I was currently trying to get the rest of the game organized and before I could turn around to resolve the conflict one of my third grade girls rolled her eyes and said "Just Roshambo for it, duh!" They did and the game started smoothly. At that moment I realized just how awesome Roshambo can be.” -Jessi Bath, Hillsdale Elementary Program Coordinator

Rock crushes scissors, scissors cuts paper, paper covers rock... so elegant, so simple, so beautiful. Why does Roshambo work?

There are several excellent answers to this question. Number one, Rock-paper-scissors is really cool. I remember learning about it around second grade, and for weeks afterwards that was all we did. We played Rock-paper-scissors on the bus, on the playground, during lunch, and in class. We played it so much that our teachers told us to stop playing it, which only increased its vogue. To a second grader, and even to older kids, there's nothing cooler than a game that can be played anywhere with no props whatsoever. Rock-paper-scissors was popular for a very long time... until we learned about thumb wars.

Reason number two Roshambo works is that it doesn't make any sense at all. Clearly, these inanimate objects would never fight in real life and if they did, paper would be at a distinct disadvantage if only because of its molecular structure. Paper just can't stand up to steel or rock. As for the scissors-rock match-up, it's a toss-up if you're talking about which is stronger. A rock, however, could certainly ruin the scissors and make them unusable for cutting. I give the overall advantage to rock, but the game of Roshambo doesn't see it that way. Instead, it recognizes the underlying ubiquity of the universe. We're all just atoms and victory doesn't necessarily depend on strength. Sometimes paper wins.

This brings me to my last point. Rock-paper-scissors in intrinsically fair. No one element always wins, and since there are only three things to choose from, the ability to develop strategic prowess is limited. Novices have as much chance of randomly picking the winning element as experts. It solves inequalities in skill, physicality, intelligence, and social standing. There are no advantages for any single player save luck, and that is truly what makes it such an elegant solution to deciding classroom disagreements. Not to mention that often arguments like who should go first can be forgotten in the fun of Roshambo!