What is the believed origin of rock, paper, scissors?

denmarks

There are several different popular theories regarding the origin of Rock, Paper, Scissors. The so-called "Asian Theory" states that the game originated in Japan under the name of Jan ken perhaps as early as 200 B.C.E. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_paper_scissors Aug 30 06, 1:09 PM

zbeckabee

As denmarks states...there are MANY, MANY theories along with many, many games: In Japan, instead of the traditional elements, there is apparently a variation involving the chief of a village, a tiger, and the mother of the chief of a village (not surprisingly, the mother of the chief beats the chief). One of the most humorous variations comes from Indonesia and involves an elephant, a person, and an ant. The elephant can crush the person, the person can crush the ant, but how can the ant win against the elephant? It crawls in the elephant's ear and drives it crazy. http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mrockpaper.html Aug 30 06, 1:58 PM