27/08/2026
As it's here's a special puzzle just for fun. Can you solve this special thursday ?
At an elite rock paper scissors convention, 12 master mathematicians and logicians are invited to join a multiplayer rock paper scissors championship. In this twist on the classic game, in each round each player takes it in turn to throw to throw one of the three signs, trying to beat as many of the players who have already thrown in the round as possible.
For every player they beat they score 1 point but they lose 1 point for every player their thrown sign loses against. For instance, if you throw fourth and play rock against players who have already thrown scissors, rock and then paper in that order, you would score 0 since rock beats scissors, draws with rock but loses to paper. Any sign thrown after your turn doesn’t affect your score.
Each player has the advantage of seeing the sign thrown by the player throwing directly before them but they can’t see the sign thrown by any other player. The player who throws first in the round can throw any sign at random and it will make no difference since they have no one to beat. Finally, after all the rounds are played, if players are tied on points, the championship goes to the player with the most wins so 1 win and 1 lose is better than 2 ties although they score the same points.
In the first round all players are playing to score as many points as possible. If the 11th player throws the sign paper, what sign should the 12th player throw in order to give themselves the best chance in the championship.
