RPS Glossary
42 terms you didn't know you needed. Now you do.
This glossary defines 42 terms as they are used on WRPSA pages. Formal game, probability, rules, and tournament terms are separated from WRPSA editorial labels for three-throw sequences. A definition describes usage; it does not prove that a named gambit, tell, bias, or tactic predicts future play.
- Approach
- Your overall game plan for a match. Some players go random, some read opponents, some pre-plan gambits. Think of it as your personality, but for hand gestures.
- Avalanche
- WRPSA editorial label for the pre-committed sequence Rock, Rock, Rock. The name is a mnemonic and does not imply a measured advantage.
- Best of 3 (Bo3)
- First to 2 round wins takes the match. The standard format for most play. Long enough to require strategy, short enough to keep things tense.
- Best of 5 (Bo5)
- First to 3 round wins. Used in semifinals, finals, and matches where someone really needs to prove a point.
- Bureaucrat
- Three Papers in a row (P-P-P). Named because it papers over everything. The ultimate commitment to a single idea.
- Bye
- A free pass through the first round of a tournament bracket, given when the player count isn't a perfect power of 2. Basically winning without showing up.
- Cadence
- The rhythm of the count before a throw. WRPSA standard: "Rock... Paper... Scissors... Shoot!" Throw on "Shoot." Mess up the cadence and you get a foul. It's four words.
- Counter
- The throw that beats what you expect your opponent to throw. If you think they're going Rock, your counter is Paper. If you're wrong, well.
- Crescendo
- A gambit that follows the game's own name: Rock, Paper, Scissors (R-P-S). Elegant. Predictable. Bold.
- Double Elimination
- A tournament format where you need to lose twice to go home. Includes a winners' bracket and a losers' bracket. Second chances. How generous.
- Fistful o' Dollars
- Rock, Paper, Paper (R-P-P). Opens with Rock to test the waters, then bets it all on Paper. Named after the movie, which was also about gambling.
- Foul
- An illegal action during a throw: late throw, ambiguous gesture, or intentional obstruction. Results in a warning or round loss. Yes, you can foul in Rock Paper Scissors.
- Gambit
- A three-throw sequence selected before play. There are 27 possible ordered sequences. Pre-commitment can reduce reactive choice, but repeating a known sequence is exploitable.
- Jan-ken-pon
- The Japanese name for Rock Paper Scissors (じゃんけんぽん). Japan gave us the three modern gestures. We owe them a lot.
- Late throw
- Revealing your gesture after seeing your opponent's. A foul. In competitive play, throws must be simultaneous. Looking is cheating.
- Lizard Spock
- A five-gesture variant adding Lizard and Spock. Drops the tie rate from 33% to 20%. Popularized by The Big Bang Theory. Invented by Sam Kass, who deserves more credit.
- Markov model
- A model in which the predicted next state depends on a defined current state, such as the previous throw and outcome. It helps only when that conditional dependence persists and is validated on later data.
- Meta-game
- The strategy of predicting your opponent's strategy. "I know that you know that I know." It goes as deep as you want, and then one level deeper.
- Nash equilibrium
- For the standard RPS payoff matrix, independently choose each gesture with probability 1/3. This mix has expected payoff zero against every opposing mix; it does not guarantee an even result in a short match.
- Paper
- Open flat hand, fingers together. Beats Rock (covers it), loses to Scissors (cut by it). Still can't explain how it beats Rock, but here we are.
- Pattern tracking
- Recording an opponent’s prior throws and context to test a stated prediction. A pattern should be evaluated on later observations and compared with a baseline.
- Priming
- An experimental change in later responses associated with earlier exposure to a cue. Calling a phrase or gesture “priming” requires a comparison condition; intent alone does not establish an effect.
- Random baseline
- Choosing Rock, Paper, and Scissors independently with probability 1/3 each. It is the unexploitable mixed-strategy baseline for the standard payoff matrix.
- Read
- A prediction about an opponent’s next throw based on stated observations. Its quality is measured by later predictions, including every miss.
- Referee
- An official who oversees a competitive match: ensures simultaneous throws, resolves disputes, records results. A job that exists.
- Rock
- Closed fist. Beats Scissors and loses to Paper. No reliable evidence establishes it as the most common first throw in every population or setting.
- Rock bias
- A proposed excess use of Rock relative to an equal 1/3 baseline. Some studies reported a small excess; in Dyson et al. (2016) it was not statistically significant. Report the population, position, denominator, and uncertainty.
- Roshambo
- Alternate name for Rock Paper Scissors, common in North America. Possibly derived from a French name, but nobody actually knows. We've all just agreed to pretend.
- RPS
- Abbreviation for Rock Paper Scissors. You knew this one.
- Scissors
- Index and middle fingers extended in a V. Beats Paper (cuts it), loses to Rock (crushed by it). Like a peace sign that means war.
- Seeding
- Placing ranked players in a tournament bracket so the best don't meet in Round 1. Organizes the drama for later rounds.
- Shoot
- The moment of truth. In the standard count ("Rock... Paper... Scissors... Shoot!"), players reveal their throw on "Shoot." Everything before it is just buildup.
- Single elimination
- One loss and you're out. Fast. Dramatic. Unforgiving. The way nature intended.
- Swiss system
- A tournament format pairing players with similar records each round. Nobody gets eliminated. Efficient for large groups. Very polite.
- Tell
- A candidate observable cue proposed to predict a future throw. It becomes evidence only after the cue, outcome, timing boundary, and predictive performance are measured prospectively.
- Throw
- The hand gesture you reveal during play. Rock, Paper, or Scissors. That's it. Pick one.
- Tie
- Both players throw the same gesture. The round is replayed. Also called a "draw" or "push." Also called "we just wasted everyone's time."
- Tilt
- Informal competition language for a perceived change in decision-making after frustration. It is not a diagnosis, and any claimed effect on throws requires measurement.
- Toolbox
- WRPSA editorial label for the pre-committed sequence Scissors, Scissors, Scissors. The label does not make the fixed sequence less exploitable.
- Variant
- A declared modification to the classic three-action rules, outcome graph, or match format. Every result must identify the ruleset used.
- WRPSA
- World Rock Paper Scissors Association, founded in 2015. It publishes a ruleset and operates the WRPSA play, event, rating, and research platform.
- WSLS (Win-Stay, Lose-Shift)
- A conditional-response heuristic that repeats an action after a win and changes it after a loss. RPS studies report protocol-specific variants; it is not a universal rule about every player.
Now put them to use
- Official Rules - The full competitive ruleset
- Strategy Guide - Where these terms come alive
- How to Play - Start from the beginning
- FAQ - Questions people actually ask