Paper, Rock, Scissors
- Inventor of Game: Xie Zhaozhi
We know, the infamous childhood game of “Paper, Rock, Scissors” is somehow one of the most notable game theories? Yes, as it is a zero-sum game but it also has imperfect information. Whenever one player wins, the other(s) will lose. We know the game works as follows: rock always beats scissors, scissors always beats paper, and paper always beats rock. This means each possible choice can potentially lose to the other. Yet among two people, the ability to pick one of three possible choices gives one a few different ways to go.
To play properly, you can assume the person you’re playing will pick rock, for example. You might have seen them pick “rock” every time you played or maybe you saw the times they employed it specifically. Thus giving you the idea that you can pick “paper” during the points they are most likely to pick the rock option. However, the second player might also know their opponent knows their pattern. They might have also developed a pattern out of the very idea one might be watching them. Thus allowing them to pick “scissors” during the points they’d normally go with “rock.” See how strategic this game is?