Prisoner's dilemma or red and black. Red or black: the best strategy

Game Red Black + modifications

This is extremely interesting game from the range of tools that psychologists use to develop training participants’ skills to understand each other, interact effectively, and take a step towards their partner. Quite often the game Red and Black is used on.
This game also has a powerful didactic potential, which allows us to consider it as a testing ground for testing moral principles and the ability to break through to a higher level of self-awareness. A widely known version of this game is called the Prisoner's Dilemma. N.I. Kozlov (1997) describes its modification “Red and Black”. We would like to offer to your attention several analogues of this game, applicable to different categories of training participants.

Option I. Deal. The name itself suggests that this option is intended for use in training businessmen, managers or high school students focused on commercial activities. In order for the reader to easily understand the essence of the game, we will describe the simplest case when the game is played in pairs.

Pairing for this game can be organized by asking participants to choose the most attractive person as their partner. If the leader wants to avoid the appearance of outsiders, that is, outcasts who themselves do not risk making the first choice and whom no one chooses until the end, as a result of which they unite with each other, but not necessarily due to mutual sympathy, then the leader may well create pairs according to at your own discretion. Participants sit with their backs to each other and are warned that contact with a partner during the game will be prohibited. Each player receives twenty cards: ten white and ten blue. Another chair is placed close to each pair. The instructions sound something like this:

Each member of the couple is a businessman, and each is a competitor for the other, since according to the rules of the game, you both do your business in the same area. Both of them had a very lucrative offer, promising a good income. But this proposal comes from criminal structures, which, of course, makes it risky. You can take this deal, or you can refuse. In principle, both solutions can bring you profit, but this will depend on the choice of your competing partner.

Participants are offered this table, which can either be placed on a poster clearly visible to everyone, or given on cards to each player.

What does this sign mean? If both businessmen make a deal with criminal structures, then both lose three thousand (due to the denomination of the ruble, we can say that three thousand rubles is already significant money). If one of you makes a deal and the second refuses, then the first earns five thousand, and the second loses the same five thousand.

And finally, if both businessmen refuse the deal, then they receive but three thousand. There will be ten moves in our game. Every thirty seconds (if necessary, the time allotted for each move can be increased), at the command of the leader, players must simultaneously place one card on the chair next to them: blue means making a deal, white means refusing. Having seen his partner’s decision, the player fills out his income and expenses form.

Form for the game

Participant name ________ Partner name ________

In the move columns, if a transaction is made, the letter C is placed, in case of refusal, the letter O. In the results column, the participant records his profits or losses with the appropriate sign.

The players' task is to get maximum profit. The one who manages to earn the maximum amount of money wins.

At his discretion, the presenter may announce twice during the game that on the next turn sum of money doubles.

It is obvious to the participants almost from the very beginning that if both of them refuse the deal, they will be able to get their “honestly earned” three thousand. But the risk here is no less obvious: I refuse the deal, but my partner takes it and gets involved with crime - he will be the winner, and I will be completely screwed. Such thoughts push players to choose a “deal” - and as a result, both are steadily sliding into the abyss of financial disaster. The consolation is probably the thought that is more typical of lumpen of the worst kind: even if I’m left without pants, he (the playing partner) won’t wear a Cardin suit either.

The players' reasoning and the strategies they have chosen will become clear to the presenter after the tenth move, when the players hand in their individual forms, in which they themselves have already summed up the final balance. Discussing this game is extremely important - especially if it turns out that virtually no one wins (and this may well happen!). This situation is very indicative: the budget deficit clearly indicates that the strategy chosen by the players is wrong. If there is at least one couple who has chosen not the path of deception and distrust of the partner, but the path of constructive interaction based on goodwill and trust, then the leader must necessarily give them the opportunity to say the main words in the discussion.

It will be great if, as a result of the discussion, the participants come to a deeper, more heartfelt understanding of a rather trivial truth: besides the game against someone, when my gain is necessarily the loss of another, there are games when you can only win together. Even in business, where the “law of the jungle” seems to reign, you can achieve more by choosing a strategy based on total winnings.

The presenter may repent of the provocativeness of the instructions and guidelines, but they too can be understood differently! In addition, a hint was already hidden in the game conditions: for a self-respecting businessman to get involved with crime means breaking not only the criminal code, but also the code of honor. Counterarguments in the form of references to numerous examples from current Russian reality are not convincing: sooner or later the foam will subside, and we will live in a legal society. In the end, the presenter can remind particularly zealous participants that they are not training in the skills of economic crimes, but have gathered here for a different purpose.

Option II. Climbers. The game, which is practically an analogue of the one just given, has mainly formal differences and is effective in training for youth. The conditions introduced in the instructions, in our opinion, more transparently indicate a more effective strategy for overall winnings. In this context, it works to build closeness between participants, trust and mutual understanding.

The conditions remain the same: partners sit on chairs with their backs to each other, there is another chair on the side, each has ten blue and ten white cards and an individual results form (the forms are identical to those given above). Instructions:

You are climbers making a difficult ascent to one of the highest and most inaccessible mountains in the world. A sudden snowstorm scattered the members of the expedition. By the will of a whimsical fate, you and your partner found yourself on opposite sides of a stone ridge. Having difficulty holding on to the steep wall, you saw a rope thrown over the rock. One end of it is in front of one of you, and the other is in front of the other. You can get out by gradually climbing the wall, but it is long and difficult. A rope is a more realistic chance of salvation and more quick way get to the shelter. But here’s the problem - if someone hangs on it alone, then he will not have a counterweight, and he will immediately slide into the abyss. To hold on, you need to grab the rope at the same time. But you don’t see each other, and because of the noise of the snowstorm, it’s impossible to shout out. There is no guarantee that your partner will take the same risk. how are you. In general, both methods give you a chance to escape, but everything will depend on which option your partner chooses. What to do? What will you do?

Participants are also offered a table indicating the points received by players in various cases.

You will make ten moves. Your task is to score as many points as possible. The one who manages to score the maximum number of points wins.

At his discretion, the presenter may announce twice during the game that on the next turn the amount of points will be doubled.

Just as in the previous version, the overall winning strategy is the most productive. In other words, if the partners trust each other and both risk grabbing the rope, this will earn them three points on each move. In couples where there are people who do not trust each other, you can most likely expect a strategy in which everyone will climb the wall themselves. They say, let someone else break his neck, grabbing a rope - I only get profit from this.

All strategies are discussed after the game is completed. Of course, special attention goes to couples who have achieved the highest results.

The option of playing in bunks has its drawbacks. One of them is that the leader is not able to track the behavior of all players, and they can negotiate with their partners about their moves. This can be avoided by using team play, for example, in the form described below.

Option III. Meeting of two civilizations. The group is divided into two teams (the methods of division are very diverse). The lot determines which team will consist of earthlings and which of aliens.

A space expedition from Earth discovered an uninhabited planet, the depths of which were saturated with a variety of minerals and strategically important types of raw materials. But almost simultaneously with the earthlings, representatives of another highly developed civilization landed on this planet, also interested in the natural resources of the planet. Noticing each other's presence, both earthlings and aliens took refuge in their spaceships, leading to combat readiness neutron cannons and hand blasters. This planet is extremely necessary for both civilizations. Apparently, an armed conflict cannot be avoided. The question is who will start first, that is, who will bear the responsibility for starting a military conflict. The painful wait began.

However, there is still the possibility of a peaceful agreement. But there is no communication between the ships, and in order to express your proposals, you need to leave the ship and go outside. This is a risk: rivals may not take the same step, but simply destroy their competitors. In this game you will have to decide what to do after making ten moves. Depending on the selection of teams, different situations arise, the assessment of which in points is given in the table.

The meaning of the table is quite clear: if both teams start hostilities, they lose three points; if some team decides to leave the ship for negotiations, and their rivals erase them from the face of the planet with targeted fire, then the dead will lose five points, and well-aimed shooters at envoys will also gain five points; if representatives of both civilizations decide to try their luck on the path of negotiations, then both of them receive three points.

It is best to separate the teams into different rooms. In the five minutes allotted for each move, teams must make a decision. If a decision is not made within this time, the team is fined 3 points. You can vote as many times as you like, but if during the final vote there are people who raised their hands “against”, then for each of them the team loses 1 point. The decision of the teams is passed on to the opponents by the presenter or his assistant.

The winner is the one who scores the maximum number of points after ten moves.

Option IV. Meeting of two wizards. And, finally, the last of the modifications of this game (of course, not the last of the possible and available, but the last of those described here). It is suitable for playing with children - teenagers and even, under certain conditions, with primary schoolchildren. Being a semantic analogue of previous games, it, in our opinion, is even more didactic, since the winning strategy in it is more obvious and more clearly connected with moral standards.

The game can be played both in pairs and in teams. Let us describe the game situation offered in pairs. Children sit on chairs with their backs to each other, with another chair on the side, each with ten blue and ten white cards and an individual results form (the forms are identical to those given above). Instructions:

One day, in a dark, dense forest fraught with many dangers, two wizards met on a path. Each of them held a magic wand in their hands, their main witchcraft instrument. Neither of them knew who the other was: an evil or a good wizard, whether to engage in a magical duel with him by raising his wand, or to refuse the fight and lower his wand. In this game you will have to decide what to do after making ten moves. Depending on the choice - your own and the choice of your partner, different situations arise, the assessment of which in points is given in the table.

What does this sign mean? If both wizards raise wands (that is, they engage each other in combat), then both lose three points. If one of you uses the baton and the second one puts it down, then the first one gets five points, and the second one loses the same amount. Finally, if both wizards decide to simply talk peacefully to each other without using wands, they receive three points each. There will be ten moves in our game. Every thirty seconds (if necessary, the time allotted for each move can be increased), at the command of the leader, players must simultaneously place one card on the chair next to them: blue means raising the rod, white means refusing to use it. Having seen the decision of his partner, each player fills out his own game form.

Your task is to score as many points as possible. The one who manages to score the maximum number of points wins.

Of course, the results of the game, no matter how it is played, must be discussed with the group.

My business is providing premises for events of various formats. I give preference to areas related to training, teaching, and consulting. Pay hourly, depends from duration events and timings.
Natalie Mirionkova “Consultant” contacted me urgently. Business trainer. Coordinator of “Success” trainings in Moscow.” (taken from the site http://www.svoiludy.ru/command/Natali_Mirionkova.htm)
The company wrote about itself “Our Mission
We create opportunities for people:
*gain skills in achieving success and realizing your dreams,
*live life consciously in a state of happiness, creativity,
*create harmonious interaction.

Our principles
*Everything we give to people we apply in our lives
*Teachers around us
*Beauty and inspiration in any action
*Respect for the freedom of choice of every person
*Continuous quality improvement

Now to the point.
We agreed that Ms. Alekseeva’s training (http://www.svoiludy.ru/command/Elena.htm) will take place from 10-00 to 20-00 on Friday and Saturday, and from 11-00 to 21-00 on Sunday. Post-training - on Tuesday from 20-00 to 22-30.
They calculated the amount, made a discount, and received the amount - the cost of the service. We CLEARLY defined the space in which the training will take place. (Note this - the boundaries were UNIQUELY defined)

Well, then it started.

• Irina Borisovna, can we arrive early and prepare the room?
• Can. How much time do you need for this?
• Well, we'll arrive at 8:30
• Fine.

I arrived on the day of the training at 9:30, everything was already ready in the hall, it was just great. However, from that moment on, surprises began for me. It turned out that the organizers arrived the evening before and decorated the hall until 3 in the morning. Of course, at 11-00 pm my administrator did not dare to disturb me. 1:0 in favor of the “Success” team.
Where is the cooler, the organizers asked me? When negotiating about the cooler - not a word. 2:0 in favor of the “Success” team. Where's the water for the cooler? - We ordered urgent delivery, fortunately we are in good standing with the delivery guy - 3:0 in favor of the “Success” team.

Second day of the training. It's four o'clock in the afternoon and I'm in serious negotiations on another project. Mrs. Mirionkova calls me and says.

• And your administrator told me that we can also take the next room.
• Darling, are you going to play “red and black”?
• Yes, we need to isolate teams from each other.
• Why didn't you warn me about this when we agreed for the first time?
• Oh, sorry, it's more of my fault
• Fine. We can get out of this situation if your guys set up in the kitchen. But at the same time, participants in other events will come here to drink tea, since they are not to blame for anything. And you will have to pay for the premises, since in the first calculation we will talk about this didn't agree.
• Okay, Irina Borisovna

What happened next?
Darkness.
Like an enraged fury, the trainer flew into the kitchen (the training participants were already here). She was ready to incinerate me with her Reik gaze
_We pay you MONEY, so you are OBLIGED to provide us with everything we need!

Hee hee hee, Irina Borisovna said to herself. The trainer didn’t know that at that moment I was in mediation training, and my teacher also observed the situation, being right there.
Without getting involved in the discussion of who owes what to whom, I went into my training.

When I returned to the kitchen, the game of “red and black” was still going on. I involuntarily listened to what was happening. It turned out that in this training they used such a modification of the well-known game that the entire inner essence was distorted.
THE GAME WAS FOR MONEY!
People, save us from such modifications!
People, the game “red and black” is not about money!!!

The next morning I went to the office with a ready-made solution.
If you remember, the day should have started at 11-00 according to the first agreements. I came to the office, and there the training party was in full swing. It's 9:30 a.m.

Can you guess three times what I did?

That's right, I called Ms. Mirionkova into my office and offered her a choice.

1. Vacate the premises immediately.
2. Pay exactly what you paid in the original agreement, once again.

I suggested that she make a decision immediately. However, this sweet lady was only capable of ever-increasing cries: “Irina Borisovna! Irina Borisovna! Irina Borisovna!”
Since I am a lady a little prone to drama, without waiting for the above-mentioned lady to collapse in hysterics, I went to the team in order to stop this circus
and repeated her demand, adding a time factor. Exactly 5 minutes.
I returned to my place and after 10 seconds two messengers came to me - members of the team.

• Guys, I will repeat to you our first agreements, if you were not aware of them (fortunately, there is paper). You teach others to look for non-standard solutions - this is the reality of life. You teach others to BE COMMITTED - why do you allow yourself to break agreements? Why do you hurt others?
  I also mentioned that in connection with with misinformation about the time of the training, I had to cancel some clients - and this is a direct economic loss
  In response, there was a bleat that they were not ready...
• Then vacate the premises. The clock shows 12 minutes until 10:00. You have exactly seven minutes to do one thing or another.

Seven minutes not required. Thirty minutes later they brought a decision.

It didn’t matter to me what decision the team made. Either way, I'm a winner. What about the training team?

The coach is unprofessional, this was noted by everyone who was involved in the situation from the outside.
Guys, be careful when you are involved in personal growth training! Choose a coach carefully. Any unprofessional interference in your psyche will cause harm to you.
The goal of any training is to shake you, throw you out of balance, force you to go beyond the usual. However, after such influences, you need to carry out professional psychocorrection, undergo a course of therapy in order to calm down at a new level of development of your personality!

That's the story, damn it!

Remembering Lifespring

Lifespring is a personal growth training system that provides participants with a set of tools for self-realization.
It consists of four stages, the first of which is the basic course.
In the basic course, participants are given the opportunity to become aware of the attitudes and limitations on which they build their lives, as well as the opportunity to create and accept new attitudes, thanks to which they can make life “work” to fulfill their desires.

The “red/black” game is played in the basic course.
Participants are divided into two teams and go to different rooms.
On the boards in both rooms there are tables drawn in two rows of six columns (each line corresponds to a team, each column to the next “move”).
By general vote, each team puts either red or black in the corresponding cell - this is the “move”. Teams move at the same time, not knowing what move the other team is making at the same time. Participants are informed about intermediate results only after both teams have made a move.
THE GOAL OF THE GAME IS TO SCORE THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF POINTS.
Points are calculated as follows: if one team bets on red and the other team bets on red, both are minus three. If one team bets on red and the other team bets on black, the first team is plus five, the second is minus five. If both teams bet on black, both teams are plus three.

Third day of training.
I sit in the hall and listen to what I have heard many times before and even said myself. However, now I am here as a participant.
A few rows to the right of me sits Ivan, the co-host of our master class, the fourth stage of the program.
I know what I need here: I have to teach this course myself. What does Ivan need here, who already has several dozen similar activities under his belt?
Everything in the hall is as always. Surprised, indignant, not understanding a word, suffering, hoping and blindly believing - all are completely immersed in their thoughts and emotions.
Participants float with the flow in the direction indicated by the coach, and this movement is similar to a seething stream.
I'm also lost in my thoughts. Now there will be a “red/black” game. I've told people many times as an assistant coach that you can only play it once - the very first time. Everything else is false and fraudulent. Because knowing the rules of the game, it is no longer possible to play it. Today I have to do this!
This game was never won. Not in any training course. No one. That's what the coach says. This is exactly what I myself told the participants many times...
The coach separates Ivan and I into different teams.
But this is a chance! It’s enough for me to explain to people the essence of the game, and Ivan, for his part, will do the same - I know that. We both have teams of thirty people - it’s nothing...
I'm going like a spring. The heart is right in the throat.
The second team passes by, into the next room, and I see Vanino’s face trembling. For one moment his hand touches mine...
No! This game can only be played once. One. The only one in my entire life. My game will be fake. Having solved my own problems, having hammered a ready-made solution into people’s heads, I will deprive them of the opportunity to find it on their own. They won’t find him, I know that too, all my experience speaks to this. But I will at least give them the opportunity.
And so I sit in the last row and watch what is happening.
Everything, as always, follows a familiar scenario. People who a couple of hours ago hugged each other and spoke of love to everyone they met, are now divided into two teams and set themselves the goal of snatching victory, points, and an advantage from the enemy.
My team carefully votes for red. That's it, the game is lost. You can leave... But they don’t know about it yet...
Ivan is raging behind the wall. Vanya graduated from Gnesinka in vocal class, and his bass is transmitted throughout the building through the floor.
Vanya, you don’t yet know that I betrayed you. For their sake. For your own sake. For your own sake. For the sake of the game...
His voice fades. The coach notifies us that the other team has made a move to black. Of course.
My team, excited and buzzing like a beehive, bets on red again even more carefully.
Behind the closed door, Ivan’s heavy voice hammers into the floor again and again. Answering screams, sounds similar to the crash of falling furniture, a woman's squeal - everything merges into a wild cacophony. Does he hit them?
The coach brings the answer: black!
Well, so be it... What's the difference? The desired result will still not be there. Vanya himself explained this simple truth to me many times.
Third move. Amazed by what is happening, inspired by illusions, my team again bets on red. I curl up into a ball. If only they knew how they would be beaten now! How from the very heights of success they will fall into the abyss of the deepest disappointment - disappointment in themselves...
The screams behind the wall become unbearable. Hell, absolute hell is very close to me... They are beating him!! Vania! Do you still believe in people?
Black! Black again!
I start to shake. Still not believing what is happening, refusing to perceive reality, I plug my ears and close my eyes.
Black!
Black!
Black!
I don't have enough hands to shut my mouth, and I bite the shoulder in my shaggy sweater with my teeth.
Six black chips! Six! All the necessary six - and this despite all the nonsense of our retaliatory steps...
Vanya's team appears from the next room. Their appearance is terrible. Men's jackets and torn shirts dragging on the floor. Frightened, trembling, tear-stained women.
My team looks at them in shock.
The game is lost.

After the scolding required by the script (I know all the words by heart), the coach drives the shocked participants out into the corridor.
I go up to Ivan and point to the completed table:
– This game can be won!
“No,” Ivan shakes his head, “Just lose!”
And we're both wrong...

Reviews

Hello! I don’t understand the rules of the game, it turns out that betting on red is mostly more profitable. Why is the second team always on black? Or was Ivan pushing them? Is that why there are fights? Or for another reason? The funny thing is that one of my close friends, back at the dawn of the Open forum, accidentally got to their training, there, in an express version, in two days they had everything, even a breakthrough. So, he played this game, I ask him what the point is, and he: I still don’t understand)))