Janken

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Janken (Ja: じゃん拳, which is sometimes written (and perhaps derived from [1]) 両拳, literally ryanken - "both/two fists") is Japanese-style "rock paper scissors." The rules are nearly identical to the international game. Two players chant "jan ken pon!" while pumping their fists. On "pon," the players show a fist ("rock"), index and middle fingers extended in a V ("scissors"), or all fingers extended ("paper"). The exchange is won as determined by the rules:

1. Scissors cuts Paper
2. Paper wraps Rock
3. Rock breaks Scissors

Ties are broken by repeated plays, either accompanied by three more fist pumps with "aiko desho!" ("isn't that the same!") or the more rapid single-pump with "pon!".

In some versions of the game, a second round of play is used. After one player has won the paper/scissors/stone game, another count of three is conducted with the phrase "acchi mui-te hoi!" ("hey, look [turn] over there!"). On "hoi!", the player who won previously points in one of four directions (up, down, left, or right), and the player who lost previously tilts their head to look in one of those directions. If both directions are the same, the game is over, and the player pointing is declared the final winner; if the directions are not the same, the game reverts back to the original "Jan ken pon" and the original winner's win is cancelled.

A further variant makes use of the rhythmic nature of the phrases and counts of three; every time a round is played, the tempo of the game is increased slightly. If a player loses tempo, they lose. It is quite easy for a long sequence of draws, or of fails to guess correctly in the second round, to result in the game reaching breakneck speed.

Many examples of on-line and stand-alone versions of this game, written in Flash, Java or JavaScript, etc. can be found on the internet.

ja:じゃんけん

Multimedia Appearances

Janken is often used as a means of duelling in the Sega-created Alex Kidd series of action-platformers for the Master System and Genesis. Furthermore, in the NES game Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom, both of the first two rounds (the rock-paper-scissors and the "look away" game) are used whenever a fight with an enemy comes up, with victory often being declared to whomever wins the look-away portion three times. Janken also makes a brief appearance in the Sony PlayStation music/rhythm game PaRappa the Rapper in a cut scene, when three of the characters (PaRappa, Katy Kat and P.J. Berri) are trying to divvy birthday party duties amongst themselves.