Bear Hunter Ninja hand game rules
Rules & online play.

What beats what?

This is a three-move cycle with different characters: bear beats ninja, ninja beats hunter, and hunter beats bear. Agree on that cycle before playing; the table below is the ruleset used by Settle it.

All 3 winning matchups

• Bear beats Ninja.
• Hunter beats Bear.
• Ninja beats Hunter.

Example: If you lock in Bear and your friend locks in Ninja, you win. If you both choose Bear, the round is a tie.

Hand signs and playing in person

For a face-to-face Bear Hunter Ninja game, agree on a bear pose, a hunter pose and a ninja pose, then turn and reveal together on a shared count. Online you simply click a character and lock it in. Check the cycle first, especially if someone knows the game by a different name or learned different house rules: this version uses bear over ninja, ninja over hunter and hunter over bear.

A worked round

If the loser makes the coffee, Alex choosing hunter against Sam’s bear means Sam makes it. If Alex chooses ninja against Sam’s bear instead, Alex loses and makes it. Two bears tie; replay before assigning the coffee run. Changing the characters does not change the odds of a balanced three-choice game.

Tie rates and fair choices

There are 3 moves for each player, so there are 3 × 3 = 9 possible ordered pairs of moves. Exactly 3 pairs match. If both players choose independently and each move is equally likely, the tie rate is 3/9 = 1/3, or about 33.3%.

Under the same assumptions, each player wins about 33.3% of rounds. No move is inherently stronger: each beats 1 and loses to 1. These are mathematical odds, not a guarantee about people who repeat favorite moves or copy each other.

For a quick decision, agree to play until the first non-tie. If you prefer a best-of-three, agree to count wins yourselves and use rematches until someone has two; tied rounds do not count as a win.

History and origins

Bear Hunter Ninja is also played as an active group game with poses instead of hand signs. A 2010 Knucklebones activity guide describes players turning to face each other as a bear, hunter, or ninja. That is a documented example of the game, not a claim about its inventor. Settle it uses the same three-way relationship in a two-player browser contest, so no poses or shared physical space are needed.

Read more: Knucklebones activity guide (2010).

How to play Bear Hunter Ninja with a friend

1. Create your contest. Choose Bear Hunter Ninja, enter your name, and describe the friendly disagreement you want to settle.
2. Invite your friend. Share the invite link or the contest code directly with your friend. Once they join, both players can choose a move.
3. Lock in your move. Select a move and lock it in. A locked move cannot be changed, and your friend’s choice stays hidden until both players commit.
4. Read the result. Both moves and the winner are revealed together. The creator can start another round to break a tie or offer a rematch.

No account or download is needed. Keep using the same browser to retain your seat. The contest expires seven days after creation.

Try another ruleset

See our comparison of rock paper scissors variants to choose by number of moves, tie rate and learning time. For a three-choice game from Indonesia, try the Elephant Human Ant hand game, where the ant beats the elephant.

• Rock Paper Scissors rules →
• Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock rules →
• Elephant Human Ant rules →
• RPS-7 rules →
• Muk-jji-ppa rules →