Human Rock Paper Scissors is a fun, quick ice-breaker that can be used for a medium-sized group of people. Many are familiar with the classic hand game, rock-paper-scissors, each of which conquers one another depending on the combination. This game is a play on the game, but requires people to get on their feet, move, and act as a team, rather than an individual.
This ice-breaker is especially fun because it can be tailored to many different themes and variations.
Setup for Human Rock Paper Scissors
As a large group, decide a full-body pose that will signify each element (e.g. Rock – each person of one group will bend down and hug their knees and curl into a ball so they look like a rock, Scissors – each person of one group will stand with legs shoulder-width apart and both arms up and hands behind the head so they look like a scissor).
Playing Human Rock Paper Scissors
After the poses are decided, break participants into two groups. For each round, each group will need to do one of the poses (everyone in each group will need to do the same pose). Each group will have 5 minutes to strategize. Once all of the groups have their poses ready, a facilitator will have the two groups face each other and count down from three (e.g. three….two…one….SHOOT). On “SHOOT” each group will need to strike one of the three poses. Rock beats Scissors, Scissors beat Paper, and Paper beats Rock. You can play however times you’d like. Best out of 5 rounds is a good number for a medium sized group.
If you want to try some different themes of this game you can try some of the following themes or make up some of your own!
- Lord of the Rings – Hobbit, Elf, Orc (Orc beats Hobbit, Elf beats Orc, Hobbit beats Elf)
- Schools – Stanford, Cal, USC (Stanford beats USC, Cal beats Stanford, USC beats Cal)
- Super Heroes – Batman, Spiderman, Green Lantern (Spiderman beats Batman, Batman beats Green Lantern, Green Lantern beats Spiderman)
- Disney Villains – Maleficent, Ursula, Jafar (Maleficent beats Ursula, Ursula beats Jafar, Jafar beats Maleficent)
This is a very fun activity that’s quick, high-energy and requires no pre-activity prep.
