Kids' Game Goes E-Mail

Kill time online by playing this digital version of Rock, Paper, Scissors.

James A. Martin, special to PC World

Emazing, a service that invites you to subscribe to e-mail messages on various topics, recently launched an online game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. The new twist to this old children's game is that it's played via e-mail.

Challenge a friend to a game by entering both of your e-mail addresses at Emazing.com. Then make your play by clicking the rock, paper, or scissors icon.

Opponents receive an HTML-formatted message, inviting them to play. Once they make their choice, Emazing determines the winner and notifies you via e-mail.

Traditionally, Rock, Paper, Scissors is played between two people. Each player, on the count of three, makes his or her hand into a pair of scissors, with fingers extended; into paper, with a flattened palm; or into a rock, by making a fist. Scissors beat paper, paper beats rock, and rock beats scissors. If you choose scissors, for instance, and your opponent picks paper, you win. When you both pick the same symbol, it's a draw.

Emazing chose Rock, Paper, Scissors for its inaugural e-mail game because "it's a simple, classic game that people already know how to play," according to a spokesperson. The company plans additional games, but offers no further details.

Not surprisingly, a game like Rock, Paper, Scissors that traditionally relies on immediate interaction loses a bit when played via e-mail. Another option: Check out the Shockwave version of Rock, Paper, Scissors at the Electric Games site, in which you play in real time against a computer. Or, here's a novel approach: Challenge your or a neighbor's kid to a game.