The 'What Beats Rock?' Game
A couple days back I got a score of 57 in this game. But before I explain why that’s really good, allow me to explain the rules of this fine game.
The Rules of This Fine Game
The game screen starts with the prompt What beats rock? as in the picture above. You need to find something that beats rock (usually paper).
From there you need to find what beats the thing that beats rock (usually paper, and scissors usually beats paper).
You may be thinking:
AHA! Rock beats scissors, I could repeat the cycle forever!
But that is the joy of this game: You can’t repeat answers!
Now you have to find something that beats scissors (in this case), and it can’t be rock, so now you have to pick something like fire or black hole.
The AI program behinds this game gives us infinite possibilities beyond the typical rock-paper-scissors combo.
However you’ll eventually put in a prompt that the AI doesn’t think beats the previous thing. In that case you lose.
A relatively simple game, but I would dare to say an exquisite one.
Why 57 Is Good
There are addicts out there with scores in the thousands, but 57 is still really good, and I’m going to tell you why.
The thing with this AI-based program is that it can be inconsistent.
When I showed my dad this game, he tried beating unmoved mover (he’s a Thomas Aquinas nerd) with atheist one round. The AI allowed it, giving a generated text response as to why. But the next round he tried it again, and atheist DIDN’T beat unmoved mover.
This means that even if you found a sequence of things that’s really long, it won’t always work, making it hard to get a higher score.
My Pro-Gamer 57-Long Sequence
black hole 🤜 sun 🤜 lots of sand 🤜 lots of water 🤜 acidic substance 🤜 base 🤜 acid 🤜 repairman 🤜 gun jamming 🤜 machine gun 🤜 defuser 🤜 bomb 🤜 basement 🤜 hurricane 🤜 quarantine 🤜 bubonic plague 🤜 medication 🤜 muscle deterioration 🤜 strength 🤜 endurance 🤜 conversion 🤜 atheist 🤜 unmoved mover 🤜 time 🤜 lava 🤜 pistol 🤜 electrician 🤜 defuse 🤜 nuke 🤜 smart mosquito 🤜 bug spray 🤜 mosquito 🤜 hippo 🤜 rhino 🤜 lion 🤜 wolf 🤜 dog 🤜 cat 🤜 smart mouse 🤜 mousetrap 🤜 mouse 🤜 rewiring 🤜 short circuit 🤜 lamp 🤜 blackout 🤜 light 🤜 dark ages 🤜 medicine 🤜 death 🤜 human 🤜 burger 🤜 french fry 🤜 salt 🤜 water 🤜 fire 🤜 scissors 🤜 paper 🤜 rock