Lose your way, and dare to play

Janken

Janken is a game that is well-known around the world, often by other names.  It can be played anywhere by almost anyone and works with three simple rules:

Rock beats scissors, which beats paper, which beats rock.

Janken is the Japanese variant, but evidence shows that the game originated in some form in China as early as 200BCE.  The game is played with two people, and each player chooses a gesture between rock, paper, and scissors in secret.  On the count of three, both players show their chosen hand.  The winner gets a point, and the game continues until one player reaches a defined number of points, or until both declare the game over.

It is often used as a method of resolving some disputes, or to make an unbiased decision as part of a group.  While it can be played with more than two people, it gets more complicated.

The three options in the game severely limit possible outcomes, which means players familiar with one another will regularly reach a tie.  In the 1970s, Sam Kass modified the game to include two other options: Lizard and Spock.

This creates more options and allows greater variance in gameplay.  It was mentioned in American TV series “The Big Bang Theory”, where Sheldon Cooper explained the rules in an iconic scene.

This simple JavaScript web toy plays both the original “Rock, Paper, Scissors” version, and you can toggle the “Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock” version with a simple “Kass-ify”.  Every time you fall on an unrecognised page, you have the option to play.

Games are currently open ended, but the next version will allow for “First to X” scores.  Icons come from the FontAwesome v6 gallery, and fonts powered by Google Fonts.

Janken

Choose your weapon.

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Rules

The rules of the game are very simple.

  • Scissors cuts paper
  • Paper covers rock
  • Rock crushes scissors

The player with the winning hand (pun intended) gets the points, and the most points wins.

If you click Kass-ify, you can toggle the "Lizard-Spock" variant, which gives you more options.

  • Scissors cuts paper
  • Paper covers rock
  • Rock crushes lizard
  • Lizard poisons Spock
  • Spock smashes scissors
  • Scissors decapitates lizard
  • Lizard eats paper
  • Paper disproves Spock
  • Spock vaporises rock
  • And as it always has, rock crushes scissors

Winning hand gets the point, most points wins. Choose wisely.

Close

Click the , or to make your choice.  The computer will randomly select from the same options as its choice.  Once Lizard and Spock options are enabled, and buttons will be enabled, and the computer will have those options available to it.