Case-file briefing
Clean the fewest toilets.
How to make a clean getaway
- Set the stakes. The questioner splits 10 toilets across 5 cabins. Each cabin’s number is revealed before you choose.
- Choose secretly. Two suspects answer each cabin. You may stay silent only twice in those 5 cabins; otherwise, confess.
- Count the toilets. Both silent: each cleans the cabin number. One confesses: they clean 0, the silent camper cleans triple. Both confess: each cleans double.
- Fewest wins. Everyone questions once. Add up your toilets; tied lowest scores share the win.
3 campers on one device: 15 cabin decisions. 3–10 on separate phones: 5 per questioner. Your two silences reset with each new questioner.
For educatorsThe game theory behind the caper
Camp Fibberfir models a repeated prisoner’s dilemma: each suspect chooses independently whether to cooperate (stay silent) or protect themselves (confess). Both are better off if both cooperate, but each has an incentive to confess because neither knows what the other will choose.
The same tension arises in arms races, price competition, environmental agreements, overuse of shared resources, and everyday questions of trust. After play, ask what made cooperation feel safe, when confession seemed rational, and how repeated rounds changed anyone’s strategy.