FREE EDITION / Simulation / 6 MIN
The Cooperation Window
Six rounds, two choices, one visible response rule. Watch how today’s choice changes tomorrow’s partner.
By the Oddoscope editorial desk. Times include reflection and are estimates.
A small model with visible rules
A fictional deterministic six-round game. The partner starts by sharing, then repeats your last choice, except for an announced withholding mistake in round 3. The mistake does not change the memory rule: round 4 still copies your round 3 choice. Both scores and the full payoff table are visible. There is no random personality or hidden test.
What to notice
Inspect your score, their score, the shared total and mutual-share rounds. A private gain and a shared gain can disagree. This finite, announced game omits communication, enforcement, unequal resources and uncertainty about the ending. It does not prove how people behave or identify a universally best strategy. Ask which assumption you would change before applying any lesson outside the model.
COOPERATION WINDOW / 1 OF 6
A fictional deterministic six-round game. The partner starts by sharing, then repeats your last choice, except for an announced withholding mistake in round 3. The mistake does not change the memory rule: round 4 still copies your round 3 choice. Both scores and the full payoff table are visible. There is no random personality or hidden test.
- Your points
- 0
- Partner points
- 0
- Shared total
- 0
- Mutual-share rounds
- 0
Payoff (you, partner): share/share 3/3; share/withhold 0/5; withhold/share 5/0; withhold/withhold 1/1.
Round 1
Share or withhold. The partner normally repeats your previous choice, beginning with share. In round 3 only, a scheduled delivery mistake makes the partner withhold.
Payoffs (you, partner): share/share (3,3); share/withhold (0,5); withhold/share (5,0); withhold/withhold (1,1). The game ends after round 6, with no additional reward.
Sources and editorial notes
Axelrod & Hamilton — The evolution of cooperation (1981) — Primary model of repeated Prisoner’s Dilemma interactions. Our finite, announced six-round game is different and does not establish a universally best human strategy.
Original Oddoscope writing and artwork. All scenarios and numbers are fictional teaching examples; sources are credited, not reproduced.