Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock: Rules & How to Play

What Is Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock?

Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock is an expanded version of the classic game that adds two new hands — Lizard and Spock — to the original three. Instead of three possible throws there are five, and instead of three winning rules there are ten. Everything else plays exactly the same: two players reveal a hand at the same time, and the winner is decided instantly.

The whole point of the expansion is to cut down on ties. In standard Rock Paper Scissors, you tie any time both players think alike — which happens about one round in three. Adding two hands drops the tie rate to one in five, so far more rounds end with a real winner and fewer end in a frustrating do-over.

The Five Hands

Lizard is made by forming your hand into a sock-puppet shape. Spock is the Star Trek Vulcan salute — a flat hand with a gap between the middle and ring fingers. The original three are thrown exactly as always.

What Beats What: The Ten Rules

Sheldon Cooper's famous summary on The Big Bang Theory is the easiest way to remember the whole game: "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."

Laid out clearly, each of the five hands beats exactly two others:

Notice the symmetry: every hand beats two and loses to two. That perfect balance is what keeps the five-hand game as fair as the original — no hand is secretly stronger than the rest.

How to Play, Step by Step

1. Both players count together: "Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock!" — or simply "one, two, three, shoot."
2. On the final beat, each player reveals one of the five hands.
3. Compare the two hands against the ten rules. The hand that beats the other wins the round.
4. If both players throw the same hand, it is a tie — throw again.

That is the entire game. The only real learning curve is memorizing the ten rules, and the table above does most of that work for you. After a few rounds the relationships start to feel natural.

A memory trick for the new hands

The two original-versus-new relationships are the ones people forget, so anchor them with the imagery the rules are built on: Lizard is a small creature, so it does sneaky things — it poisons Spock and eats Paper. Spock is the powerful one, so he does forceful things — he smashes Scissors and vaporizes Rock. Meanwhile the two ways to beat the newcomers are physical: Rock crushes Lizard, Scissors decapitates Lizard, Paper disproves Spock. Group them as "what the new hands do" versus "how the old hands stop them" and the ten rules collapse into two short stories.

Strategy in the Five-Hand Game

Most of what wins at classic Rock Paper Scissors carries straight over — people still repeat winning hands and switch after losses. But two more hands change the texture of the game in ways worth knowing:

• Spock is the popular newcomer. When players first learn the variant, Spock feels novel and powerful, so it gets thrown more than its fair share. Since Lizard poisons Spock and Paper disproves Spock, leaning on those two counters early can pay off.
• Lizard is the forgotten hand. It is the least intuitive shape to make and the easiest to overlook, so many players almost never throw it. If an opponent has not played Lizard all match, do not waste energy defending against it.
• The old three still dominate beginners. People who learned the classic game first fall back on Rock, Paper, and Scissors under pressure and forget the new hands exist. Against a nervous opponent, play as if it were the three-hand game.

Because every hand still beats exactly two and loses to two, there is no dominant throw — the balance is mathematically perfect. Your edge comes from the same place it always does: reading which hands a specific opponent over- and under-uses.

Where It Came From

The variant was invented by Sam Kass and Karen Bryla, who designed it specifically to solve the tie problem among friends who played Rock Paper Scissors often enough to keep drawing. Their insight was elegant: add hands in a way that preserves perfect balance while shrinking the chance of a match.

It reached a global audience through The Big Bang Theory, where Sheldon Cooper introduced it as a way to settle disputes — reasoning that close friends "think too much alike" and tie too often with only three hands. Spock is represented by the Star Trek Vulcan salute, and the version that aired is the one most people know today.

Why Some Players Prefer It

• Fewer ties, faster games. Cutting the tie rate from 1 in 3 to 1 in 5 means fewer do-overs and quicker resolutions.
• Deeper mind games. With five options, reading an opponent is harder and bluffing has more room to breathe.
• More memorable. The themed rules — Lizard poisons Spock, Spock vaporizes Rock — are simply more fun to say than "rock beats scissors."

If you want to sharpen the skills that carry over to either version, our guide on how to win at Rock Paper Scissors covers the psychology of reading an opponent — and most of it applies to the five-hand game too.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the rules of Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock?

Five hands, ten rules: 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 Rock crushes Scissors. Each hand beats two others and loses to two.

Who invented it?

Sam Kass and Karen Bryla created it to reduce ties in standard Rock Paper Scissors. It became famous through The Big Bang Theory.

Why does it have fewer ties?

With five hands, a tie only happens when both players throw the identical hand — dropping the tie rate from 1 in 3 to 1 in 5.

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