Engaging game based on "rock, paper, scissors"?

[Aimless]

RPS is fun, but can quickly get boring because the only real rewards are

1. A prize (maybe)

2. The satisfaction of correctly anticipating your opponent's move

Rocks, papers and scissors are boring weapons, and variations--such as the one that adds Spock and Lizard--become boring over time. Pitting wits against other people through hand-games is a boring way to do things.

I know that some of you love games. Do you know of any entertaining and engaging games that use the basic idea of RPS--odd number of weapons, each strong against half of the remaining weapons and vulnerable against the other half--in new ways?

Eg. card-games, board-games, computer-games, whatever.

If not, do you think you could perhaps design one?

[Ominous Gamer]

Starcraft

[Crowheart]

Pretty much most real time strategy games are based on a RPS philosophy.

Plane beats tank, tank beats infantry, AA infantry beats plane.
It's more complicated than that but the basic core design is based around RPS fundamentals.

OG beat me.

[Steely Glint]

Starcraft

He said "entertaining and engaging".

[Veldan Rath]

He said "entertaining and engaging".

Bitch.

[Angel_Mapper]

There was a game I played a long time ago for the original Playstation called Kartia. It was a turn based tactics game that used a simple RPS mechanic in determining which characters were strong/weak against which other characters. It was pretty fun.

[Nessus]

[']['ear]

Um, the thread title is an oxymoron.

[Nessus]

ur a moran

[Ominous Gamer]

Ness that the original size for the RPS rules? I think I'm going to get that printed on some fancy glossy paper and hang it in the office.

[Aimless]

That is a glorious pic too complicated to remember, but maybe one day...

I realised, shortly after posting this thread, that RPS should be at the heart of many strategy-based games, and have since then been playing around with various ideas of my own... it's tricky to design a rewarding and well-balanced game!!

Here's what I've got so far:

3 - 5 categories or classes, RPS-style

3 - 5 sub-categories in each, haven't figured out what'll set them apart. Most to least aggressive? Attack, mobility, resources? Stacking effects? Who knows!

You get to take a subset of all assets into a game.

Two players, or more?

One or several objectives? Should there be room for cooperation?

Any random elements? Eg. randomly promote one kind of asset throughout each turn?

Or let players take turns deciding which asset to promote? During their own turn or during the following turn?

Open cards, or hidden? Any room for bets? Loans? Any common assets?

I want to be able to reward different playing styles as well as the ability to make the most of luck and the ability to anticipate your opponent's moves. I want to be able to reward both competition and cooperation.

This is a lot of fun and I imagine it will be very frustrating soon

I just realised what a great game M:tG is...

[Ominous Gamer]

I just realised what a great game M:tG is...

The concept is great, the end result is not. It basically boils down to bigger pockets = more wins in competitive play
but I love the game, got nearly six thousand cards stored up with my hotwheels.

collection: