Winnie the Pooh, though he has never left us, is experiencing a shining moment with the release of Disney's Christopher Robin and we couldn't be happier about it. If you grew up with Pooh (as multiple generations now have) you know that the Silly Old Bear will always have a special place in your heart. It couldn't be any other way.

With the Winnie the Pooh resurgence, it's the perfect time to go back in time to when you were just as innocent as Pooh Bear. Watch the film (you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll feel a little heart squeeze), read the adaptation (no offense to the writers, but Ewan McGregor's Christopher Robin is much better than the book's) or the original Winnie-the-Pooh and House on Pooh Corner, and make yourself a smackeral of honey. It will do your inner child good.

MOXI, the Wolf Museum of Exploration + Innovation is located along the American Riviera in sunny Santa Barbara, California. That actually might be enough of an advertisement to visit right there. It's in Santa Barbara? Count me in! But what really gives MOXI adventure status is that it's essentially a children's museum for adults! Sure, kids go there too, but most children's museums don't let you in unless you have, you know, a kid with you. Annoying. So the young-at-heart that are also childless (because their stepson is now 20 and is a decade away from the summer he spent digging up plastic dinosaur bones and manning a make believe diner grill) have nowhere to let their inner child run rampant. Until MOXI, that is.

The exhibits at MOXI are top notch and always evolving. Allow us to take you on a tour...

On the first floor you will find a giant guitar. We're not talking like a bigger-than-average sized guitar, we're talking Incredible Shrinking Woman big. And you can play it! They were smart when they put this exhibit front and center - it immediately makes you feel like a kid again and you can't wait to try it out. On the first floor you will also find a gift shop, the Fantastic Forces Courtyard, and Sound Track (sound booths where you can record the sound effects for some of your favorite movie scenes).

On the second floor they've got the Speed Track where you can race little derby cars down a track that is constantly changing as well as a giant Light Brite and the Lois + Richard Gunther Color Mixing Machine that lets you turn a wheel to control the colored panels hanging over the entryway below.

On the third floor is the Sky Garden. Remember those views? This is where you find them. Here you can walk across a glass floor that looks down onto the courtyard, experiment with the Whitewater exhibit (complete with Archimedes screw), or create an air-powered symphony.

It's great to see kids having fun with their parents and grandparents, but it's also great to see adults having just as much fun exploring!

Kids get a lot of things right.  They take naps in the middle of the day.  They use cartoons as motivation.  They wear plaids with polka dots.  And they solve all of life’s major dilemmas by playing Rock, Paper, Scissors.
 
Rock, Paper, Scissors, believe it or not, did not originate on the schoolyard but in ancient Asia or Africa.  There is some debate about it’s actual origins.  If only there were some way to decide which continent it started on… Anyway!  This zero sum hand game is hella old and is responsible for settling many a dispute over the centuries.  As a tie-breaker it’s more interactive than a simple coin toss, less labor intensive that drawing straws, and doesn’t require that you carry dice around with you at all times.  And, perhaps best of all, it lends itself to endless variations.
 
The basic hand gestures of Rock, Paper, Scissors are as follows:
Rock (fist)
Paper (flat palm)
Scissors (fist with pointer and middle finger sticking out like scissors)
 
To win a hand, rock beats scissors, scissors cut paper, and paper covers rock  (meaning rock must be claustrophobic because that's really the only way we could see paper actually defeating rock simply by covering it up).  If you have two hands, you can play this “game” anywhere, anytime.  You can use it to decide what movie to go see, where to eat dinner, or who should take out the trash.  It’s the ultimate relationship counselor because it’s unbiased.  Also, it lets you know if your partner is a sore loser/winner in short order. 
 
Forget lengthy discussions and hurt feelings when navigating important issues.  Opt for playing instead!  You can even personalize your own version of Rock, Paper, Scissors like the unknown geniuses who came up with:
 
Ninja, Cowboy, Bear (ninja kicks cowboy, cowboy lassos bear, bear mauls ninja)
Fire, Water, Sponge (water puts out fire, fire burns sponge, sponge absorbs water)
Giant, Wizard, Elf (giant squashes elf, elf outsmarts wizard, wizard casts spell on giant)
 
We are dying to see a group of adults play any of these three acting-skills-required versions.  Our personal favorite, however, comes courtesy of Sheldon Cooper (aka Jim Parsons) on The Big Bang Theory.  If you can remember the rules, try your hand at Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock* (scissors cuts paper, paper covers rock, rock crushes lizard, lizard poisons Spock, Spock smashes scissors, scissors decapitates lizard, lizard eats paper, paper disproves Spock, Spock vaporizes rock, and, as it always has, rock crushes scissors).  Sheldon didn't invent this one (Sam Kass and Karen Bryla did), but his explanation beats all others.

Or if you want to get seriously serious about it, you can take part in a World RPS Society tournament.  Yes, this is a real thing.  Fun fact: the Guiness World Record for the largest tournament was achieved by Oomba, Inc. at Gen Con 2014 in Indianapolis.  See, it’s not just for kids, it’s also for grown-ups who like to act like kids.  We can relate.

And now we leave you with this picture of the Rock Paper Scissors sculpture by Kevin Box.

Leave a comment below to tell us the best thing you ever won playing Rock, Paper, Scissors or how you plan to use this game in your regular, adult life.