Single-round prisoner’s dilemma

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To be contrasted with iterated prisoner’s dilemma, a single-round prisoner’s dilemma is a one-off game of prisoner’s dilemma, where there is no chance of getting your own back against a defector in the next round. Because there won’t be a next round. The payoff is thus per the table set out below, and the most rational course of action is to defect.

See also

Pay-off table	A cooperates	A defects
B cooperates	A gets 1 year B gets 1 year	A goes free B gets 3 years
B defects	A gets 3 years B goes free	A gets 2 years B gets 2 years

• Prisoner’s dilemma
• Iterated prisoner’s dilemma
• Agency problem