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Peabody TeachFor teachers and grown-ups

Rock paper scissors wheel: and a few extra moves

Spin for rock, paper or scissors, with five extra moves to invent rules for: a quick tie-breaker and a logic game in one.

Tap, flick or press Space

8 entries

Hide a note behind a slice with a bar: cat | a small furry pet. It shows after the spin. Start a line with an emoji to draw it big. Two columns pasted from a spreadsheet work too.

After a spin

Anyone can come up again. Repeats are fine.

Who's away today?

Tap anyone who is away. Their slice is hatched and skipped today only; at midnight they are back. Nobody is deleted.

Drag the wheel round and let go to flick it. Your flick sets the show. The draw is already fair: your browser's secure random generator picks the winner before the wheel moves.

The contents travel inside the link after the # sign, which browsers never send to any server. Anyone you give the link to can read them.

Space spin, or stop sooner · R new round · M sound on or off · F full screen · Esc leave it

Your edits are saved in this browser only, and never sent anywhere. Turns and away marks never go into a link.

How to use it

  1. The wheel already holds 8 entries for “Rock paper scissors wheel”. Edit, add or delete lines in the box and it redraws; your changes stay in this browser.
  2. Tap the wheel, press Space, or drag it and let go to flick it. The winner is drawn first with your browser's secure random generator; the pegs, the clicks and the big reveal only show it.
  3. Choose Fade the winner or Remove the winner to use every entry once, or Keep everyone in for repeats. “Original list” brings back the starting entries, and Print makes a paper spinner of the list.

Ideas for class

  • Settle who goes first without a quarrel: both students stand and the wheel plays their opponent.
  • Class versus the wheel: the class chooses a move together and then sees what the wheel throws.
  • Invent a rule set for the extra moves: what beats what, and why? Check that every move beats at least one and loses to at least one.
  • Teach probability: before spinning, predict how often rock will come up in 20 spins and compare after.
  • Practice sportsmanship by talking about how to win and lose graciously after a spin.

Related

Questions

Do the extra moves have rules?

The classic three follow the familiar rules: rock beats scissors, scissors beat paper and paper beats rock. Lizard, fire, water, sponge and air are there for your class to decide on, which makes a good logic activity. Delete them for the classic game.

Is the wheel fair to the classic three?

Each of the eight moves has the same chance, so with the extras on the wheel rock comes up one time in eight. For the classic game with a one-in-three chance each, delete the five extras.

Can I use this to choose who goes first?

Yes, and it is a fair way to avoid arguments. Agree beforehand that the wheel’s decision is final.

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