Rochambeau game

[Douglas G. Wilson]

I asked a local college student what the game is called. Answer:
"Rock-paper-scissors." [Did you ever hear another name?] "Jan-ken-pon."
[Any others?] "No." [Roshambo?] "Oh, yes. That too."

I Googled French sites and at a glance found no evidence of the name
"Rochambeau" being applied to this game in French (usually it's something
like "pierre-papier-ciseaux" or "pierre-feuille-ciseaux").

I can find no evidence that "roshambo" is Japanese. I Googled Japanese
sites (using kana) and found only one site which mentioned this name for
the game: it said that the game has this name in southern California!

I inquired of a Japanese correspondent in Japan. He says that he does not
recognize "roshanbo" in any sense and that it does not appear to be
Japanese. His Web search apparently turned up only the same single item
mine did, pointing to California.

I did find other three-syllable apparently-nonsense names for the game
("shnik shnak shnuk", "ching chong chow", also "chi fou mi" [French]).

-- Doug Wilson