Welcome to Rock, Paper, Scissors, a computerized version of the classic
rock, paper, scissors game where you can battle a computerized version of your
rock, paper, scissors strategy against others.
Think about when you play rock, paper, scissors. Do you just pick rock, paper, or scissors
randomly each time? Or, do you think about your competitor's last move (or the one before that,
or the one before that...) as well as your last move (or the one before that...)? You probably
make up your mind about what to play each time based on the results of past rounds. Whether you
realize it or not, your decisions represent your strategy. Another word for this is
algorithm.
In this version of rock, paper, scissors, you'll play against other players, only it won't be
you against them, it'll be your algorithm against theirs. You have to think about your
strategy ahead of time and write it all down and then sit back and watch while a
computerized version of you follows this strategy against the computerized version of someone else's
strategy. See
this web site for some interesting strategy tips.
Your algorithm will take the form of a series of rules. Each rule will
be something like "if my last move was rock then play paper." You can add new
rules, edit existing rules, and delete rules. You can also reorder rules and
this is very important: The order of the rules matters! When it comes time
for the system to "play for you", it will check each rule from top to bottom,
and stop as soon as it finds a "matching" rule. Put your most specific
rules at the top and your more general rules at the bottom. Your final rule
should be one that simply plays rock, paper, or scissors (or one of these
randomly), but if you forget to add this rule, it will be assumed.
After you finish reading these instructions, go to the
Rock, Paper, Scissors home page and click on the "Edit Algorithm" link (or
go directly to the Edit Algorithm page. You'll be asked for
your bracket name and your player name. The bracket name should be given to you by
the person who created the bracket. The player name will either be something you know (if you added
yourself as a player) or something given to you by the bracket creator.
Go to the Rock, Paper, Scissors home page
