One of my students asked me this question and I did not really know how to answer her. She was referring to the kinds of "games" that children and sometimes adults play in order to make a decision, like other forms of flipping a coin, for example.

Here in my country we also do rock paper scissors, but we call it joquempô. We also do odds and evens, par ou ímpar, and a more extended version called dois ou um, "two or one", in which players present either one or two fingers, and then the ones who chose the same amount of fingers leave the game or become a team. This can also be done with up to five fingers, and then it's called dedos iguais, "equal/same fingers".

Are there any other such games in your country? My student really caught me off-guard when she asked that, I had never thought about this cultural aspect.

Also, I'm curious to know what you do and/or did as a child if you're not from an English-speaking country as well!

  • joaomarrom [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    8 months ago

    My Chinese friends also taught me heibai pei (match black and white), basically throw your hands in palm up or palm down, majority are left out, then minority continue to compete until two people are left, who do scissor paper rock.

    Interesting! That's pretty much exactly how our dois ou um game goes, but we use one or two fingers instead of palm up or palm down.

    • PointAndClique [they/them]
      ·
      8 months ago

      Yeah! It is a useful sorting game since like your dois ou um, you can also use it to sort into two groups (though unfortunately it's binary so can't sort more like your dedos iguais).

      Where I live the sorting games were pretty much choosing one person for a game who was 'it', so I can't think of an English equivalent.

      I forgot also to mention drawing the short straw, which we would do with sticks from the ground.