do you remember how when you were kids, playing pulis-sintip (police & thief - converted into pasar language), we had to choose who gets to be police and thief? yeah we play chus/choos - pronounced “choose” which is the word it derived from anyway.

in plain english, it’s the rock, paper & scissor game - yeah.. back in the village this has always been the all tie-breaker, shortest game, unbiased selector - in short, the most widely accepted solution to every kids’ problem. we just call it “play choose” or “main cus” (well that’s how i thought it was spelled until i realised it was actually choose and noooo, i didn’t just realise it today).

anyway, i was slightly surprised when i stumbled upon the World RPS website, yes it’s the World Rock Paper Scissor website. My shocked didn’t stop at this simple game having a website, they even have a World Championship next month, Oct 22nd 2005!

They have a guide book being sold over at Amazon too. So, if you want to have your kids winning every kids game, buy the book!

Here’s a fascinating fact taken from the FAQ section.

8. Why does paper cover rock?

While not exactly intuitive, the sympolic meaning of paper covering a rock dates back to ancient Chinese culture. When a petition was made to the Emperor, the petition was signified by a rock.Upon making a decision the Emperor would have his servants place a sheaf of paper either over or under the rock. If the sheaf was placed under the rock it would signify acceptance of the petition. If the sheaf was placed on top of the rock it signified denial of the petition. Over time the symbolic image of paper covering a rock became synonomous with defeat.

speaking of this, i remembered one of my childhood buddies, whenever we play cus, he would always put out his selection 0.01 seconds later than his opponent and will always change his stance at the last nanosecond.

then one day while playing, one of my other friend put out a rock and this mischievous kid quickly changed his stance from scissor to paper so he can win that round. well he didn’t win it - he thought the paper will cover the rock in time. instead the rock hit his eye. that was the last time he tried pulling that trick again.

maybe the government should use this method of giving out contracts, scholarships or pick our first astronaut. i’m sure the winner will get no stick and the organiser won’t be called bias hehe.