Between my friends and I, we take a very different approach to this. It's still centered on Rock, Paper, Scissors. To us, however, it's a game in its own right.
Instead of trying to optimize the speed with which you figure out who goes first, it's a pre-game with its own rules.
You get knocked out if you lost to both of the individuals on your left and right. If you beat one and one beats you, you stay in for the next round.
For instance, if I throw ROCK and the two people to my side throw PAPER I'm out. The remaining players play another round (until you get down to two people, obviously).
If I throw ROCK and one to my left throws PAPER but the one to the right throws SCISSORS, I'm still in it for the next round.
Even with 6 or 8 people it still takes less than a minute, and the fact that you can so several rounds without getting knocked out builds up a kind of tension, along with the moment after a round where everyone around the table is looking around to evaluate who got knocked out.
I highly recommend you try it. Its pretty fun and really sets a light mood going into whatever game you're actually going to play.
Instead of trying to optimize the speed with which you figure out who goes first, it's a pre-game with its own rules.
You get knocked out if you lost to both of the individuals on your left and right. If you beat one and one beats you, you stay in for the next round.
For instance, if I throw ROCK and the two people to my side throw PAPER I'm out. The remaining players play another round (until you get down to two people, obviously).
If I throw ROCK and one to my left throws PAPER but the one to the right throws SCISSORS, I'm still in it for the next round.
Even with 6 or 8 people it still takes less than a minute, and the fact that you can so several rounds without getting knocked out builds up a kind of tension, along with the moment after a round where everyone around the table is looking around to evaluate who got knocked out.
I highly recommend you try it. Its pretty fun and really sets a light mood going into whatever game you're actually going to play.