Who invented scissors paper rock

That's right: Rock, paper, scissors. The origins of rock, paper, scissors can be traced back to China around BC. The game has evolved over the years, but the basic premise has remained the same, and it's never waned in popularity. In fact, the game is hugely popular in Japan. Rock, paper, scissors has an ancient history. Source: wikipedia. The game was originally called shoushiling , meaning "the three who are afraid of each other," and the three choices were "frog, slug, and snake.

For hundreds of years, shoushiling was an exclusively Chinese game, but as you're no doubt aware, it eventually made its way around the world.

On its journey, it underwent some Rock Paper Scissors Champion, and an international championship has been scheduled for spring of The way rock-paper-scissors achieved such visibility is perhaps a testament to how anything, no matter how silly, can earn a fandom. The earliest known references to finger-flashing games are a tomb-wall painting at the Beni Hasan burial site in Middle Egypt dated to around B.

Versions of rock-paper-scissors can be found in cultures around the world, but outside of North America it remains most ubiquitous in Asia. In Indonesia, the game is earwig-man-elephant, where the earwig overcomes the elephant by crawling up his trunk and eating his brain. Rock Paper Scissors leaves no wiggle room for bias or unfairness.

And it takes no prisoners. What value do we continue to find in those three simple gestures? And, most importantly, could we actually hack the odds to guarantee we win every time? The first mention of a game resembling the current iteration of Rock Paper Scissors is found in Wuzazu , a book penned by Chinese Ming-dynasty writer Xie Zhaozhi.

The author refers to it as shoushiling and dates its origins to some time during the Chinese Han dynasty BC - AD. Li Rihua, a renowned artist, critic, and bureaucrat during the Ming dynasty, also calls out shoushiling in his book, Note of Liuyanzhai.

One of the very first sansukumi-ken to gain popularity throughout the country was mushi-ken , where players use their hands to represent a frog thumb , slug little finger , and snake index finger. The frog wins against the slug, which wins against the snake, which wins against the frog. Today, both within Japan and outside of it, the most popular version of sansukumi-ken involves the classic rock, paper, and scissors hand gestures.

In Japan, the game is called jan-ken, or jan-ken-pon. Following increased contact between Japan and the west, jan-ken eventually landed on the other side of the world. In England, one of the first mentions of the game came in a contributor letter published in The Times.

Interestingly enough, the letter was written in response to a previously published article detailing the traditional Italian hand-game morra , which also shares similarities with Rock Paper Scissors. Within it, Dilts explains the rules of the game she noticed the Japanese playing. General Tsao's chicken was actually invented by a chef in Taiwan. Watch the move "Finding General Tso" for more info. It's really interesting! Tofugu Japanese View All Japanese. View All Japan. How to Play Janken is played pretty similarly to the way most people play rock, paper, scissors in the US: you use one of three moves to beat your opponent.

Obviously in Japan though, they use different terminology. Each says " janken pon! If there's a tie both players choose the same move , both players say " Aiko desho! But it doesn't stop there. There are tons of variants to janken, some more violent than others:. Every Corner.