Instructor’s Note: Win as Much as You Can
The objective of this game is stated in the clearest possible terms in its title: win as much as you
can. Play consists of a series of rounds. In each round, each of two competing companies makes
one and only one choice: to charge a high price or a low price for its product for that round.
Gains and losses accrue to each company depending on the combination of moves made by the
two competitors. The four possible combinations and their respective payouts appear in the table
below.
Company A
High Low
Low
3 A B
4 A B
High
1 A B
2A B
*Payouts are expressed in thousands of dollars net profit.
As you can see from the table, when both companies charge a high price, both achieve gains of
an additional $5,000 profit. When both charge a low price, they each lose $5,000. If just one
Rules of Play
1. Each competitive market will consist of a referee and two teams of two or three
persons each.
2. The referee is responsible for collecting moves from each of the teams at the end of
each round; announcing the results of each round to each of the teams; keeping a
record of when meetings, if any, were held between representatives of opposing
teams; and, keeping a record of the profits gained or lost by each team.
5. The referee then determines the gains and losses accruing to each team and
announces those results.
6. Representatives from opposing teams are allowed to meet before the beginning of the
game and before the beginning of each subsequent round. Any topic may be
7. Each competitor group whose teams did meet at any point after the first round of the
game is required to play in the Post-Game Antitrust Lottery. In the lottery, each team
will roll a single die. Those competitor groups whose two dice add up to any number
9. Teams compete not just with the other team in its market but with all teams in all
markets. The winning team is the one with the largest cumulative earnings.
“Win As Much As You Can” Ballots
Can be copied and cut in to packages using the template from the next page. Each team should
get ten ballots. If you reproduce the ballots on colored paper, a different one for each market, the
Round ___ Market ____
Round ___ Market ____
Team A Charges A:
Team B Charges A:
High Price _____
High Price _____
Low Price _____
Low Price _____
______________________________________________________
Round ___ Market ____
Round ___ Market ____
Team A Charges A:
Team B Charges A:
High Price _____
High Price _____
Low Price _____
Low Price _____
Round ___ Market ____
Round ___ Market ____
Team A Charges A:
Team B Charges A:
High Price _____
High Price _____
Low Price _____
Low Price _____
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