I took a game theory class as one of my MBA electives. it was such a fun class not gonna lie… I never thought i would enjoy economic this much. I always wanted to take game theory class but i never got a chance to take it for my undergrad since my schedule was full of MechE and Fashion classes. Finally I got my chance so I signed up.. originally I hope i’ll learn something that helps me beat my friends in Catan… lol. This is going to sounds sooo nerdy but I already read a book and watch youtube videos about it before the semester start.
One of my favorite things for Game Theory Class was “ The Prisoner’s Dilemma”.
One-shot Prisoner's Dilemma: In a one-time Prisoner's Dilemma, the rational choice is to betray because it gives you the best outcome regardless of what the other person does. If they stay silent, betraying lets you go free instead of serving one year. If they betray, betraying limits your sentence to three years instead of five. Since both players follow this logic, they both betray and each receives three years, even though they would have been better off if they had both stayed silent and served only one year.
Repeated Prisoner's Dilemma: When the game is played repeatedly, the best strategy becomes much more complex because every decision influences future rounds. A betrayal today may cause the other player to betray you in the future, while consistent cooperation can build trust and lead to better long-term outcomes for both players. Instead of maximizing a single round, players must consider reputation, retaliation, forgiveness, and how their actions shape future behavior. In repeated interactions, the goal shifts from winning one round to creating a relationship where cooperation is sustained over time.
I could keep yapping about this but I’m going to stop here. lol
I like this game so much, and I want to get my friends on this.. so I was thinking what if I make it Kahoot style so we can play together.
Originally…I used Replit to build game and host it on replit itself. HOWEVER… I do not want to pay $20/ month subscription fee ( Replit if you want me to come back to use it, give me free credits teehee) just to keep the game running. So I exported the code and but HTML and put it on Github and hosted it on Render. (First time for everything lol) and boom Now I have my Prisoner’s Dilemma game!!!
Here is a Demo:
And if you want to play it with your friends, here is a link :)