A few years ago, the news came out that computers have ruined the game of checkers forever by coming up with a perfect strategy that can't be beaten. This made us wonder if there were other ways to use math to completely ruin innocent games from our childhood.

5 Rock Paper Scissors: Opponents Are Biased Toward Rock, Against Scissors

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If we told you that it's possible to cheat at a game as simple as Rock Paper Scissors, you'd probably think we were talking about the old "We didn't say it WASN'T the best out of three" technique, or the one where you try to convince the other person that there really is a secret fourth option.

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"Dong punctures paper and shames rock. It ... uh, doesn't do so hot against scissors."

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But no, the cheats we're talking about are a little more sophisticated than that -- and not completely unlike a Jedi mind trick.

How to Win:

Professional Rock Paper Scissors players (yes, they exist) find that humans are fairly predictable when it comes to simple games like this. For example, it's well known that a rookie player is always more likely to start with rock, simply because rock looks more badass. Intermediate players can use this knowledge to counteract or rule out rock depending on how experienced their opponent looks.

Also, players in general are statistically less likely to throw scissors at any given time -- so all things being equal, you should go with paper.

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Fuckin' rookies.

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Then, statistics show that players will often use the throw that would have won the last turn. After you throw down the paper, watch them come back with scissors.

Really advanced players, however, don't need to guess what you're gonna choose because they can decide that for you.