Playing the PDG

The Prisoneer Dilemma Game, a game that is similar to tic tac toe in that it is a win lose game. It is a Non-zero sum game which allows fo cooperation, because there are moves that benifit both players. An emample given on the Princenton link below is that you and Albert were picked up by the police and interrogated in seperate cells without a chance to talk with one another. Whether you are guilty or not does not matter in the game.

You are both told the same thing,

If you both confess, you will both get four years in prison.

If neither of you confesses, the police will be able to pin part of the crime on you, and you'll both get two years.

If one of you confesses but the other doesn't, the confessor will make a deal with the police and will go free while the other one goes to jail for five years.

The irony is that it seems that you are better off confessing, but the fact is that if both refuse to confess and work together then you will be much better off. It is usefull in demonstrating the evolution of co-operative behavior.

As a society we are all better off if we work together by cooperating, but there are some advantages of working to improve your situation and ingnoring the situations of others.

There are several different sites that you can go to and play against a computer.

PDG in a card game form

PDG site

Another PDG site

Princeton