The Big Throwdown

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WESTLEY: The battle of wits has begun. It ends when you decide and we both drink, and find out who is right and who is dead.

VIZZINI: But it's so simple. All I have to do is divine from what I know of you. Are you the sort of man who would put the poison into his own goblet, or his enemy's? Now, a clever man would put the poison into his own goblet, because he would know that only a great fool would reach for what he was given. I'm not a great fool, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But you must have known I was not a great fool; you would have counted on it, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.

WESTLEY: You've made your decision, then?

VIZZINI: Not remotely. Because iocaine comes from Australia, as everyone knows. And Australia is entirely peopled with criminals. And criminals are used to having people not trust them, as you are not trusted by me. So I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you.

WESTLEY: Truly, you have a dizzying intellect.

[After more back and forth, the two raise a cup to drink.]

VIZZINI: Let's drink--me from my glass, and you from yours.

WESTLEY: You guessed wrong.

VIZZINI [howling with laughter]: You only think I guessed wrong--that's what's so funny! I switched glasses when your back was turned. You fool. You fell victim to one of the classic blunders. The most famous is 'Never get involved in a land war in Asia.' But only slightly less well known is this: 'Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line.'

[He laughs and laughs before falling over dead.]

BUTTERCUP: To think--all that time it was your cup that was poisoned.

WESTLEY: They were both poisoned. I spent the last few years building up an immunity to iocaine powder.

It's no surprise that RPS devotees pay homage to The Princess Bride, for this exchange encapsulates the essence of Sicilian reasoning--a deduction based on multiple levels of 'If you know that I know that you know' and a fundamental element of game strategy. An example: Even novice players know that rock is the most common opening throw. So if you're playing someone beyond novice, chances are he will not throw rock . . . or will he? Maybe he knows that you know he is not a beginner, and therefore he will throw rock because you least expect it.

The challenge is to not overestimate or underestimate the intellect of your opponent. One needs to know when to stop thinking and just throw. In 2005 a single-throw match between Sotheby's and Christie's determined the rights to a pricey art collection. A Christie's employee's daughter used flawless Sicilian reasoning to offer this advice: 'Everybody knows you always start with scissors. Rock is way too obvious, and scissors beats paper.' As reported in Fortune magazine and other major media outlets, Christie's threw scissors and beat Sotheby's paper.

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