Game 06 · Oligopoly
Cartel's Dilemma
You run one of five shipping lines on the same route. Every round, all five pick a price tier. Collude and the whole pie grows, but a regulator is watching for exactly that pattern.
The setup
Five shipping lines. One route. Ten rounds.
Every round, all five firms set a price tier: undercut, match, or premium. Price low and you grab share but shrink the whole pie. Price high together and industry profit grows, if the regulator does not notice five firms all holding premium prices at once.
The fleet · tap a rival to scout them
It is a repeated prisoner's dilemma
Five firms, not two, playing the same round over and over. Four different AI strategies react to the market, not just to you.
Collusion is the trap, not the win
Industry profit is highest when everyone prices high together, which is exactly the pattern that gets a cartel caught and fined.
This is how real shipping alliances work
The mechanics mirror the blank-sailing, capacity-discipline dynamics covered in the shipping alliances article on Dollar Digest.