If you watch the sitcom The Big Bang Theory or use ‘Rock-Paper-Scissors’ to settle any dispute in your life, you may have heard of Sam Kass. He invented a variant of the game that has become widely popular among ‘geeks’ around the world. The new game is called ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock’ and it uses also the lizard and the popular fictional character Spock from the Star Trek series. The game rose to fame when Sheldon Cooper, the lead character in the sitcom played by Jim Parsons, used the game in the show.
In the episode titled ‘The Lizard Spock Expansion’, Sheldon says, “Scissors cuts paper, paper covers rock, rock crushes lizard, lizard poisons Spock, Spock smashes scissors, scissors decapitates lizard, lizard eats paper, paper disproves Spock, Spock vaporises rock, and — as it always has — rock crushes scissors.”
After the episode aired in 2008 Sam Kauss posted on his site that it was he who invented the game. “I invented this game (with Karen Bryla) because it seems like when you know someone well enough, 75-80% of any ‘Rock-Paper-Scissors’ games you play with that person end in a tie. Well, here is a slight variation that reduces that probability.” He added in a note that “For those of you who like to swing your fist back and forth and say, “Rock, Paper, Scissors, GO!” might want to continue to do that, replacing “Rock” with “One,” “Paper” with “Two,” and “Scissors” with “Three.”This version is also nice because it satisfies the Law of Fives (sic).”
In a later episode, that aired recently, titled The Rothman Disintegration, Sheldon acknowledges Sam for his invention while playing the game with the line, “All hail Sam Kass!”
Samuel John Kass, according to the resume posted on his website is a Math/ Computer Science major who attended Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburg. He aims to “Continue my career and broaden my role as a technology leader and investigator within a dynamic organisation that pursues new engaging solutions.” He is currently a member of the Global Sales Technology groupfor Goldman Sachs, as a member of the Institutional Portal team and is also a certified private pilot.