Rock Water Tree. The Latest Iteration of an Ancient Game

Sometimes it’s the subtler ways we evolve language and play that can have the greatest effect.

Tree and Rock caught in an ongoing struggle. Though the eventual victor is clear. (Photo by Erik Assadourian)

I was walking in the woods recently when I noticed a tree fighting majestically to grow straight, even as a jagged boulder stabbed into its trunk. This rock certainly appeared to be taking its toll, but then again it will probably help prop up this tree for decades to come. At least until freeze after freeze year after year creates enough micro-fractures to crack that part of the boulder off.

And suddenly it clicked: why, why, do we still play Rock Paper Scissors? We should be playing, Rock Water Tree! When someone once told me to say “Treeeees” instead of “Cheeese,” when smiling for photos, I could never go back — and have said and have prompted others (while taking photos) to say “Treeees” ever since. Same here.

Rock Water Tree is essentially the game of Rock Paper Scissors but with a significant language upgrade — one that includes a science lesson in the bargain:

• Rock beats Tree, as this example demonstrates, or even better, as do the downed trees one regularly find where hundreds of rocks are wedged in their roots, having impeded their root growth and eventually triggered their downfall.
• Tree beats Water, drawing up water, through its roots into its…