Rock-Paper-Scissors-Lizard-Spock: a kids game with teeth
I pressed Lizard and watched it eat the rival Paper. The playground rhyme had just bared its fangs.
The rhyme that grew up
The classic trio, Rock, Scissors, Paper, is an honest schoolyard game. But it has one flaw: a draw every other round. Two extra gestures, Lizard and Spock, added not complexity but air. Now each gesture wins twice and loses twice. Matching gestures still tie, but you wait longer for it.
My take: fairer than the classic
In the classic game many players throw Rock forever. Against that stubborn hand Paper wins the streak dry, and the match ends before it starts. Here stubbornness costs more: Rock crushes Scissors and Lizard, yet Paper covers it and Spock smashes it. Any favorite gesture survives two rounds, and the third catches it. The game punishes habit. I like that: the winner is whoever changes hands, not whoever found one button.
Ten outcomes instead of three
The table is easy if you walk it in a circle. Rock crushes Scissors and Lizard. Scissors cut Paper and Lizard. Paper covers Rock and Spock. Lizard eats Paper and poisons Spock. Spock smashes Rock and Scissors. Ten pairs, none spare: every gesture eats someone and fears someone.
A match against the machine
The AI here does not think, it draws a random gesture. And that is good: a rival with no habits mirrors your own. I noticed that after a loss I press the same gesture again, as if it owes me payback. It owes nobody anything. A streak of three defeats has one cure: change hands on purpose, not in anger.
And Lizard is my favorite now. Not because it is stronger, all five are equal. But because the phrase about a lizard poisoning Spock sounds like it came from a person in a great mood.