Key & Compass presents:
How to Win at Rock Paper Scissors
by Brian Kwak

• Map
• Walkthrough
• Extras
  • Amusing, Characters, Credits, Endings, Inventory, Score
• Thank You to my Patreon supporters
• External links:
  • This game at IFDB, IFWiki, and ifwizz.
  • Tweet about this walkthrough on Twitter.

Map

Walkthrough

Gym

> about. x me. i. x phone.

> x photo. (Sarah posing with V sign.)

> x banner. x tables. x members.

> s.

Outside the Gym

> x David. talk to David. (He raises a fist for a fist bump.)

> paper. (+1; David is swallowed by a vortex.)

> x flyers. take flyer.

> e.

Eastern Parking Lot

> x Chloe. talk to Chloe.

> show my phone to Chloe.

> talk to Chloe. g.

Keep talking to her until makes a "talk to the hand" gesture.

> scissors. (+1)

> take smartphone. x it.

> w. w. n.

Front of the School

> x guard. n. (She holds up his hand to stop you.)

> scissors. (+1)

> n.

Across the Street

> x rock. take rock.

> s. s. nw.

Library

> x sign. x bookshelves. x boy. x novel.

> talk to boy. g. (He's deaf.)

> s.

Western Building Hallway

> x lockers. x girl. x door. (for room 309)

> talk to girl. g. (Jayma knocks on the door.)

> paper. (+1; Mr. Russo opens the door.)

> w.

Room 309

> x desk. x Russo. x papers. x textbook. x notes. x monitor.

> take textbook. read it.

> take paper. (Mr Russo wakes and you drop the paper.)

> talk to Russo. g. g. (He "stifles a yawn with an open hand.")

> scissors. (+1)

Unfortunately, all the papers on his desk were also taken by the vortex.

> e. n.

Library

> talk to boy. g. (Using sign language, you ask what is his name. He spells an "O")

> z. z. z. (He's spelling a V.)

> rock. (+1)

> se. sw.

Western Parking Lot

> x car. x brad. talk to brad. g.

You have no obvious reason to play scissors, but this action makes him angry.

> scissors. (He puts his fists up.)

> paper. (+1)

> e.

Southern Building Hallway

> x locker. open it. x shrine. x altar.

> x Petra. (Goddess of rock.)

> x Charti. (Goddess of paper.)

> x Psalidi. (Goddess of scissors.)

> e. knock on door. (Sarah opens the door.)

> e.

Room 415

> x Sarah. x benches. x notebook. x case. x papers.

> talk to Sarah. g. g. g.

> show flyer to Sarah. show cell phone to Sarah.

> show smartphone to Sarah. (She makes her "usual pose.")

From the photo on the cell phone, you know she's making a V.

> rock. (+1)

> look. take case. open it.

> w. w. se.

Back of the School

> x smoker. (The smoke forces you to retreat, but notice how he holds the cigarette.)

Western Parking Lot

> se.

Back of the School

> rock. (+1)

> x dumpster. x trash.

> nw. e.

Southern Building Hallway

> put flyer on altar. put rock on altar.

> put scissors on altar. x altar.

You should see paper, scissors, and rock.

> pray. (+1)

> n. e.

Outside the Gym

You're ready for the competition if you have 10 points.

> n

Do you want to go to the gym now? yes

Gym

Follow the suggestion of the goddess guiding you. If Petra guides you, play rock. If Charti guides you, play paper. If Psalidi guides you, play scissors.

> rock —or— paper —or— scissors. (as appropriate)

*** You have won ***

You know, that doesn't seem like the best ending. Undo that and deliberately lose the match instead. If Petra guides you, play paper. If Charti guides you, play scissors. If Psalidi guides you, play rock.

> undo

> paper —or— scissors —or— rock. (as appropriate)

*** You have lost ***

> amusing

Extras

Amusing

Did you try...

• ...singing?
• ...praying to the gods?
• ...forcing a draw?
• ...losing on purpose?
• ...saying "xyzzy"?

Characters

• Sarah is a friend found in room 415. You also have her photo on your cell phone.
• David is a friend found outside the gym.
• Chloe is a good-looking senior with a smartphone; she's in the eastern parking lot.
• A crossing guard is at the front of the school.
• Oliver is the boy reading a novel in the library. He's deaf.
• Jayma is the girl knocking on a door in the western building hallway.
• Mr. Russo is very sleepy and trying to grade papers in room 309.
• Brad is a senior in the western parking lot. He seems to be in a bad mood.
• A smoker is smoking at the back of the school.
• Spectators, participants including the club president, and a referee are mentioned in the competition at the end of the game.
• Petra is the goddess of rock.
• Charti is the goddess of paper.
• Psalidi is the goddess of scissors.

Credits

How to Win at Rock Paper Scissors was written and programmed by Brian Kwak in Inform 7.

A huge thank you to all my beta testers—verity virtue, Adri, and Jordan Glassman—for helping me test the game so close to the deadline and finding ways to improve it.

I would also like to credit the game Raising the Flag on Mount Yo Momma by Juhana Leinonen, whose freely available source code was examined by me on multiple occasions to use as an example during the making of this game.

And a shout-out to ClubFloyd for inspiring me to make this game in the first place, because I thought it would be fun if everyone came together to enjoy a game that I had made.

Endings

• Rock beats scissors if you play scissors when someone else is playing rock.
• Paper beats rock if you play rock when someone else plays paper.
• Scissors beats paper if you play paper when someone else plays scissors.
• You have fallen into an endless loop if you force a tie in the competition.
• You have won if you win the competition.
• You have lost if you lose the competition. (Personally, I consider this ending the best one.)

Inventory

• your cell phone. You're carrying it. Examine the photo on it to learn that Sarah usually makes a victory sign for her photos.
• a flyer. You can take one from outside the gym. Put the paper on the altar inside your locker in the Southern Building hallway.
• a smartphone. Chloe drops it at the eastern parking lot after you defeat her. Show this phone to Sarah to get her to pose for a photo.
• a rock. It's across the street, north of the front of the school. Put the rock on the altar inside your locker in the Southern Building hallway.
• a sign language textbook. It's on the desk in room 309. Take it and read it to learn how to spell out words using the sign language alphabet.
• a pencil case. It's on the bench in room 415. After defeating Sarah, open it and take the scissors from it.
• a pair of scissors. It's in the pencil case. Put the scissors on the altar inside your locker in the Southern Building hallway.

Besides the scissors, the pencil case also contains these useless items, all of which you can ignore:

• a blue pen.
• a red pen.
• a black pen.
• a mechanical pencil.
• a wooden pencil.
• a lead refill.
• an eraser.
• a glue stick.
• some white-out.
• a yellow highlighter.
• a pink highlighter.
• an orange highlighter.
• a ruler.
• a pack of tissues.

Score

You have so far scored your-score out of a possible 10, in several turns.

• 1 point for defeating David.
• 1 point for defeating Chloe.
• 1 point for defeating the crossing guard.
• 1 point for defeating Jayma.
• 1 point for defeating Mr. Russo.
• 1 point for defeating Oliver.
• 1 point for defeating Brad.
• 1 point for defeating Sarah.
• 1 point for defeating the smoker.
• 1 point for performing the sacred ritual.

Thank You to my Patreon supporters

This walkthrough is provided free of charge since the work it's based on has less than fifteen locations. Please consider it a thank you for your support!

I create larger walkthroughs too! Please visit my Patreon account if you're interested in helping me create more interactive fiction walkthroughs. I appreciate all the help I can get! Thanks again.