Rock Paper Scissors
Pick rock, paper or scissors and see if you can beat the computer. Your score is kept until you reset it.
Add this calculator to your website
Copy the code and paste it into your page's HTML. It's free; please keep the credit link.
Rules
Both players show a hand at the same time: rock (fist), paper (flat hand) or scissors (two fingers). Rock beats scissors, scissors beat paper and paper beats rock; matching hands are a draw and you play again.
Beating people (not computers)
A 2014 study in Scientific Reports that watched students play for money found a common habit: winners tended to keep the same hand, while losers tended to switch to the hand that would have beaten their last one. If your friend just won with rock, paper is a good bet next round.
The computer here doesn't have habits: every round is an independent random pick, so you'll win, lose and draw about a third of the time each over many games.
Frequently asked questions
What beats what in rock paper scissors?
Rock crushes scissors, scissors cut paper and paper covers rock. The same hand is a draw.
Can the computer see my choice?
No. It picks its hand at random with your browser's secure random number generator, and it doesn't use your choice.
Is there a strategy to win?
Against a truly random opponent, no: every hand wins a third of the time. Against people, patterns help (see below).