Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Rock Paper Scissors

Please tell me someone else watched this on tv last night. Thank god for the internet because I'd swear I was having some kind of fever dream or someone slipped me a roofie. They aired a one hour show on this playground game and treated it as if it was the World Cup. There's a sound byte in the clip above with a woman "competitor" saying that RPS is "...physical and mental...". Well, she's half right.

People wore costumes, trash talked each other and talked about strategy. Strategy? In a game where you have to make one of 3 choices? It boggles the mind. I found a variation that warms this Trekkie's heart, though. Rock Paper Scissors Spock Lizard. More choices equals more fun. And anytime I can flash the Vulcan peace sign without looking like a complete and utter dork is a good time.

And talk about mind boggling. You wouldn't believe what comes up when you google "rock paper scissors". You get over 5.5 million hits. I'm still shaking my head. I'd like to say "only in America" but the World Championships are being held in Toronto. And to give foreign kooks credit, it was invented in Japan.

Thankfully there was a comic edge to the show last night but some people take it seriously. A judge ordered a couple of lawyers to play the game to decide where witness statements would be taken. And the winner of last night's competition won $50,000.

Anyway, the whole thing was quite surreal but as my Dad alway said, you learn something new every day. Yesterday I learned that this game is also called Roshambo and today I learned you can play it online. Have fun.

kxx

No comments: