The games most like Rock Paper Scissors fall into two groups: other hand games with the same "each option beats one and loses to one" loop (mushi-ken, muk-jji-ppa, Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock), and bigger video and strategy games that hide that loop inside their combat (Pokemon types, the Fire Emblem weapon triangle, Age of Empires unit counters, the fighting-game strike/throw/block cycle). Below I go through both, explain exactly how each one uses the cycle, and point out what it adds on top.
The shared idea has a name: a non-transitive relationship. In an ordinary ranking, if A beats B and B beats C, then A beats C. In Rock Paper Scissors that chain breaks: rock beats scissors, scissors beats paper, and paper beats rock. No option is best, so what matters is what you expect the other person to do. That one property is why the loop turns up everywhere from playgrounds to game studios.
Hand games in the same family
| Game | Where it comes from | The options | What is different |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mushi-ken | Japan, imported from China | Frog (thumb), slug (little finger), snake (index finger) | The oldest Japanese member of the family |
| Kitsune-ken | Japan | Fox, village head, hunter | People instead of creatures, same three-way loop |
| Jan-ken | Japan | Rock, paper, scissors | The direct ancestor of the game most of the world plays now |
| Muk-jji-ppa | South Korea | Muk (rock), jji (scissors), ppa (paper) | A second phase where the attacker tries to make you match their hand |
| Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock | USA, Sam Kass and Karen Bryla | Five throws | Each throw beats two and loses to two, so ties drop |
Mushi-ken and kitsune-ken
Japanese tradition groups these under sansukumi-ken, roughly "fist games of three who are afraid of one another". In mushi-ken the frog beats the slug, the slug beats the snake and the snake beats the frog. Kitsune-ken swaps in a fox, a village head and a hunter. Jan-ken, with its fist, flat hand and two fingers, is the one that survived into everyday use and spread abroad. I cover that history in more depth on our history page.
Muk-jji-ppa
This Korean variant starts with an ordinary round. The winner becomes the attacker and calls out a hand as both players keep throwing in rhythm. If the defender shows the same hand as the attacker, the defender loses. If the defender wins a throw instead, the roles flip. It turns a one-shot guess into a short chase, which is why many people find it more fun than the base game.
Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock
Sam Kass and Karen Bryla added two throws to cut down on ties, and the version became famous after Sheldon explained it on The Big Bang Theory in the 2008 episode "The Lizard-Spock Expansion". With five throws, each one beats two others and loses to two, and the chance of a tie falls from one in three to one in five. The full chart is on our Lizard Spock page, and more house variants are collected under variations.
Video games built on the same loop
Designers use the cycle for a practical reason: if every unit or move has a counter, no single choice dominates, and players have to read each other instead of repeating one winning option.
Pokemon: the starter triangle
The first thing Pokemon teaches is a three-way loop: Fire beats Grass, Grass beats Water, Water beats Fire. The three starter Pokemon are built around it, and a super effective hit does double damage. The full type chart has many more types and plenty of one-way relationships, so the whole system is richer than Rock Paper Scissors, but the teaching core is exactly the same cycle.
Fire Emblem: the weapon triangle
In most Fire Emblem games, swords have the advantage over axes, axes over lances, and lances over swords. The advantage is a bonus, not an automatic win, which makes it a softer version of the cycle: a strong unit can still win from the wrong side of the triangle. One wrinkle worth knowing: Three Houses (2019) dropped the classic triangle, and Engage (2023) brought a version of it back through its Break mechanic. If you have only played one entry, that is why other players may describe it differently.
Age of Empires II: unit counters
Age of Empires II is built on counters. The basic loop is cavalry beats archers (it closes distance fast), spearmen and pikemen beat cavalry (cheaply), and archers beat the spear line (by out-ranging it). Dozens of special units and upgrades sit on top, but the reason army composition matters at all is that underlying triangle. Many real-time strategy games follow the same pattern.
Fighting games: strike, throw, block
Fighting games have an informal cycle: attacks lose to blocking, blocking loses to a throw, and a throw loses to being hit by an attack. The Dead or Alive series makes this explicit with its triangle of strikes, throws and holds, and rewards the correct counter with extra damage. The "strike/throw mix-up", making the opponent guess whether to block or escape a grab, is the core of offense in many fighting games. It is Rock Paper Scissors played at full speed.
The same loop outside games
The cycle also shows up in nature. Barry Sinervo and Curtis Lively described it in side-blotched lizards in a 1996 paper in Nature: males with orange, blue and yellow throats follow three mating strategies, and each strategy beats one of the others and loses to the third. We have more of this on the science page.
What makes a good Rock-Paper-Scissors-like game
Having played a lot of these, I think the ones that last share three traits:
- A real cycle. Every option must have both a counter and a target. If one choice has no counter, the game collapses into that choice.
- Something to read. Pure one-shot RPS is a guess. The games people stay with add information: an opponent's history, their unit build, a visible stance, or a called hand as in muk-jji-ppa.
- Soft edges. Pokemon and Fire Emblem give an advantage rather than a guaranteed win. That lets skill, positioning and resources matter on top of the cycle.
If you want to feel the base loop before trying the bigger games, you can play Rock Paper Scissors online free against the computer or other people, then compare how it feels once a fourth and fifth option are added.
FAQ
What is a game like Rock Paper Scissors called?
The general term is a non-transitive or cyclic game. In Japan, three-way hand games of this kind are called sansukumi-ken.
Is Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock a real game?
Yes. Sam Kass and Karen Bryla created it to reduce ties, and The Big Bang Theory made it widely known in 2008.
Which video game is most like Rock Paper Scissors?
For a pure three-way loop, the Pokemon starter types (Fire, Grass, Water) and the Fire Emblem weapon triangle are the closest. Fighting games feel the most like live RPS, because you are guessing the opponent's next choice in real time.
Are there other hand games like it?
Yes. Mushi-ken and kitsune-ken from Japan and muk-jji-ppa from Korea are the best known, and many families invent their own themed versions.