Rock-paper-scissors is a hand game. Just like the game of Go or mahjong, rock-paper-scissors was invented in China around the end of the Ming era, during which the lords of the Han Dynasty played a game called shushìlìng which is considered to be the ancestor of our today's rock- paper-scissors.

Players simultaneously choose one of three available figures, symbolizing it with their hand. Stone beats scissors, scissors beat the sheet, the leaf beats rock. Thus, each move beats another one, draws against the second and is defeated by the third.

In some variations of the game, there are new figures :
Well beats rock and scissors and was defeated by paper. In this variant, the well and leaf prevail in two out of four cases, while the stone and scissors only once in four. However, scissors are the only ones to win on the leaf.

Since 2002, there is a World Championship (WRPS, the World Rock Paper Scissors Society). In 2004, the event has even been broadcast on American television (Fox Sports Net)

For the story, in 2005, the president of a major Japanese company has had representatives of Christie's and Sotheby's play this game to decide which of the two firms could arrange the sale of a collection of Impressionist paintings. Christie's scissors beat Sotheby's paper.