Poplar Bluff man to compete in rock, paper, scissors championship

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Ro-sham-bo, shoot! And we're off to Vegas and on the map again.

The game of rock, paper, scissors was recently the deciding factor for a Poplar Bluff man in winning a ticket to compete in a nationwide championship to be held in Nevada June 21 to 22.

To make it to the big time - the USA Rock Paper Scissors League, JoDan Russom - a local construction worker, won a tournament hosted by Luecke Distribution through an Anheuser-Busch promotion at several area bars in April.

Russom said he only entered the contest to have fun with his friends. Now the stakes are high because if he beats out the 300 finalists he will become $50,000 richer and go on to play against challengers from Canada, Guam, Hong Kong, Ireland and Malaysia for the International Rock Paper Scissors Federation world title.

A man of few words, Russom simply said "it'd be nice" to get to compete against other countries. "Let's hope," he said. As for practicing, he refuses. "I'm trying to keep my streak going," he explained.

Russom admitted the game is "only luck," but that counts, too. He revealed that his typical strategy is to go into a match with one of the three hand signals in mind. After the first throw he acts off instincts, which for him has proven to have some accuracy.

Chris Shrum, who was in charge of the qualifying event in Poplar Bluff, helped to put the victory in perspective. "I guess when JoDan first participated he was calm, cool and confident," recalled the Luecke general manager. "That's probably what initially stood out before he started eliminating people."

Joe Armes, team leader at Luecke, said of more than 200 participants, "there was everyone from high school and college teachers to country boys coming in from the fields."

Area football coaches Brent Tinker and Lee Freeman refereed the tournament mainly to make sure all the "athletes" were in sync.

Coming from the Show Me State, Russom said he won't be purchasing fingerless gloves or getting a manicure beforehand, but he has a feeling he'll face some pretty serious competitors in a couple weeks. According to Russom, all that really matters is three variables: rock crushes scissors, paper covers rock and scissors cut paper.

Some cultures believe the "sport" has helped people make instant decisions since the time before Christ.

"It's the ultimate conflict resolution," said Kevin McDonald, who made it to the final four at Buffalo Wild Wings but was ultimately beat out by his friend Russom. "We've been playing since we were probably four years old, from shotgun in a car to anything. It's how you determine who gets what."

Russom was allowed to bring a guest with him to Las Vegas and he chose McDonald. They graduated from Twin Rivers High School together. Neither of the two have ever flown before and now Anheuser-Busch will pay for round trip airfare with first-class accommodations to the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino.