Just Rock, Paper, Scissors

Often in discussing game design the statement, "Isn't this just glorified rock, paper, scissors?", comes up often. While many games are minor variants on RPS (see Naked Toonbots, a game which is RPS with a super meter) other games, such as Street Fighter, offer incredible depth by using the RPS mechanic.

In Street Fighter 3 there are 3 core mechanics, strike, throw and parry. These 3 mechanics have a RPS relationship. There are many additional mechanics layered on top of this but the core is the same.

There is also a bit of strategy in RPS. While the depth of strategy in RPS often referred to as "guessing" it's more in depth than that. In fighting (real fighting) a common strategy is to hit: body, body, head. People catch on fairly quick to patterns and want to change their pattern to counter their opponent's. The idea is to trap your opponent in different mixtures of these patterns.

We are playing RPS, I beat your scissors with rock 2x in a row. Now you are likely to change your strategy. Are you going to switch to paper next turn expecting me to do rock a 3rd time? Most likely, so I switch to scissors and beat you again.

So while RPS is very simple it offers a solid core for games mechnanics and strategy.