Definition
Plain language
A game where two people want to do something together but disagree on which thing.
As stated in the literature
A coordination game with two pure Nash equilibria that the players rank differently, used to probe how agents resolve coordination under conflicting preferences.
Why it matters: It tests whether agents can settle on a shared plan even when each would privately prefer a different one.
For example, a couple both want a night out together, but one prefers a concert and the other a ballgame, and the worst outcome is ending up apart.
Heard on the show
“Prisoner's Dilemma, Battle of the Sexes, Stag Hunt, Matching Pennies.”Episode 018 — Language Models Compute the Rational Move, Then Override It