How random are you?

Throw rock, paper or scissors 36 times, trying to be as unpredictable as you can. Nothing is playing against you — this only looks at your own sequence.

Why this is hard

Asked to be random, almost everyone produces sequences that are too varied. We under-repeat, because two of the same in a row feels like a pattern, and we cycle, because moving to the "next" thing feels like mixing. A real random sequence repeats about a third of the time and has runs of three in it.

This matters because rock paper scissors has a perfect strategy — throw each option exactly a third of the time, independent of everything — and it is unbeatable and unwinnable, a draw against anyone. Every real edge in the game comes from the other player failing to reach it. The research on which habits show up is worth a read if this test found one in you.

About the numbers

Thirty-six throws is a small sample. A perfectly random person will still score "biased" here now and then, and one run does not prove much either way — the point is to notice a habit, not to get a grade. The last line is measured on your own sequence, so it is optimistic: a rule chosen after seeing your data will always look better than it would in a real match.

Want the version where randomness is not enough?

Rock Paper Scissors War gives you a hand of rock, paper and scissors cards and three fronts to split them across. You see how many cards your opponent committed to each front, never which ones. Take two of the three fronts and you win. Being random does not save you there — you still have to decide where to spend.