Hacker Factor
The Game of Oligarchy
This is an automated implementation of Brewster Kahle's "Game of Oligarchy".The basic premise: demonstrate that in a free market, only one person ends up rich, and the others broke.
The rules:
- All players begin with $100.
- The socialism expansion is currently disabled. Click here to enable it and see the difference.
- In each round, players randomly pair off. If there are an odd number of players, then one player sits out during the round.
- For each pairing:
- Both players bet half of the lowest $amount between the two players. E.g., if one player has $50 and the other player has $75, then they both bet $25 (half of $50). No fractions, round up to the nearest $1.
- They agree on a coin flip. The winner gets the amount that was bet from the loser.
- When a player has $0, they are out.
- The game ends when there is only one player left (the winner).
| Round | Action | Player Scores | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Initial setup | $100 | $100 | $100 | $100 | $100 | $100 |
| 1 | Player 3 challenges Player 6. Player 3 won $50! Player 1 challenges Player 2. Player 2 won $50! Player 4 challenges Player 5. Player 4 won $50! | $50 | $150 | $150 | $150 | $50 | $50 |
| 2 | Player 3 challenges Player 4. Player 3 won $75! Player 1 challenges Player 2. Player 1 won $25! Player 5 challenges Player 6. Player 6 won $25! | $75 | $125 | $225 | $75 | $25 | $75 |
| 3 | Player 6 challenges Player 3. Player 3 won $38! Player 4 challenges Player 5. Player 4 won $13! Player 1 challenges Player 2. Player 2 won $38! | $37 | $163 | $263 | $88 | $12 | $37 |
| 4 | Player 4 challenges Player 5. Player 5 won $6! Player 2 challenges Player 6. Player 2 won $19! Player 1 challenges Player 3. Player 3 won $19! | $18 | $182 | $282 | $82 | $18 | $18 |
| 5 | Player 1 challenges Player 6. Player 6 won $9! Player 2 challenges Player 4. Player 2 won $41! Player 5 challenges Player 3. Player 3 won $9! | $9 | $223 | $291 | $41 | $9 | $27 |
| 6 | Player 1 challenges Player 6. Player 1 won $5! Player 5 challenges Player 3. Player 3 won $5! Player 2 challenges Player 4. Player 2 won $21! | $14 | $244 | $296 | $20 | $4 | $22 |
| 7 | Player 2 challenges Player 6. Player 6 won $11! Player 1 challenges Player 3. Player 3 won $7! Player 4 challenges Player 5. Player 4 won $2! | $7 | $233 | $303 | $22 | $2 | $33 |
| 8 | Player 4 challenges Player 3. Player 3 won $11! Player 5 challenges Player 6. Player 5 won $1! Player 2 challenges Player 1. Player 1 won $4! | $11 | $229 | $314 | $11 | $3 | $32 |
| 9 | Player 5 challenges Player 6. Player 6 won $2! Player 2 challenges Player 4. Player 2 won $6! Player 1 challenges Player 3. Player 1 won $6! | $17 | $235 | $308 | $5 | $1 | $34 |
| 10 | Player 3 challenges Player 6. Player 6 won $17! Player 5 challenges Player 4. Player 5 won $1! Player 2 challenges Player 1. Player 2 won $9! | $8 | $244 | $291 | $4 | $2 | $51 |
| 11 | Player 4 challenges Player 3. Player 3 won $2! Player 5 challenges Player 2. Player 2 won $1! Player 1 challenges Player 6. Player 6 won $4! | $4 | $245 | $293 | $2 | $1 | $55 |
| 12 | Player 3 challenges Player 5. Player 5 won $1! Player 2 challenges Player 4. Player 2 won $1! Player 6 challenges Player 1. Player 1 won $2! | $6 | $246 | $292 | $1 | $2 | $53 |
| 13 | Player 6 challenges Player 2. Player 2 won $27! Player 1 challenges Player 3. Player 1 won $3! Player 4 challenges Player 5. Player 4 won $1! | $9 | $273 | $289 | $2 | $1 | $26 |
| 14 | Player 3 challenges Player 1. Player 1 won $5! Player 5 challenges Player 6. Player 6 won $1! Player 5 is out! | $14 | $273 | $284 | $2 | $0 | $27 |
| 15 | Player 6 sits out. Player 2 challenges Player 3. Player 3 won $137! Player 4 challenges Player 1. Player 4 won $1! | $13 | $136 | $421 | $3 | $0 | $27 |
| 16 | Player 3 sits out. Player 6 challenges Player 2. Player 2 won $14! Player 1 challenges Player 4. Player 4 won $2! | $11 | $150 | $421 | $5 | $0 | $13 |
| 17 | Player 6 sits out. Player 2 challenges Player 4. Player 4 won $3! Player 1 challenges Player 3. Player 1 won $6! | $17 | $147 | $415 | $8 | $0 | $13 |
| 18 | Player 4 sits out. Player 2 challenges Player 6. Player 2 won $7! Player 1 challenges Player 3. Player 3 won $9! | $8 | $154 | $424 | $8 | $0 | $6 |
| 19 | Player 6 sits out. Player 2 challenges Player 3. Player 2 won $77! Player 1 challenges Player 4. Player 4 won $4! | $4 | $231 | $347 | $12 | $0 | $6 |
| 20 | Player 6 sits out. Player 4 challenges Player 2. Player 2 won $6! Player 3 challenges Player 1. Player 3 won $2! | $2 | $237 | $349 | $6 | $0 | $6 |
| 21 | Player 6 sits out. Player 1 challenges Player 4. Player 1 won $1! Player 3 challenges Player 2. Player 3 won $119! | $3 | $118 | $468 | $5 | $0 | $6 |
| 22 | Player 4 sits out. Player 3 challenges Player 2. Player 3 won $59! Player 1 challenges Player 6. Player 6 won $2! | $1 | $59 | $527 | $5 | $0 | $8 |
| 23 | Player 1 sits out. Player 2 challenges Player 3. Player 3 won $30! Player 4 challenges Player 6. Player 4 won $3! | $1 | $29 | $557 | $8 | $0 | $5 |
| 24 | Player 6 sits out. Player 3 challenges Player 1. Player 1 won $1! Player 4 challenges Player 2. Player 4 won $4! | $2 | $25 | $556 | $12 | $0 | $5 |
| 25 | Player 3 sits out. Player 4 challenges Player 2. Player 2 won $6! Player 6 challenges Player 1. Player 1 won $1! | $3 | $31 | $556 | $6 | $0 | $4 |
| 26 | Player 1 sits out. Player 4 challenges Player 2. Player 4 won $3! Player 3 challenges Player 6. Player 3 won $2! | $3 | $28 | $558 | $9 | $0 | $2 |
| 27 | Player 2 sits out. Player 6 challenges Player 4. Player 6 won $1! Player 1 challenges Player 3. Player 3 won $2! | $1 | $28 | $560 | $8 | $0 | $3 |
| 28 | Player 2 sits out. Player 4 challenges Player 3. Player 3 won $4! Player 1 challenges Player 6. Player 1 won $1! | $2 | $28 | $564 | $4 | $0 | $2 |
| 29 | Player 1 sits out. Player 3 challenges Player 6. Player 6 won $1! Player 2 challenges Player 4. Player 4 won $2! | $2 | $26 | $563 | $6 | $0 | $3 |
| 30 | Player 2 sits out. Player 4 challenges Player 1. Player 4 won $1! Player 3 challenges Player 6. Player 3 won $2! | $1 | $26 | $565 | $7 | $0 | $1 |
| 31 | Player 4 sits out. Player 2 challenges Player 6. Player 2 won $1! Player 6 is out! Player 3 challenges Player 1. Player 3 won $1! Player 1 is out! | $0 | $27 | $566 | $7 | $0 | $0 |
| 32 | Player 2 sits out. Player 3 challenges Player 4. Player 3 won $4! | $0 | $27 | $570 | $3 | $0 | $0 |
| 33 | Player 3 sits out. Player 4 challenges Player 2. Player 2 won $2! | $0 | $29 | $570 | $1 | $0 | $0 |
| 34 | Player 4 sits out. Player 2 challenges Player 3. Player 3 won $15! | $0 | $14 | $585 | $1 | $0 | $0 |
| 35 | Player 2 sits out. Player 4 challenges Player 3. Player 4 won $1! | $0 | $14 | $584 | $2 | $0 | $0 |
| 36 | Player 4 sits out. Player 2 challenges Player 3. Player 3 won $7! | $0 | $7 | $591 | $2 | $0 | $0 |
| 37 | Player 4 sits out. Player 2 challenges Player 3. Player 3 won $4! | $0 | $3 | $595 | $2 | $0 | $0 |
| 38 | Player 4 sits out. Player 3 challenges Player 2. Player 2 won $2! | $0 | $5 | $593 | $2 | $0 | $0 |
| 39 | Player 4 sits out. Player 2 challenges Player 3. Player 3 won $3! | $0 | $2 | $596 | $2 | $0 | $0 |
| 40 | Player 3 sits out. Player 2 challenges Player 4. Player 4 won $1! | $0 | $1 | $596 | $3 | $0 | $0 |
| 41 | Player 3 sits out. Player 2 challenges Player 4. Player 4 won $1! Player 2 is out! | $0 | $0 | $596 | $4 | $0 | $0 |
| 42 | Player 3 challenges Player 4. Player 3 won $2! | $0 | $0 | $598 | $2 | $0 | $0 |
| 43 | Player 3 challenges Player 4. Player 3 won $1! | $0 | $0 | $599 | $1 | $0 | $0 |
| 44 | Player 3 challenges Player 4. Player 3 won $1! Player 4 is out! | $0 | $0 | $600 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Game over after 44 rounds. Player 3 won.
For fun, I also created a new rule for socialism expansion that adds stability to the game. (As Brewster put it, "2% is a small price to pay for stability.")