The RPS drinking game works because it requires zero setup and produces a clear loser every thirty seconds. No board, no deck, no app, no rules explanation longer than ten seconds. Two people throw, one person drinks. That's it. The simplicity is the whole point — the moment you add complexity to a drinking game, the rules start getting disputed by people who are already two drinks in.
The standard format: two players face each other, standard simultaneous reveal, loser takes a drink. First to a pre-agreed number of round wins gets to pick someone else at the table to finish their drink. House rules vary — best of five per match, drink-per-loss throughout, or tournament brackets for a larger group — but the core mechanic doesn't change regardless of the format you use.
What makes RPS specifically well-suited to this format is that the skill gap between players stays narrow. Someone who's never played a competitive game in their life can beat a seasoned player in three rounds just by being genuinely random. That makes the stakes feel real without the game becoming a grinding advantage for whoever's most sober. It's genuinely competitive in a way that most drinking games aren't.
The psychology element adds to it. As the evening progresses and inhibitions drop, people get worse at controlling their behavioral tendencies. The winner-repeats, loser-shifts patterns documented in academic research become more pronounced when players aren't exercising careful self-monitoring. Someone who's been drinking is going to be significantly more readable than they were an hour ago. If you're paying attention and they're not, that's an edge.
The responsible framing: drinking games work best when everyone's on the same page about pace and there's a non-alcoholic option available. The WRPSA doesn't sanction RPS drinking formats, but the game's use as a social drinking mechanic goes back at least several decades. Play at a pace that keeps it fun.