That’s right, the moment we’ve been waiting for - the biggest game of the tournament so far!
To recap for the studio audience:
TedHoffman opened the series with a win
SteveGrondin responded by winning the next 3 games to go up (3-1)
TedHoffman, in full mode, proceeded to win the next two games to tie it up at (3-3)
…and here we are - no margin of error any more for these two fine contestants. They’ve been pushed to the max, and now we need to see who has that last surge to take it all! And I believe I speak for many when I say I greatly appreciate the show you two put on for us all!
Well done, SteveGrondin and TedHoffman!!
But alas, only one can move on. Let’s see how the last Semi-Final game of 2025 played out:
S TedHoffman
S StevGrondin
(Yeah, we all knew one throw wasn’t going to be enough at this point…)
But two throws was enough!
S-R TedHoffman
S-S StevGrondin
The comeback is complete - TedHoffman advances to the Finals!!
Final Four
TedHoffman defeats StevGrondin in Game 7, TedHoffman wins (4-3)
S-R TedHoffman
S-S StevGrondin
Apparently I did not look close enough at the production crew’s contract, and they snuck in a clause saying that they celebrate National 4X4 Day and thus will not be available tomorrow.
As a result, we will kick off the RPS Finals on Monday (and that should give our Finalists a little more time to rest up and complete their scouting reports).
Stay tuned, and we’ll see y’all then for what should be an outstanding finish!
Incredible. What a throw to win it all. The crowd at GoActuary is just on its feet here, celebrating an incredible match between these two great competitors.
He’s a Cinderella story, a former attorney turned actuary, from out of nowhere, improbable odds. Could have been done long before now, but he stares down defeat twice and in this final game claims victory. Tears in his eyes I guess, as he goes to shake Steve Grondin’s hand, he can’t believe what he’s done, and now – now with this victory, he’s just one step away from possible Rock-Paper-Scissors immortality.
Thanks, @SteveGrondin. It was a hell of a match, I was confident with throws at 3-1 but the last 2 sets of throws were very much “crap, I really don’t know about this, I might have screwed this up” and if they’d failed, … well, I was already farther than I expected to be when this all started.
The finals are underway for the 2025 RPS Championship, featuring TedHoffman and soyleche.
It looks like it’ll be a great match-up, with both players coming into the Finals on a hot streak, with TedHoffman on a 3-game winning streak and soyleche on a 4-game winning streak…
… actually, now we can call it a 5-game winning streak for soyleche!
Can TedHoffmann stop this momentum? Stay tuned and find out!
Final Four
soyleche defeats TedHoffman in Game 1, soyleche leads (1-0)
P TedHoffman
S soyleche
The question that really needs to be asked here, as one of my kids described it: will we have yet another first-time champion for the 1st time, or will we have someone who’s been a champion win a 2nd time for the 1st time?
All I know is if I win, my kids are getting the credit. If I lose, I’m blaming Mrs. Hoffman who decided to bail on the house for a week to go to Philadelphia and NYC.
Ah, an impostor? And here I thought it was just a very excited fan who was speeling challenged! (You know how there’s always one of those in every fan club… you appreciate the enthusiasm, but ya gotta overlook a coupla things…). Glad to know that the impostor was caught - can’t have any shenanigans or tomfoolery in these finals! Nope, not now - there’s just too much at stake!
Meanwhile, while we were clearing all that up, soyleche went ahead and extended the winning streak to SIX games!!
Can TedHoffman break this soyleche surge? Stay tuned to find out!!
Final Four
soyleche defeats TedHoffman in Game 2, soyleche leads (2-0)
R TedHoffman
P soyleche
@soyleche I have it on good authority @Ted_Hoffman is planning to throw paper for his first throws the rest of the tournament. You should go ahead and submit the rest of your throws, all starting with scissors.
soyleche is on a Finals run that we haven’t seen in a long time (perhaps ever?) - winning six straight games is no small feat. However, TedHoffman’s nimbleness shouldn’t be discounted - TedHoffman’s been in stickier situations before, and look where he is: in the finals.
So how’d Game 3 shake out?
It was efficient…
P TedHoffman
S soyleche
Yes. that’s seven in a row now for soyleche!!
Looks like we’re breaking out all the
for the rest of the tourney now…
(… but just imagine the comeback story this will be for TedHoffman if/when it happens!)
Stay tuned for Game 4 - the drama only builds from here!
Final Four
soyleche defeats TedHoffman in Game 3, soyleche leads (3-0)
P TedHoffman
S soyleche
soyleche is on a never-before-seen run in the Final Four, having won 7 games in a row, and is 1 win away from claiming the 2025 crown. We haven’t seen a shutout in the RPS Finals since 2006 - can soyleche pull off the improbable, or will TedHoffman begin the comeback of all comebacks?
Let’s find out:
Once again, it only took 1 throw.
(Fun fact: In soyleche’s 7 game winning streak, every game was decided by 1 throw! )
Let’s call it a Perfect Eight!!
S TedHoffman
R soyleche
Congratulations to soyleche, our 2025 RPS Champion!!
It doesn’t get any more exciting than this - stay tuned for more!
Final Four
soyleche defeats TedHoffman in Game 4, soyleche leads (4-0)
S TedHoffman
R soyleche
First and foremost: congrats on the championship, @soyleche! Well-earned, especially for reeling off 8 in a row at the end.
I’ve always heard it takes 16 wins to get to the title; apparently, that doesn’t account for having to get through the play-in round. Again, I’m blaming Mrs. Hoffman because she was here as this unlikely run was in process, she left and everything went to hell. I’m sure it wasn’t a sudden inability on my part to make the critical throws with all the chips on the line.
Butler, San Diego State, Vegas in 2018, and now Ted Hoffman: all names associated with unlikely trips from nowhere to a shot for a championship, but who all ultimately fell short of the grand prize. Will I eventually scale that mountain like Vegas, or will I be doomed to be associated with all the rest who never got back toward the top? God willing we’ll all find out in RPS XXIII: The Search for More Paper … and Rocks … and Scissors.
mode, proceeded to win the next two games to tie it up at (3-3)
