Rock Paper Scissors Dynamite!

A special take on tweaking and upgrading the experience of playing Rock Paper Scissors!

Rock-Paper-Scissors- oh crap, I lost again!

We’ve all played the game at some stage of our lives. While many boast about being really good at it, I for one sucked at it BIG time. And I had my reasons!

I am too quick with dishing out my rock, paper, and scissors- enough for any opponent with a decent reflex to alter their choice. While I found it quite unfair, I couldn’t help but wonder if there were any ways to adjust the game. 

And so to quench my need for a proper game of R.P.S I embarked on a silly project of turning a game with no components into a game with some components. Not much. But it gets pretty interesting!

Heads up:
+YES, I am aware of the alternate version of R.P.S. that was featured in the Big Bang Theory; courtesy of Sam Kass and Karen Bryla. It’s pretty good!

+ I am aware of many games, some that also got launched on Kickstarter, that are based on R.P.S. I haven’t delved into them yet, as I wanted to approach the game with a fresh perspective.

+ The goal was not to change the game by adding a zillion components and turning it into something else. I am a sucker for customization, I only tweaked a couple of mechanisms.

Let’s take care of the reflex issue
First thing first, I took care of eliminating the scope of any shady hand movements by introducing cards. I’m no Picasso, but the cards turned out neat.

I designed two sets of cards in red and green to represent the two opponents. They can go ‘rock-paper-scissors’ and deal out one card each at a time on the table and see what’s in their fate. So far, so good.

But let’s tweak it further, shall we?

Time to introduce- Time!
A variant I’ve been curious about for quite a while. A timed game (2 minutes) where the players will contest each other and mark their progress through a gaming piece (let’s call it Tracker) on a Tracking Card! Each round a player wins, they get to take one step into the opponent’s territory. A player only has a safety net of 6 steps, if they’re pushed beyond it, then they lose. Where the Tracker is at the end of the time limit determines the result of the game:
-If you manage to keep it in your opponent’s zone, you win!
-If you fail to keep it out of your zone, you lose!
-If it ends up in the neutral zone, then players will deal one card each as a tie-breaker to determine the winner.

Time for KABOOM!
And to add the final component of my revised R.P.S- a little bit of dynamite! The Dynamite card can be a game-changer. My walkthrough of the gameplay will tell the story:

1. The two opponents sit/stand facing each other in front of a table that has the game cards (rock, paper, scissors, dynamite) in red and green, the Tracking Card, and the Tracker. Time for a 2-minute game with 2 halves- one minute each.

2. With the start of the timer, the two opponents start the battle, trying to get into the enemy’s territory with every successful round.

3. In comes the Dynamite power! On each half of the game, the players can use the Dynamite Card ONCE. Its power? Well, it can defeat rock, paper, and scissors and take you TWO steps further! But there’s a catch. In the event both opponents end up drawing the Dynamite Card together, then the Tracker is reset- in other words, it goes back to the neutral zone. Once the Dynamite Card is played in a half, it cannot be reused and must be discarded from the hand.

Rock-Paper-Scissors-Dynamite!
After playtesting the game for a few days, I introduced the game to my friends on a game night. The response?

It’s hilarious, in a good way! We had a great laugh playing the game. It’s a light game that can be the perfect ice-breaker for game nights. It’s nowhere near complicated, takes no time to learn, and certainly takes us back to our school days. So a bit of nostalgia.

Much to my joy, few of my cunning friends (I’m talking about you Shady Phil) couldn’t cheat like they used to a decade ago, kudos to the cards. The time constraint also played a great role and everyone recommended 2 minutes. As for the Dynamite- that’s one game-changer! Some of my friends played safe by dishing it out right away, while some waited till only a few seconds were left on the clock. We also had an annihilation (Dynamite-Dynamite collision) which was a sight to behold! It saved a friend from the jaws of defeat. 

So, are you willing to try Rock-Paper-Scissors-Dynamite? Try it out, for free!

Read out the blog on the game: Rock-Paper-Scissor-Dynamite