How to Play Prisoner's Dilemma

Prisoner's Dilemma is a game developed by mathematician Albert W. Tucker in 1950 to illustrate that for every winner there must be a loser. You are pitted against another prisoner and faced with the choice of confessing or not confessing in order to receive the best outcome. You must decide whether you value yourself over the group.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Know the situation you are in. Usually, you and another player have done something wrong and you're now in separate jail cells wondering what to do.

2. Decide whether to confess to the crime or remain silent.

3. Confess, and if the other prisoner remains silent, you will go free.

4. Admit to your crime, and if the other player also confesses, you both get jail time.

5. Remain silent, and if your partner in crime also remains silent, you'll both still be charged, but with a lesser sentence.

Tips & Warnings

• You can use the Prisoner's Dilemma in team building exercises to see whether your employees value the group over themselves. Although there is no right answer, there is a better answer.
• The Prisoner's Dilemma is often used for mathematical equations to predict the outcome probability.
• There are several automated versions of the game on the Internet to show what the different outcomes would be if you choose a certain path.
• There's really no right answer to this game. That's why it's a dilemma.