Rock paper scissors

Rock paper scissors (also known by several other names and word orders) is an intransitive hand game, usually played between two people, in which each player simultaneously forms one of three shapes with an outstretched hand. These shapes are "rock" (a closed fist: ✊), "paper" (a flat hand: ✋), and "scissors" (a fist with the index finger and middle finger extended, forming a V: ✌️). The earliest form of a "rock paper scissors"-style game originated in China and was subsequently imported into Japan, where it reached its modern standardized form, before being spread throughout the world in the early 20th century.^{[citation needed]}

A simultaneous, zero-sum game, it has three possible outcomes: a draw, a win, or a loss. A player who decides to play rock will beat another player who chooses scissors ("rock crushes scissors" or "breaks scissors" or sometimes "blunts scissors"), but will lose to one who has played paper ("paper covers rock"); a play of paper will lose to a play of scissors ("scissors cuts paper"). If both players choose the same shape, the game is tied, but is usually replayed until there is a winner.

Rock paper scissors is often used as a fair choosing method between two people, similar to coin flipping, drawing straws, or throwing dice in order to settle a dispute or make an unbiased group decision. Unlike truly random selection methods, however, rock paper scissors can be played with some degree of skill by recognizing and exploiting non-random behavior in opponents.

The modern game is known by several other names such as Rochambeau, Roshambo, Ro-sham-bo, Bato Bato Pik, and Jan-ken-pon. While the game's name is a list of three items, different countries often have the list in a different order.

In North America and the United Kingdom, it is known as "rock, paper, scissors" or "scissors, paper, stone". If this name is chanted while actually playing the game, it might be followed by an exclamation of "shoot" at the moment when the players are to reveal their choice (i.e. "Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!").

There have been claims that there are regional variations of the name in Australia; one video claimed that it was referred to as "scissors, paper, rock" in New South Wales, "rock, paper, scissors" in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia, and "paper, scissors, rock" in Queensland, though this has been disputed.

In New Zealand, the most common name in English is "paper, scissors, rock". In Māori, it is known as pēpa, kutikuti, kōhatu (lit. 'paper, scissors, rock').

In France, the game is sometimes called Shifumi (sometimes spelled Chifoumi).^{[citation needed]}