Subject: alt.religion.roshambo FAQ
Supersedes: <4h376u$l67@nntp.Stanford.EDU>
Date: 29 Feb 1996 21:48:37 GMT


                                 Roshambo FAQ
                                       
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
Sections

    1. What is Roshambo?
    2. The Ten Commandments
    3. The Three Classes of People (aka The Trinity of the Roshambo)
    4. Genesis
    5. Practical Uses for roshambo
    6. 2000 by 2000 - Membership goals and more information
    7. The WWW Roshambot
    8. The WWW Dispute Arbiter
    9. Roshambo Home Page
       
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1. What is Roshambo?

   Roshambo is an evolving philosophy/religion which examines the
   tripartite nature of life and mankind. Roshambo is a way of viewing
   life and people and attempting to make sense of it all via a set of
   rules, classifications, and general principles.
   
   The idea for Roshambo as a religion was first put forth by Our Founder
   Lenny Augustine (lenny@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu). The philosophy and
   religion quickly took form and has continued to evolve since.
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
2. The Ten Commandments

   The Ten Commandments of Roshambo
   --------------------------------
     * I am the Lord your rock. Thou shalt make no paper to cover me.
     * Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's paper.
     * Thou shalt not cheat at cards.
     * Paper covers rock, rock crushes scissors, scissors cuts paper; all
       other combinations shall be a "push."
     * Keep thy circles below thy waist.
     * Thou shalt wipe thy victim's arm after thou puncheth his shoulder.
     * Going rock all the time is NOT good; SAYING you are going rock
       every time may be.
     * Keep the Wednesday night sacred, for it is the day on which poker
       shall be played.
     * To be tilted is a admirable state, but to angle is divine.
     * The holiest of pilgrimages is to Vegas. Thou who doest remain at
       home shall be a "pussy."
       
   
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
3. The Three Classes of People (aka The Trinity of the Roshambo)

   Much as the eneagram classifies all people into one of nine
   categories, Roshambo classifies people into three categories. All
   people contain some of each of these three elements in them, but
   usually there is one dominant element by which they can be classified.
   
   
   The elements are:
   
   Rock
          The steady and stable individual. Shows little or no emotion.
          Has no tells. Can rarely, if ever, be tilted.
          
   Paper
          Can be read like an open book. Delicate and fragile (easily
          tilted). Loves money.
          
   Scissor
          Angled like and open scissor. Cutting personality.
          
   
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
4. Genesis

   Genesis
   
   And the Lord did look down upon the earth and saw the land barren and
   without form. And he did create from the clay of the earth the rock in
   His image. And he did set upon the land a multitude of rocks that they
   should cover the landscape, and all was good. But the Lord grew tired
   of the lifeless landscape and so He set upon the land the living tree,
   that paper should be fashioned from, to cover the rock, and all was
   good. But once again, the Lord grew uncomfortable with His creations;
   there was an imbalance, with all that is paper being above all that is
   rock, and the Lord could not accept that any form should be above all,
   accept for He Himself. And the Lord did set upon the land, in the
   almighty scissors, crafted by man and machine, so that the scissor
   might cut the paper, and show that no one shall be above all others.
   And the mighty rock, the original of the Lord's creations, did smash
   the scissors here and there, to keep the Almighty's balance.
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
5. Practical Uses for roshambo

   In addition to Roshambo being a philosophy and religion, it can also
   be used in a very practical way. "roshambo", from which "Roshambo"
   arises, can and SHOULD be used to settle all matters, big and small.
   
   As an example, on a recent pilgrimage to Vegas a spontaneous roshambo
   erupted between a complete stranger, myself and one of my poker
   buddies. The original challenge began with my buddy Rafe and the
   mystery woman, but I said I would roshambo her as well, and that I
   would "kick her butt" or words to that effect. Well, I defeated her,
   but she beat Rafe. Clearly, then, Rafe also beat me. But, my challenge
   was not with Rafe and I did not consider this to be a defeat since I
   was not roshamboing him. I then went on to Schneid the mystery woman
   5-0 in roshambos. Well, all was fine and dandy except that there was a
   betting line on roshambo differential for the trip, and Rafe and I
   were dueling it out. Rafe insisted he was a wash, and that I should
   only pick up 4 wins differential since I lost to him. I insisted I
   never played against. How to settle the dispute? Roshambo for it, of
   course. Now, if I won, I go up *6* on the differential and he goes to
   minus *2*. If he wins, he goes to +1, and I go to +3. That's really
   three roshambos riding on one and a differential of *6* riding on one
   roshambo. Of course, being the roshambo king, I defeated Rafe and went
   up big time on the list.
   
   "roshambo" can be used to settle disputes among friends, decide on who
   pays bills, haggle for automobiles or even settle court cases. I can
   see it now:
   
     OJ Simpson: Your honor, what's say we roshambo for the verdict. I
                 win, I walk. I lose, life in prison. It'll save the taxpayers
                 lots of money.
     Judge Ito:  Sure, but I'm going rock.
     OJ:         Fine.

     One...two..three... The Honorable Lance "rock" Ito goes rock. OJ
     goes knife. Rock crushes knife. OJ goes to prison. Spends rest of
     life crushing rocks. Poetic justice, no?
     
   
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
6. 2000 by 2000 - Membership goals and more information

   The goal is to have 2000 followers of this religion by the year 2000.
   Questions and requests for more information about Roshambo should be
   directed to roshambo@cs.stanford.edu.
   
   You may also request addition to the Disciples of Roshambo mailing
   list.
   
   Additionally, the Usenet Newsgroup alt.religion.roshambo is dedicated
   to discussions relating to Roshambo.
   
   Thank you for your support.
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
7. The WWW Roshambot

   You can play roshambo against a computer on the World Wide Web! The
   WWW Roshambot utilizes an Artificial Intelligence algorithm and has
   thus far performed markedly well against humans. Give it a try! You
   can even register to play against a restricted access version that
   keeps a permanent record of your moves and results and ranks all of
   the registered players.
   
   The WWW Roshambot can be found at
   
     http://chappie.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/roshambot
     
   You can read more about the WWW Roshambot at
   
     http://chappie.stanford.edu/~perry/roshambo/index.html
     
   
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
8. The WWW Dispute Arbiter

   Now you can settle your disputes on the web via an impartial dispute
   arbiter! The WWW Dispute Arbiter allows registered users to conduct
   arbitration on any topic under the sun and settle them in a fair and
   impartial manner - via roshambo!
   
   Email was sent to Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and President
   Bill Clinton notifying them of this service and suggesting that they
   could solve all manners of disputes with it, including the budget
   stalemate (line by line or wholesale), welfare reform, etc.
   
   This program brings to the web the vision of Section 5 and allows
   roshambo to be played over great distances between parties that can
   not play against one another directly.
   
   The WWW Dispute Arbiter can be found at
   
     http://chappie.stanford.edu/cgi-restricted/arbiter
     
   However, it is only available to registered users. You can read more
   about the WWW Dispute Arbiter at
   
     http://chappie.stanford.edu/~perry/roshambo/restricted.html#arbiter
     
   
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
9. Roshambo Home Page

   The Roshambo Home Page, containing this FAQ as well as other
   Roshambo-related goodies, can be found at
   http://www.emf.net/~estephen/roshambo/
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
   This FAQ maintained by Perry Friedman (friedman@cs.stanford.edu).
