Prisoner's Dilemma Payoff Calculator

About this calculator

The Prisoner's Dilemma is the foundational game of classical game theory, built on four payoffs that must satisfy the strict ordering Temptation, then Reward, then Punishment, then Sucker's payoff (T, R, P, S each ranked in descending value): T (Temptation) is what you get for defecting while the other cooperates, R (Reward) is what both get for mutual cooperation, P (Punishment) is what both get for mutual defection, and S (Sucker's payoff) is what you get for cooperating while the other defects. Given those four values and each player's choice, this calculator looks up the resulting outcome and reports each player's individual payoff.

The dilemma is that defection is each player's individually rational choice regardless of what the other does (it's a dominant strategy, since Temptation exceeds Reward and Punishment exceeds the Sucker's payoff), yet mutual defection (P, P) leaves both players worse off than mutual cooperation (R, R) would have. This tension between individual and collective rationality is why the model is used across economics, evolutionary biology (explaining cooperation among unrelated organisms), international relations (arms races, trade wars), and the design of repeated-game strategies like tit-for-tat.