Took out a mortgage to pay debt

In Canada, the Quebec Court of Appeal has found that the game of rock, paper, scissors, which is famously played by making three shapes with your hand, cannot be classed as a valid wager.

This means that a best-of-three game that took place in January 2011 has been ruled invalid, despite one of the participants taking out a mortgage to pay off the CA$517,000 (US$366,590) debt.

acknowledged in a notarized contract that Hooper would take out a mortgage on his home

The deal was struck between Michel Primeua, who won the original game, and Edmund Mark Hooper. It was acknowledged in a notarized contract that Hooper would take out a mortgage on his home in order to pay his debt to Primeua.

Skill versus chance

In 2017, the Superior Court canceled the mortgage after assessing that the game of rock, paper, scissors did not fulfill the commitments needed under Quebec law to be classed as a legal wager.

In order for a contract to be valid, instead of relying on chance, it should relate to activities “requiring only skill or bodily exertion on the part of the parties.” This was found not to be the case.

The winning amount of CA$517,000 (US$366,590) was also found to be excessive.

Court of Appeal agrees

Canada’s highest court, the Court of Appeal, has now agreed with the original 2017 verdict.

While Superior Court Justice Chantal Chatelai had assessed that the game was not simply down to luck due to the three shapes players have to make with their hands, the Court of Appeal went further to say that the element of chance was enough so that

it does not take ‘only skill or bodily exertion’ on the part of the parties.”

The Court of Appeal also agreed with the original findings that the wager was excessive. The debt has now been ruled as invalid and Primeau has failed in his final appeal.