Lawrence High school senior and Rock, Paper, Scissors club member Matt Shipley, right, displays his fist before finishing off the Firebirds in a competition Thursday.

The newest rivalry between Lawrence and Free State high schools involves hand-to-hand combat.

But no one gets hurt. In fact, the competitors don’t touch one another.

Both schools have formed Rock, Paper, Scissors clubs, and on Thursday, team members faced off in their second competition at the South Park Gazebo. Lawrence High won the match, 9-6.

“We’ve had a lot of meetings, and every meeting we have a practice tournament,” said Cali Burke, a senior who is president of Free State’s club.

The rules are simple: Rock beats scissors; scissors beat paper; and paper beats rock.

A neutral party says, “Rock, paper, scissors,” and on the last word, the competitors’ hands take shape.

Each team sends up a player, who must win two out of three throws for a game. They must win two games to win a match. Then two new teammates are sent up to duel. Thursday’s match even had a referee – Ian Nelson, a former LHS student who now attends Kansas University.

And team members will tell you it’s more than just a game of chance.

“People tell you there’s no strategy out there,” said Tony Thompson, LHS senior and the team’s “prime minister.” “It’s a mind game is what it is.”

“Definitely watch your opponent,” Burke said. “Different people throw different things.”

Teams even practice gambits, strategies discovered by the World Rock Paper Scissors Society. An aggressive player might throw “The Avalanche” – three rocks in a row. Or maybe switching from offense to defense quickly is a better move, such as the “Fistful O’ Dollars” move – rock, paper, paper. The list goes on.

“You try and size them up. Are they a paper person? Are they a rock person? Rock people are more aggressive. It’s a personality thing,” Thompson said. “I’m kind of a scissor guy.”