The World Rock Paper Scissors Championship was run by the World RPS Society in Toronto from 2002 to 2009, with a different champion every year and a top prize of about $7,000 by the end. A separate, bigger-money American event, the USA Rock Paper Scissors League championship, ran in Las Vegas from 2006 to 2008. Neither exists today.
From a bar to television (2002 to 2004)
The World RPS Society was the project of Toronto brothers Douglas and Graham Walker. In 2002 they rented a bar and called their event a world championship. It was half joke, half sport: players in costume, referees, a formal rulebook, and very real competition.
It grew fast. The 2003 edition drew 320 competitors to a downtown Toronto nightclub, with a C$5,000 purse. In 2004 the championship was broadcast on the American network Fox Sports Net, and in October 2004 the Walkers published The Official Rock Paper Scissors Strategy Guide with Simon & Schuster.
The peak years (2005 to 2009)
By the middle of the decade the Toronto event regularly attracted around 500 walk-on players from several countries, with a $7,000 top prize. The 2009 edition, sponsored by Yahoo! Canada, was held at the Steam Whistle Brewery's Roundhouse on November 14, 2009, with a $10,000 total prize pool and 512 competitors.
Every World RPS Society champion
| Year | Champion | From |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Pete Lovering | Toronto event |
| 2003 | Rob Krueger | Toronto |
| 2004 | Lee Rammage | |
| 2005 | Andrew Bergel | Toronto |
| 2006 | Bob Cooper | London, England |
| 2007 | Andrea Farina | Syracuse University student (first woman and first American champion) |
| 2008 | Monica Martinez | Toronto |
| 2009 | Tim Conrad | Taylor, Michigan |
Conrad beat Tom Butkin, also from Taylor, Michigan, in the first all-American final. More on each winner is on our champions page.
The USARPS League: $50,000 in Las Vegas
In 2006 a separate organization, the USA Rock Paper Scissors League, developed by marketer Matti Leshem, brought RPS to the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas with a $50,000 grand prize.
| Year | Champion | Final / broadcast |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Mario Anastasov | 257 players, April 9, 2006; aired on A&E |
| 2007 | Michael Federico | Beat David Borne; aired on ESPN2 on July 7 |
| 2008 | Sean Sears | Beat Julie Crossley; about 300 entrants |
This was the high-water mark for money in the game. By 2014 the league's most famous personality, Jason Simmons ("Master Roshambollah"), was quoted saying it was defunct.
Why the championships ended
The last World RPS Society championship was in 2009. The most common explanation is television: long strings of ties make RPS difficult to broadcast well, and without TV the sponsorship money dried up. No organization has since run an event with a comparable international field.
What about world rankings?
Several older articles on this site described "official world RPS rankings" and how they were calculated. I could not find evidence that either the World RPS Society or the USARPS League published an ongoing ranking system, so I have removed those claims. The championships were single events; winning one made you champion for that year, not number one on a ladder. Claims about which countries "dominate" RPS have the same problem: the fields were mostly local walk-on players, so there is no meaningful national ranking to report.
Tactics the tournament era made famous
The Toronto events popularized the idea of gambits: planned sequences of three throws, such as Rob Krueger's final-winning rock-paper-paper. Players also relied on reading opponents' habits, which later research backed up: in a 2014 Zhejiang University study of 360 students, winners tended to repeat winning throws and losers shifted predictably. Our 27 gambits and strategy guide cover both.
Competitive RPS now
The big championships are gone, but the game is still played competitively at a local level. If you want to run your own, the tournament guide covers formats and tie rules. For the longer story of the game itself, from the Han dynasty claim to Japanese jan-ken, see RPS history.
FAQ
Is there still a World Rock Paper Scissors Championship?
Not in the form described here. The World RPS Society's last championship was in Toronto in 2009.
Who won the last world championship?
Tim Conrad of Taylor, Michigan, on November 14, 2009.
How much did the winner get?
About $7,000 at the Toronto championship in its later years; $50,000 at the USARPS League championship in Las Vegas.
Is rock paper scissors an Olympic sport?
No. It has never been on the Olympic program.