Rock paper scissors
Play against a bot that learns your habits. It only sees the throws you have already made — beat it by being genuinely unpredictable, which is harder than it sounds.
Make your throw
Or press R, P or S
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Lost
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Drawn
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The rules, in one line each
| Throw | Beats | Loses to |
|---|---|---|
| Rock | Scissors — it blunts them | Paper |
| Paper | Rock — it wraps it | Scissors |
| Scissors | Paper — they cut it | Rock |
Matching throws are a draw and get replayed. Every throw beats one other and loses to one other, so no single choice is better than the rest — which is exactly why the game is interesting.
Why you can’t just pick “randomly”
If both players threw at random, the game would be settled: a third wins, a third losses, a third draws, and no strategy would help. That is the mathematical answer, and against the “Random bot” opponent above it is what you will get.
The catch is that people cannot produce random sequences on demand. Asked to be unpredictable, we avoid repeating ourselves more than chance would, and we tend to change our throw after losing while sticking with one that just won. Those are habits, and habits are readable. The bot on this page does nothing cleverer than count them.
How the bot reads you
It watches pairs, not single throws. After every round it records what you threw following your previous two throws. “Rock then paper” becoming “scissors” is one tally mark.
It waits for a real pattern. A context is only used once it has been seen enough times and one answer clearly leads. Otherwise it falls back to shorter history, then to guessing.
It plays the counter. If it expects paper, it throws scissors. Its guess is made before your throw is revealed, so it can be wrong — and the stats panel shows how often it was.
It stays slightly unpredictable. A small share of rounds it throws at random anyway, so you can’t trap it by feeding it a pattern and then breaking it.
How to actually beat it
There is one reliable answer and it is slightly deflating: stop deciding. Take your throws from something genuinely random — roll a die and map 1–2 to rock, 3–4 to paper, 5–6 to scissors — and the bot has nothing to learn. You will not win more than a third of the time, but you will not lose more either, and over a long session that is the best anyone can do.
Everything short of that is a compromise. Watching your own “What you throw” bars and pulling them back toward a third each will help; so will breaking the habit of switching every time you lose. Both are easier said than done, which is the whole point.
For throws you cannot second-guess, use the dice roller or the random number generator. To settle who goes first, try a coin flip or the spinner wheel. More on how our randomness works in is a wheel of names rigged?
Rock paper scissors questions
What are the rules of rock paper scissors?
Rock blunts scissors, scissors cut paper, and paper wraps rock. Both players throw at the same time; matching throws are a draw and usually replayed.
How does the bot know what I am going to throw?
It doesn’t know — it guesses. It keeps a tally of what you threw after each recent pair of moves, and when a pattern is clear enough it plays the counter to your most likely next throw. It only ever sees throws you have already made, never the one you are making now.
Is the bot cheating?
No. Your current throw is never shown to it. You can check this yourself: switch the opponent to “Random bot” and the results settle near a third each way, exactly as they should. Against the learning bot, any gap comes from your own patterns.
How do I beat a rock paper scissors bot?
Be genuinely unpredictable, which people are bad at. Throwing an even split of the three isn’t enough, because order matters too — repeating a throw three times, or cycling rock, paper, scissors, are both patterns. Using a real random source, like the dice roller, beats the bot to a draw over time.
Is rock paper scissors a game of luck or skill?
Against a perfectly random opponent it is pure luck, and no strategy does better than even. Against a human it becomes a game of skill, because human throws are not random and can be read.
What is the best first move?
Against a random opponent, none of them — all three are equally good. Against a person there is no move that is right every time, which is why the useful skill is watching what they do after a win or a loss rather than picking a favourite.
Can I play rock paper scissors with two people?
This version is one player against the bot. For two people in the same room, use the spinner wheel or a coin flip to settle who goes first, then throw by hand.