The Applied Game Theory series is a public education initiative by Princeton Digital Laboratory. Each session uses a familiar board game as a live laboratory to illustrate core concepts from economic theory, behavioural science, and decision science. Rather than teaching economics abstractly, the series follows a deliberate pedagogical sequence: play first, name later. Participants recognise the dynamics before they can articulate them — which is precisely what makes the insight durable. The goal is not to simplify science, but to make its entry point irresistible.
Heroes of Barcadia presents itself as a chaotic dungeon-crawl. It is, beneath the surface, a precise illustration of how cooperation unravels under structural pressure. The game begins in a positive-sum environment where collaboration is rational — and ends in a zero-sum endgame where it is not. That shift does not happen because the players change. It happens because the structure of incentives changes around them. This session examines that phase transition and introduces Knightian uncertainty — the difference between risk you can model and uncertainty you cannot — as a framework for understanding decisions made when the rules of engagement are still in flux. The parallels to markets, organisations, and competitive dynamics are not forced. They are structural.