Robert Meadows was bored out of his mind as he waited on the tarmac, so he challenged airport employee Allain Bantaya to rock-paper-scissors through the window of his plane.
Just about everyone knows what a drag it is waiting for your delayed plane to take off.
Robert Meadows was bored out of his mind, sitting on board a Spirit Airlines jet in Atlantic City, New Jersey, biding his time until his flight took off for Florida.
But wait a minute, Meadows thought. What's that dude doing on the tarmac? He's playing rock-paper-scissors with another ground crew member. They, too, were just hanging around, waiting for the plane to depart.
Meadows wanted in. Game on.
"I locked eyes with the guy," Meadows told InsideEdition.com on Wednesday, just after he became an internet darling because video of him playing the children's game through a cabin window went viral.
The two men, who had never laid eyes on each other before, played three quick rounds, with Meadows winning two. "I'm going to do a rematch," he vowed.
His girlfriend, Brianna Kolbe, captured some of the match on her camera. "People all around us were cracking up," she said of her fellow passengers.
"My boyfriend literally has no problem making friends with anybody," she posted on Twitter, together with video of the game.
It's true, Meadows confirmed. He will talk to anyone about anything. "My parents said I could talk to a wall," said the 23-year-old, who works as a first mate on yacht cruises and is studying to become a firefighter and paramedic.
Through the magic of social media, airport employee Allain Bantaya saw the video and posted a response.
And then thousands weighed in, charmed by a simple, silent game that spoke volumes about strangers finding a way to connect.
"The world needs more people like ur boyfriend," a woman wrote on Kolbe's Twitter page, where her video has been seen more than 18 million times.
"Everyone knows that game," said Meadows. "It's been a really crazy experience. I guess every one in the world knows rock-paper-scissors."
The couple is blown away by thousands of responses to their video. "We've never had this kind of attention," Meadows said. "It's been a hell of a ride."
As Kolbe would later learn, she and Bantaya went to the same New Jersey high school, but not at the same time. She and Meadows have been talking with him on social media. "There's definitely going to be a rematch," Meadows said.
"Let the record show," he proclaimed, "I won two out of three."
Kolbe side-eyed her beau. "He's very competitive," she said.
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