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golden balls. the weirdest split or steal ever!

spinout3 · 15.1M views · 2012-02-03 · 6:25

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Overview

A Golden Balls episode in which one contestant announces he will steal, leading to an unexpected outcome in the split-or-steal prisoner's dilemma.

On Hacker News

The canonical real-world example in game theory discussions of manipulating a prisoner's dilemma.

Recommended by 5 HN people across 5 months · HN mentions 2012–2025

Topics

Probability & game theoryGames (other)
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game theorygolden ballssplit or stealnash equilibriumgame show

What people said

gcanyon · 2025-05 · Strong recommendation

No conversation on game theory is complete until someone brings up Golden Balls, and in particular this amazing moment (warning: terrible audio quality). [VIDEO]

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hcarvalhoalves · 2016-09 · Strong recommendation

If you find this article interesting, Coursera's "Competitive Strategy" [1] is a pretty good introduction on the topic of game theory and how it can be used as a decision-making framework for business, I've found. As a case study, I recommend watching this episode of "Golden Balls" [2], which shows how a player can manipulate a game outcome and defeat the natural Nash equilibria. This is a classic IMO. [1] [LINK] [2] [VIDEO]

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surreal · 2014-10 · Strong recommendation

This is the most clever I've seen: [VIDEO] He ensures his opponent has nothing to gain from defecting... (Rules etc until 2m 30s, then the game)

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Sources

Video by spinout3, played through YouTube.

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