Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock: Rules and Diagram

Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock is the classic game with two extra gestures, giving five gestures, ten winning rules and five ties. Each gesture beats exactly two others and loses to two. It cuts ties from one round in three to one in five under uniform random play, which is why it was designed. Gift Club's Rock Paper Scissors has a Classic / Lizard Spock switch.

The ten rules

Every gesture beats exactly two others and loses to exactly two others. That symmetry is the whole design, and it is easiest to see as a diagram.

The same ten rules as a table:

The gestures: Rock is a fist, Paper a flat hand, Scissors the usual two fingers, Lizard a sock-puppet hand with the fingers and thumb meeting, and Spock the Vulcan salute — fingers split between middle and ring.

How to play Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock

1. Agree on the count. Both players shake a fist, usually three times, and throw on the last beat.
2. Throw one of five gestures: Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard or Spock.
3. Find the rule that links the two gestures. Exactly one of the ten rules above covers any pair of different gestures, and it names the winner.
4. Replay a tie. The same gesture on both sides is a tie, and you throw again.

What each gesture beats, at a glance

• Rock beats Lizard and Scissors. Loses to Paper and Spock.
• Paper beats Rock and Spock. Loses to Scissors and Lizard.
• Scissors beats Paper and Lizard. Loses to Rock and Spock.
• Lizard beats Spock and Paper. Loses to Rock and Scissors.
• Spock beats Scissors and Rock. Loses to Lizard and Paper.

Why the variant exists

It was invented by Sam Kass with Karen Bryla, and reached a mass audience through The Big Bang Theory, which is why most people meet it as a television joke rather than a design fix.

The stated problem it solves is ties. In the classic game, two players picking uniformly at random tie one time in three. Between people who know each other well, the rate climbs higher still, because they converge on the same reads. Five gestures drop the random-play tie rate to one in five, which means a noticeably larger share of rounds actually resolve.

That is the entire mechanical benefit. It does not make the game deeper in any strategic sense — it makes it terminate faster.

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What two extra throws do to strategy

The counter-strategies that work in the three-gesture game rely on human biases: the tendency to open with rock, the win-stay/lose-shift reflex, the reluctance to repeat a throw three times. Those biases still exist here, but they are diluted across five options instead of three.

Two practical consequences:

• Reads are worth less. Correctly predicting that an opponent will not repeat narrows the field from four to three rather than from two to one. The information is the same; it buys less.
• Spock is over-thrown by new players. It is the novelty gesture and the one people are pleased to remember, which makes it the most over-represented opening among people who have just learned the variant. Lizard and Paper both beat it.

As with the classic game, all of this evaporates against a computer opponent drawing at random. There is no bias to exploit and no pattern to find. See how to win at Rock Paper Scissors for the documented biases and where they stop applying.

Does Gift Club have Lizard Spock?

Yes. Rock Paper Scissors on Gift Club has a Classic / Lizard Spock switch on the game page: Classic plays the usual three signs, Lizard Spock all five, on the same ten rules as above. Either way it is a streak against the house rather than a head-to-head match.

• Each win climbs a rung of the multiplier ladder, from 1.90× on the first to 30.40× on the fifth, where the run pays out on its own.
• You can collect at any time and bank the rung you are standing on.
• A tie replays the round for free. Nothing is gained or lost; you simply throw again.
• A loss ends the run.

The ladder is the same in both modes, rung for rung. What the two extra signs change is how often a throw comes back as a tie: with five signs there are fewer of them, so a run reaches its next decision sooner. That decision is still the one that matters — when to stop, not what to throw.

Spark mode costs Sparks, the currency the daily streak pays out for free. Playing for Stars is paid.

Common questions

What beats Spock?

Lizard and Paper. Lizard poisons Spock, and Paper disproves Spock. Spock beats Scissors and Rock.

Why does paper disprove Spock?

The rules never explain it. The usual reading is that paper stands for a written argument, and Spock is the character defined by logic, so a well-made argument on paper is what defeats him. Most of the verbs are jokes chosen to sound right, and this one is the most famous of them.

How does Sheldon explain it?

In The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon recites all ten rules as one chain, where the loser of each rule is the winner of the next. The table at the top of this page lists them in that same order, starting with scissors cutting paper and ending with rock crushing scissors.

What are the five hand signs?

Rock (fist), Paper (flat hand), Scissors (two fingers), Lizard (fingers and thumb meeting, like a sock puppet), Spock (Vulcan salute).

How many possible outcomes are there?

Ten winning combinations, plus five ties — one for each gesture matched against itself. Twenty-five total pairings.

Does it reduce ties compared to the original?

Yes. Uniform random play ties one round in five here, against one in three in the classic game. That was the design goal.

Is there a best opening throw?

Against a newcomer, something that beats Spock — Lizard or Paper — since Spock is the gesture new players reach for. Against an experienced player or any software, no.

Keep reading

• How to Win at Rock Paper Scissors — the research on human bias, and its limits.
• Rock Paper Scissors — the Gift Club game — the multiplier ladder and the cash-out decision.
• Every Gift Club game guide