Rock Paper Scissors Game Using Python Tkinter

Let’s create a Rock Paper Scissors game (Stone Paper Scissors game) using the Tkinter library of Python.

I guess you already know what the game is all about since it is a famous game around the world. In the place where I’m living, the game is popularly known as Stone-Paper-Scissors and is played very often by the children using their hands.

Game Rules

In case if you don’t know what the Rock Paper Scissors game is, it is a game with three choices: rock, paper, and scissors. Two players can play this game at a time. Each one has to choose from the three options available.

In this app that we make, you are going to play against your enemy, which is the computer. The rules of the game are listed below:

• If one player chooses the rock, and the other chooses the scissor, rock wins.
• If one player chooses the rock, and the other player chooses paper, paper wins.
• If one player chooses the scissor, and the other player chooses paper, scissor wins.
• If both the choices are the same, then no one will win. Both the user and the computer will not get a point.

Now, you know the rules and how to play the game. Without any further introduction, let’s jump right into coding our game.

Let’s Write the Code

First of all, we need to import two libraries into our code, which are tkinter and random.

import random
import tkinter as tk 

Now, let’s create a window for our game, and name it Rock Paper Scissors Game.

window = tk.Tk()
window.geometry("400x300")
window.title("Rock Paper Scissors Game") 

Next, we are going to define the global variables that we are going to use in our program. We have four of them for storing the user’s score, computer’s score, user’s choice, and computer’s choice. Initially, we set the computer’s score and the user’s score into zero.

USER_SCORE = 0
COMP_SCORE = 0
USER_CHOICE = ""
COMP_CHOICE = "" 

Then, we are going to define two methods for converting the user’s choice to a number and vice versa.

def choice_to_number(choice):
    rps = {'rock':0,'paper':1,'scissor':2}
    return rps[choice]
def number_to_choice(number):
    rps={0:'rock',1:'paper',2:'scissor'}
    return rps[number]

Now, let’s create a function to get the computer’s choice. We use the random library here. The computer selects a random choice from either rock, paper, or scissors. 

def random_computer_choice():
    return random.choice(['rock','paper','scissor']) 

Next, we are going to create the most important function in our code, the result function, that determines the winner. This function evaluates both user and computer choices, and based on the comparisons, it picks a winner and updates the scores.

Also, let’s create a text area for displaying the current choices and current scores of both the user and the computer.

def result(human_choice,comp_choice):
    global USER_SCORE
    global COMP_SCORE
    user=choice_to_number(human_choice)
    comp=choice_to_number(comp_choice)
    if(user==comp):
        print("Tie")
    elif((user-comp)%3==1):
        print("You win")
        USER_SCORE+=1
    else:
        print("Comp wins")
        COMP_SCORE+=1
    text_area = tk.Text(master=window,height=12,width=30,bg="#FFFF99")
    text_area.grid(column=0,row=4)
    answer = "Your Choice: {uc} \nComputer's Choice : {cc} \n Your Score : {u} \n Computer Score : {c} ".format(uc=USER_CHOICE,cc=COMP_CHOICE,u=USER_SCORE,c=COMP_SCORE)    
    text_area.insert(tk.END,answer)

Then, we are going to define three methods for three different user choices. These methods take the user’s choice, generate a computer’s random choice, and pass them into the result function, which we created previously.

def rock():
    global USER_CHOICE
    global COMP_CHOICE
    USER_CHOICE='rock'
    COMP_CHOICE=random_computer_choice()
    result(USER_CHOICE,COMP_CHOICE)
def paper():
    global USER_CHOICE
    global COMP_CHOICE
    USER_CHOICE='paper'
    COMP_CHOICE=random_computer_choice()
    result(USER_CHOICE,COMP_CHOICE)
def scissor():
    global USER_CHOICE
    global COMP_CHOICE
    USER_CHOICE='scissor'
    COMP_CHOICE=random_computer_choice() 
    result(USER_CHOICE,COMP_CHOICE)

Now, let’s build three buttons so that the user can click them to play the game.

button1 = tk.Button(text="       Rock       ",bg="skyblue",command=rock)
button1.grid(column=0,row=1)
button2 = tk.Button(text="       Paper      ",bg="pink",command=paper)
button2.grid(column=0,row=2)
button3 = tk.Button(text="      Scissor     ",bg="lightgreen",command=scissor)
button3.grid(column=0,row=3)

Finally, let’s run everything inside the window using the mainloop() method.

window.mainloop()

After you have coded all the above in the correct order, run this on your IDLE or command line. 

Then you will get an interface with three buttons: Rock, Paper, and Scissor. You can then click any of those buttons to start the game.

You need to click a button to select your choice. Then, the computer will select its own choice automatically.

The functions in our code will compare both these choices, and then it will give one point to the winner of that round.

Let’s take a quick look at the complete Python code we wrote to build our rock paper scissors game.

When you run the code, the graphical user interface(GUI) of the game looks like this.

That’s it. Now, play and enjoy the game. Also, show your game to your friends and loved ones.

Convert the Game to an EXE File

We completed a cool project, a game that took us pretty little effort to make.
We can convert the code that we have written into clickable software. It will make our life extremely easy. We can run the game without going to the command line or IDLE.

If the program is like an application that runs on one or two clicks, it would have been pretty cool, right?. Let’s see how we can do this thing and build some software or application with our python code.

py2exe for Python

There is a software called py2exe for this purpose. You can download the software, and it will make your life easy. But, for all the geeky programmers out there, who want to do it by themselves, without using any third-party software, I will show you how to do it.

Converting .py to .exe without using py2exe

For that, we need to install the Pyinstaller library. If it does not exist in your system, go to the PowerShell or CMD and type in the following command. If you’re using Mac, use “pip3” instead of “pip”.

pip install pyinstaller

Once we have done that, go to the directory of the Python code we have written, using the cd command. After that, type in the following: 

pyinstaller -F -w  file_name.py

Use the name of your file instead of file_name.py in the above command. This command will automatically create some folders, and we will have an executable file inside the ‘dist’ folder.

Add an Icon to the Python Software

We can add an icon to our app to make it look much more real. For that, you should have an icon, with a .ico extension, ready to use. You can download a good-looking icon by searching the Internet. 

To add an icon to the executable file, type in the following command:

pyinstaller -F -w -i  icon_name.ico  file_name.py

That’s it. If you have followed these steps, your executable python app will be ready to rock and roll.

Conclusion

Congratulations on creating a cool Python app! I hope this tutorial was able to show you the ease of creating beautiful apps using the Python language.

I want you to take it to the next level. Now, you know that making apps in Python is easy. So, brainstorm some cool ideas, and turn them into reality with Python.

Remember this thing: If you can think of an idea, then you can code it! How cool is that?

You must realize that mastering Tkinter will not land you any job. No real-world companies create software using Tkinter.

After doing many projects, your confidence in programming would be much higher than it was before.

Now, it’s time to take action. You can now move on to more advanced fields like machine learning, web development, etc. I hope you will do so.

There are lots of resources and books out there to learn Python programming, and it is often overwhelming for beginners. It is crucial to get the right resources to increase your knowledge, and not waste your time.

I have done some research on the best resources for programmers, and you can check out my resources page to find them.

If you have any doubts, queries, or bugs, feel free to comment down below. I will be happy to respond.

I would appreciate it if you would be willing to share this tutorial. It will encourage me to create more useful stuff like this.