Janken: The International Rock Paper Scissors Championships 2012

A look back at the 2012 International Rock Paper Scissors Championships in London.

We competed in the International Rock Paper Scissors Championships in London eleven years ago this week. Time certainly flies!

We teamed up with Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author Dave Barry and his daughter Sophie from the USA to take part in the huge event.

The San Marino Rock Paper Scissors team

More than 150 athletes from 16 teams competed in the Wacky Nation organised tournament held at the Knight’s Templar Pub on Chancery Lane in London.

As we couldn’t play as a combined "UK-USA" team we decided to represent the plucky nation of San Marino instead.

Prior to the start of the competition I challenged football hard man Neil ‘Razor’ Ruddock to a 'friendly' RPS contest to warm-up. Needless to say I won the shootout! It was an ill-tempered clash with plenty of foul language and gamesmanship. The heated battle almost resulted in a knock-out punch too!

Clash of the titans

International Rock Paper Scissors

Matches in the Round Robin stage of the main-event were played in a ‘first to four points’ format with each player in the team taking it in turns to win a point by competing in a ‘best of three’ Rock Paper Scissors game. Our team managed to rack up a win loss record of won four, lost one.

Before any teams could advance from our pool a play-off was required as Austria and Lapland A had also finished with four wins and one loss!

Thankfully our team was able to win both matches to advance alongside Lapland A, with the Austrians sent home.

The first semi-final saw San Marino take on the Vatican City team in a ‘first to six points’ match.

Unfortunately we lost and were therefore unable to go for gold.

Sadly we just missed out on the podium, suffering defeat to Great Britain in the repechage to ultimately finish in fourth place.

The final was a battle between the might of Lapland A and the Vatican City, with the Laplanders finishing on top and grabbing the gold medal.

Getting to the semi-finals of the International Rock Paper Scissors Championships was the furthest I ever reached in an RPS tournament, having been knocked out in the preliminary rounds of national competitions held in 2010 and 2011.

International Rock Paper Scissors Championships 2012

Looking back at the 2012 International Rock Paper Scissors Championships in London.

We competed in the International Rock Paper Scissors Championships in London eight years ago this week. Time flies.

International Janken action

We teamed up with Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author Dave Barry and his daughter Sophie from the USA to take part in the huge event.

The San Marino Rock Paper Scissors team

More than 150 athletes from 16 teams competed in the Wacky Nation organised tournament held at the Knight’s Templar Pub on Chancery Lane in London.

As we couldn’t play as a combined "UK-USA" team we decided to represent the plucky nation of San Marino instead.

Prior to the start of the competition I challenged football hard man Neil ‘Razor’ Ruddock to a 'friendly' RPS contest to warm-up. Needless to say I won the shootout! It was an ill-tempered clash with plenty of foul language and gamesmanship. The heated battle almost resulted in a knock-out punch too!

Clash of the titans

International Rock Paper Scissors

Matches in the Round Robin stage of the main-event were played in a ‘first to four points’ format with each player in the team taking it in turns to win a point by competing in a ‘best of three’ Rock Paper Scissors game. Our team managed to rack up a win loss record of won four, lost one.

Before any teams could advance from our pool a play-off was required as Austria and Lapland A had also finished with four wins and one loss!

Thankfully our team was able to win both matches to advance alongside Lapland A, with the Austrians sent home.

The first semi-final saw San Marino take on the Vatican City team in a ‘first to six points’ match.

Unfortunately we lost and were therefore unable to go for gold.

Sadly we just missed out on the podium, suffering defeat to Great Britain in the repechage to ultimately finish in fourth place.

The final was a battle between the might of Lapland A and the Vatican City, with the Laplanders finishing on top and grabbing the gold medal.

Getting to the semi-finals of the International Rock Paper Scissors Championships was the furthest I ever reached in an RPS tournament having been knocked out in the preliminary rounds of national competitions held in 2010 and 2011.

The perfect socially distanced sport?

Thinking about it, Rock Paper Scissors could be the perfect sport to play in these time of social distancing.

As a non-contact sport it's played by opponents standing apart from each other. The distance between them could be increased to 2 metres or more, they could wear PPE without impairing their throws and/or a protective screen could be placed between the two players.

If anyone ever fancies a game of Rock Paper Scissors via a video call do let me know...

UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships 2015

The date and venue for the 2015 edition of the UK Rock Paper Scissors Championship have been announced!

This year the popular sporting contest will be taking place on Saturday 21 November at the Green Man Pub in London.

Facing Neil 'Razor' Ruddock in a warm-up match at the International Rock Paper Scissors Championships in 2012

For more information check out the Wacky Nation website and UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships Facebook page.

Emily and I have competed in a number of RPS contests organised by the team at Wacky Nation. Our best performance was in the International Rock Paper Scissors Team Championships in 2012 when, along with two team-mates from the USA, we represented San Marino and finished fourth!

The 'wildcard' team from San Marino at the 2012 International Rock Paper Scissors Championships in London. From l-r Richard Gottfried, Emily Gottfried, Sophie Barry, Dave Barry

Related blog posts:
- Rock Paper Scissors

Links:
- Wacky Nation
- UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships

Rock, Paper, Scissors at the World Alternative Games

Rock, Paper, Scissors competition to be held at the World Alternative Games in Llanwrtyd Wells on Monday 11th August.

The upcoming World Alternative Games will feature a Rock, Paper, Scissors competition!

Taking place in Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales in the PM session of Monday 11th August the Rock, Paper, Scissors tournament ('Pencampw riaeth Carreg Papur Siswrn' in Welsh) is an Open event where everyone can compete on the same level and one person will become the Corinthian Rock, Paper, Scissors Champion.

We're big fans of Rock, Paper, Scissors and have competed in many of the Wacky Nation RPS events over the years. In 2012 we were fourth (as San Marino)  in the International Team Rock, Paper, Scissors Championships in London.

Facing off against Neil 'Razor' Ruddock in an International Rock Paper Scissors 'friendly' match in 2012!

To register to take part in the Rock, Paper, Scissors event, and other contests, please visit the World Alternative Games website.

The World Alternative Games are taking place place between Friday 8th and Monday 25th of August 2014 with over 60 sport and recreation events held during the festival of fun and games in Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales.

The official WFJF Finger Jousting World Championships will also be taking place at the 2014 Games, with male and female competitions taking place on Sunday 10th August.

Check out the events listing and games brochure on the World Alternative Games website for more information.

Links:
- World Alternative Games website
- World Alternative Games on Twitter
- World Alternative Games on Facebook
- Wacky Nation website
- World Finger Jousting Federation website

Related blog posts:
- Update from the World Alternative Games 2014 in Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales
- World Alternative Games

UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships 2014

Date announced for the 2014 UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships.

The team at Wacky Nation have announced that this year's UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships will take place on Saturday 4th of October at the Green Man Pub, Central London!

Entries are now open and will see 128 athletes battle it out to be the UK's numero one best Janken player.

Emily and I have competed in a number of Wacky Nation RPS events and have always found the organised chaos to be great fun.

Richard Gottfried (San Marino) takes on his arch-nemesis in RPS Neil 'Razor' Ruddock (Man Lab) in an International Rock Paper Scissors 'friendly' match in 2012

The UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships will take place from 6 til 10pm on Saturday 4th of October you can currently register for early bird tickets to compete in the 8th annual spectacular on the Eventbrite page.

More details can be found on the UK Rock Paper scissors Facebook page and website, and over at the Wacky Nation site.

Rock Paper Scissors Fact - If you come from Woking, Surrey you stand a very good chance of winning the event. Ask Max Deeley if you don't believe me.

The host venue - The Green Man is a very good Wetherspoon pub too.

Links:

- Wacky Nation

- UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships

- RPS-related blog posts on The Ham & Egger Files

UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships 2010 - Report, Photos and Videos from the Event!

On Saturday 13th November 2010 The Durell Arms Pub in Fulham, London played host to the 4th UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships, organised by the team from Wacky Nation.

It was a fantastic event with over 80 players battling it out for the title of UK RPS Champion!

Emily was drawn to play in Group B, while I was in Group C. The format of the event saw players face-off in best-of-three Rock Paper Scissors matches (with Rock beating Scissors, Scissors beating Paper, and Paper beating Rock).

Emily finished with a record of Played 3, Won 2, Lost 1.

I ended with a record of Played 2, Won 1, Lost 1.

The event was everything I had hoped for, and then some! There was a massive crowd on hand to witness the organised chaos, with unbelievable noise, support and chanting going on throughout the evening. Players had travelled from far and wide, there were teams, societies and even Superman.

The night also included the chance to win a prize through Challenge RPS Matches which our friend Oliver 'The Machine' Florence and his mate Paul 'The Terminator' Jones took part in (having been unable to enter the main event and not even qualifying for the 'Reserve List'). In these 'Street RPS' matches, you could challenge any other person in the arena to a match to play for Wacky Nation RPS Currency. The player with the most money at the end of the evening would be declared the Challenge RPS Winner.

The Table/Arena where the epic RPS Battles took place!

In the Grand Final Paul Lewis of Woking beat Ed Blake of the Richard Richard Danes Appreciation Society in a best-of-five throws match.

Videos from the event:

The Opening Match


Emily Gottfried - Match 1


Emily Gottfried - Match 2


Emily Gottfried - Match 3


Richard Gottfried - Match 1


Richard Gottfried - Match 2


The Grand Final


Photos from the event:

Richard 'The Rock' Gottfried

Richard Gottfried plays a Challenge RPS Match against Guildford's Oliver Florence

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions - Scissors, Rock or Paper?

Richard tries a sneak attack on Superman!

Richard and some of his 'Paper' Winnings from Challenge RPS Matches

Emily wins

Florence & Gottfried watching from the sidelines

A crazy competitor plays RPS Blindfolded!? He lost

Richard Gottfried and the 2010 UK Rock Paper Scissors Champion Paul Lewis

For further details of the UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships head over to http://www.ukrockpaperscissorschampionships.com/

For more Wacky Nation events check out http://www.wackynation.com/