Most Rock Paper Scissors tournaments today are small local events: bar nights, charity fundraisers, office and campus brackets, and convention side events. The fastest ways to find one are event listing sites and local social media searched for "rock paper scissors tournament" plus your city, and if nothing turns up, running one yourself takes about an hour of preparation.
I want to be straight about this, because older pages on this site used to list schedules and venues that were not real. There is no permanent international circuit you can sign up for, and I won't publish a calendar I can't stand behind.
What happened to the big championships
Two organizations ran the well-known championships of the 2000s, and both are gone:
| Organization | Where | Years | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| World RPS Society | Toronto, Canada | Annual championship from 2002 | Defunct |
| USA Rock Paper Scissors League (USARPS) | Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas | National championships from 2006 | Defunct |
The first USARPS national championship, in April 2006, paid a $50,000 top prize. Those events are real history, and you can read about their winners in our champions article and about the Toronto event in our world championship article. But neither body runs events now, and pages that advertise their "upcoming" dates are out of date or invented.
Junior and collegiate championships: I could not find any current national junior or collegiate Rock Paper Scissors championship that runs on a regular schedule. Individual schools, student unions and clubs do hold brackets, often during orientation weeks or as fundraisers. Treat those as local events and look for them through the school.
Where to look for a local event
- Event listing sites. Eventbrite, Meetup and Facebook Events all have search. Try "rock paper scissors", "RPS tournament" and "roshambo", filtered to your area.
- Bars and pubs that run game nights. RPS brackets turn up alongside trivia and karaoke. A call or message to the venue is quicker than searching.
- Charity fundraisers. An RPS bracket with a small entry fee is a common, cheap fundraiser. Local charity event pages and community newsletters list them.
- Campus and workplace events. Student union calendars, residence events and office socials.
- Gaming and anime conventions. Side tournaments are common and often announced only on the convention's own schedule.
- Online. If you want competition today, play online against the computer or other people. Rated matches between members feed the public rankings.
When you find an event, check three things before you go: the date is this year, there is a named organizer you can contact, and the rules are posted. A listing without those is often a copy of an old page.
If nothing exists near you, start one
This is how most local scenes begin. You need a room, a bracket, one referee per table and a printed rule sheet. Our step-by-step guide to hosting your own tournament covers formats and timing, and our free event hosting tool handles sign-ups, pairings and results so you can run it from a phone. The tournament guide explains the standard match rules so your players and referees agree before the first throw.
A few tips from what tends to work:
- Start small. Sixteen players, single elimination, best of three. It runs in under an hour.
- Pick a regular slot. The same night each month builds a group of regulars faster than one big event.
- Keep entry cheap or free. If you charge, say where the money goes.
- Post results. People come back when they can see their name on a bracket.
FAQ
Is there a world championship I can enter?
Not a standing one. The Toronto world championship run by the World RPS Society is no longer held. Any event using the name today is a separate, independent event, so check who is running it.
Is Rock Paper Scissors an Olympic sport?
No. We cover that in our Olympics article.
Can kids enter tournaments?
Local events set their own rules. Many school and community brackets are open to all ages; bar events usually are not.