The Prisoner's Dilemma League

Eight football clubs. Eight ways to play a rivalry. Every team here is a strategy from the Prisoner's Dilemma that game theorists have argued over for forty years, and every tackle comes down to the same choice: co-operate, or defect.

A deterministic engine plays a full fourteen-week season, four matches a matchday, and the table settles it. Blackmoor United never give an inch. Amberdale Union never hit back. Mirrowick Town give back exactly what they get. One approach finishes top, and the season exists to find out which and to show its working.

Expect a match every matchday, a roundup that tracks who is actually winning, and a short explainer on each strategy. No spoilers in the previews and no invented drama, just the season as it runs.

Does co-operation win? Subscribe and follow the table.