Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock

What Is This and Why Does It Exist?

Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock (RPSLS) is a five-gesture expansion of the classic game. It was invented by Sam Kass (with Karen Bryla) in 1998 because Sam kept tying his friend in regular RPS and decided the whole system needed more options. Which, honestly, is the most "person who would invent a Rock Paper Scissors expansion" reason possible.

By adding Lizard and Spock, the tie rate drops from 33.3% to 20%. More decisive outcomes. Richer strategy. Significantly longer explanations required before anyone can play.

The Rules (Deep Breath)

Each gesture beats two others and loses to two others:

• Rock crushes Scissors, crushes Lizard
• Paper covers Rock, disproves Spock
• Scissors cuts Paper, decapitates Lizard
• Lizard poisons Spock, eats Paper
• Spock smashes Scissors, vaporizes Rock

Or, as Sheldon Cooper once explained in a single breath: "Scissors cuts Paper, Paper covers Rock, Rock crushes Lizard, Lizard poisons Spock, Spock smashes Scissors, Scissors decapitates Lizard, Lizard eats Paper, Paper disproves Spock, Spock vaporizes Rock, and as it always has, Rock crushes Scissors."

If you understood all of that on the first read, you are a better person than most.

Hand Gestures

• Rock: Closed fist. You know this one.
• Paper: Flat hand, palm down. Also familiar.
• Scissors: Index and middle fingers. Classic.
• Lizard: Hand forms a puppet-mouth shape, thumb underneath. Like you're making a sock puppet talk, but with your actual hand.
• Spock: The Vulcan salute. Fingers split between the middle and ring finger. If you can't do this, you may need to practice. It builds character.

How Strategy Changes

RPSLS is genuinely more complex than standard RPS. In the classic game, each gesture has a 33.3% chance of winning, tying, or losing. In RPSLS, each gesture wins 40% of the time, loses 40%, and ties only 20%.

Strategic considerations unique to RPSLS:

• More tracking: Instead of three possible throws, you're watching for five. Your brain has to work harder, which means your patterns get sloppier.
• Deeper reads: With 10 decisive outcomes per round (versus 3 in classic), reading tendencies requires more data and more patience.
• The Spock trap: Casual players love throwing Spock because it feels powerful. If you notice this, throw Paper or Lizard. You're welcome.
• Lizard neglect: Lizard is the least intuitive gesture, so new players barely use it. Their loss. Literally.

The Big Bang Theory Made This Famous

RPSLS existed quietly for a decade until The Big Bang Theory featured it in 2008 (Season 2, Episode 8: "The Lizard-Spock Expansion"). Sheldon Cooper's rapid-fire rule explanation became one of the show's most iconic moments. Overnight, a game known to approximately twelve people became known to approximately twelve million.

Sam Kass has said he invented the game specifically because he and a friend were tired of tying in regular RPS. He solved a math problem and accidentally created a pop culture phenomenon. Sometimes that's how it goes.

Can You Compete in RPSLS?

Standard RPS remains the primary competitive format at WRPSA events, but RPSLS tournaments have grown as a popular side event. It's especially big at corporate events and school programs, where the novelty factor adds excitement and the extra gestures give everyone something new to overthink.

Other Variations (Because Why Stop at Five?)

RPSLS is the most famous expansion, but it's far from the only one. There's RPS-7, RPS-25, and the genuinely absurd RPS-101. Explore the full landscape of RPS variations, where human creativity and the refusal to accept a perfectly good game meet.