Cheat the System
Read a small rule system and spot the loophole · pick the strategy that exploits it, then learn the incentive-design idea behind the flaw
About Cheat the System
Cheat the System is a game about incentive design. Each round shows you a small rule system · a shared cookie box, a bug bounty, a returns policy, an auction, a vote · and asks one question: which behavior extracts the most benefit from these rules as written?
Find the exploit. Of four candidate strategies, exactly one is the dominant loophole. Spotting it trains you to read rules the way an economist (or a scammer) does: follow the incentives, not the intentions.
Learn the principle. Every reveal names the real concept behind the flaw · Goodhart's law, moral hazard, the free-rider problem, the tragedy of the commons, adverse selection, the winner's curse · and ends with a one-sentence fix, because the point of spotting broken rules is learning to design better ones.
Part of the PlayMemorize family of brain-training games.
FAQ
-
What is Cheat the System?
A reasoning game where you read a short description of a rule system and pick which of four strategies exploits its hidden flaw the most. Each answer reveal names the incentive-design principle behind the flaw and how the rules could be fixed. -
Does the game teach cheating?
No · the framing is spot the flaw in the system. You learn to see how badly designed rules invite gaming (Goodhart's law, moral hazard, free riding and more), which is exactly the skill needed to design fairer, harder-to-game rules. -
What do the difficulty settings change?
Difficulty scales the subtlety of the exploit. Easy scenarios have an obvious grab, medium ones require connecting two rules, and hard ones hinge on second-order effects like adverse selection or the winner's curse. -
What concepts will I meet?
The 56 curated scenarios cover the tragedy of the commons, perverse incentives (the cobra effect), Goodhart's law, moral hazard, adverse selection, Sybil attacks, arbitrage, collusion, gerrymandering, tactical voting and more. -
Can I print it as a worksheet?
Yes · Cheat the System supports printable worksheets. Each problem is the scenario plus four lettered strategies with an answer key, ideal for classroom discussions about incentives.