CECS 455 Lectures

Two men (whom we will call A and B) are captured and held in separate cells where they cannot communicate. The warden visits both cells and explains the rules to each of them the same way: If neither prisoner gives evidence against the other, then the warden can only hold the prisoners for a year each. If both prisoners give evidence against the other, then the warden will hold both in prison for 10 years. If one prisoner decides to give evidence but the other one doesn’t, then the cooperative prisoner will go free, but the implicated prisoner gets 25 years. Solution: There is a single dominating strategy (and dominated strategy) for both players, but it is not the one you might hope for: both players will defect.