There are people who impact your life in significant ways, and then there's Stringbeans. He definitely made a big impression on me, but the biggest impact he has had on my life is that he has forever influenced the way I play Rock, Paper, Scissors.
For those of you who haven't played the game, it's (usually) a 2-player game where players simultaneously use their hand to display rock (fist), paper (open hand), or scissors (fist with index and middle finger out). Rock beats scissors, scissors beats paper, and paper beats rock. Having the same choice results in a tie.
Stringbeans told me that his volleyball league used RPS to decide which team would serve, and his team's strategy was: always play rock. It even got to the point that a team said to them before the game, "I heard you're the team that always plays rock." Even though their opponents obviously knew their strategy, they still played rock.
I loved the strategy when I heard it. I call it my "foolproof strategy". Not because I always win, but because it's literally fool-proof - any fool can always play rock. So I've adopted it. I managed to keep it a secret from MrFodder for a while, but he has figured it out now. Before you all start offering to play RPS with me, I would like to add that my strategy has developed a slight difference. I'll always play rock, unless it's something I really care about. Then I'll bring out the scissors. Which actually surprised MrFodder once.
Jal and I usually have to divide the weekend shifts between us, and the method usually involves rock, paper, scissors. I told him that I have a strategy, but not what it is. Now, whenever we play, I can see the thoughts ticking through his head, trying to outmanoeuvre me. We usually only play a best-of-1, and I don't think he has caught on yet.
The thing I love most about this strategy is that you can play it even when you're exhausted. This week has been incredibly mentally draining - I've been looking at mem dumps and GC output trying to find a memory leak, and then there are the self-inflicted late nights / early mornings.
Michael constantly teases me about the fact that I overthink everything, and I thought it would be a great way to prove him wrong. I challenged him to play, and I think the important part of the strategy is that it hinges on someone knowing you have a strategy, so I told him that I had one. His first thought was that I had searched for the best RPS strategy I could find with Google and I just shrugged.
We settled on a best-of-3, which I was somewhat hesitant about, but I figured I'd be a rock and roll with it.
Game 1:
Fodder: rock
Michael: rock
Draw
Fodder: rock
Michael: paper
Michael wins, 0-1
I did panic slightly here, thinking he'd worked out my strategy already.
Game 2:
Fodder: rock
Michael: rock
Draw
Fodder: rock
Michael: scissors
Fodder wins, 1-1
I figured by now, he had to have noticed the pattern, and had resigned myself to losing. But at least I proved I wasn't over thinking things.
Game 3:
Fodder: rock
Michael: rock
Draw
Fodder: rock
I swear I could see a brief moment in his facial expression that he was conflicted over whether my strategy really was to play rock every time, or the whole thing was a trap, and I was going to play something else.
Michael: scissors
Fodder wins, 2-1
He asked me if my strategy was to play rock every time, and I left the question unanswered. An expert RPS player doesn't reveal her secrets (except in this blog).
The other thing that I love about this strategy is that it gives you time to analyse the other person while you play. And you're not pressured with trying to analyse them to work out what they're going to play, since it isn't going to affect the outcome at all. You get to analyse them to see how they react in game.
More importantly, as someone who tends to overthink things, I like that this strategy lets me decide what to play based on what I decide. You can't psych me out, because the scissors thing only works on people who I've played with repeatedly, so for most of my games, I'll just play rock. And since RPS is usually played with both players starting with their fist closed, I don't even have to remember to change my hand.
I don't know how long I can keep my strategy a secret from Jal. I'm pretty sure he'll figure it out eventually. But in the meantime, I'm going to enjoy listening to his theories.
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